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Dear readers,

Thank you.

Because of your support of MadameNoire, we celebrated our 10-year anniversary this year. You’ve read, commented, and shared our stories about a variety of topics important to Black women. We thank you for your passion. You’re as passionate about the topics we cover as you are the publication itself.

Recently, we’ve seen your passion firsthand as you have shared questions, concerns and expectations related to certain aspects of our publication. Specifically, some readers and online commenters want to know who’s in charge and who writes for us. On behalf of our staff, we are taking this opportunity to share and provide the explanation you deserve.

Since inception, MadameNoire has been Black owned and operated. The Founder and Chairperson of our parent company is a Black woman. Please know Black women have always overseen our editorial operations. Over our history, 115 Black women have been a part of our team either in a full-time, part-time, intern or paid freelance capacity. However, we understand there’s been conversation about one employee who is not a Black woman.

Julia Austin, who is white, has been a reliable contributor with articles focused on relationship and lifestyle topics. At MadameNoire, we know only Black women can speak to Black women about our unique experiences. Therefore, in our working relationship with Julia, our Senior Content Director has always had final approval over all her story pitches, articles, and the images posted with them. This is the case for all articles written for our site.

We wanted Julia’s articles to speak to our Black women readers, which is why we, the editors, inserted certain words we, as Black women, say in conversation. Our intent was to make sure the articles fit the MadameNoire voice. With that said, being unapologetically Black doesn’t keep us from apologizing to Black women. As an unintended consequence, the very women we were trying to reach felt disturbed. For this, we’re sorry. Transparency and accountability are fundamental pillars of our belief system, which is why we understand the concerns recently expressed by readers. This is also why we will no longer edit Julia’s pieces, or the pieces of any other non-Black writer, to interject first-person language core to Black women conversations. We hope this provides clarity and addresses concerns of some readers.

At MadameNoire, we tell the stories of Black women. We call out the mistreatment of Black women and we encourage readers to patronize and support Black women. As always, we welcome and encourage Black women to send story pitches. Our email is always open to your ideas and your thoughts.

Thank you,

The Editorial Team

MadameNoire

Editors@madamenoire.com

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