Mompreneurs: Building The ‘Black Love’ Empire With Codie Elaine Oliver

On the Season 3 premiere of Mompreneurs, Codie Elaine Oliver opens up about motherhood and her journey as an entrepreneur. The mother of three and Chief Creative Officer of Black Love, Inc. juggles multiple ventures within the Black Love brand that she founded with husband and filmmaker Tommy Oliver. From the original Black Love docuseries on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), the brand has evolved into a thriving digital platform and more. However, success came with sacrifice. Oliver is honest about the hard work that she and Tommy put in to make it all work. Oliver joins Mompreneurs host Nancy Redd to tell her story as a wife, mother and rising media mogul.

Life Opened Unexpected Doors 

Oliver stresses that despite the incredible success of the Black Love brand, there was no clear vision or roadmap for what it would become. Looking back, she can appreciate that everything worked out for the best. “There were so many things that didn’t go according to plan,” she tells Redd. “Now I can look back and say everything was happening the way that it was supposed to. The things that didn’t go according to plan ultimately opened different doors that I wasn’t expecting.”

The ‘Black Love’ Journey

The couple built their celebrated media company from the ground up. It started with shooting Black Love, interviewing real couples and documenting their stories. “I decided I wanted to create a place where Black love stories lived,” Oliver says. “I didn’t want anyone to feel like they couldn’t see examples.”

The acclaimed docuseries challenged the Black marriage crisis narrative when there wasn’t a space for these stories. Oliver, a film and TV producer, was determined to document real stories of love and marriage, and the show has resonated with audiences ever since. From superstar couples like Academy Award winning actress Viola Davis and husband Julius Tennon, to just married newlyweds, the series intimately captures the full spectrum of Black love.

Oliver’s passion for building community has evolved the brand far beyond the docuseries. Rather than gatekeeping, the podcast host thrives on sharing information and building relationships. The importance of community remains an important theme in Oliver’s journey, allowing her to make meaningful connections and build a strong network that ultimately nourishes her enterprise.

Balancing Business With Motherhood

This journey was nonstop from day one. The Olivers began shooting interviews for Black Love as newlyweds while Codie was pregnant with their first son. It was around the time of his birth that they struck a deal with OWN to license the docuseries while allowing them to maintain ownership of the brand. Six seasons later, the couple had added twin babies to the mix all while running their growing media empire.

Balancing kids, marriage and multiple ventures “is always a work in progress,” Oliver admits. It’s about making time for your goals and seeking help to make it happen. Whether you hire a nanny, pay for a laundry service or tap a friend to “watch the kids for two hours while I start writing this book,” as Oliver says, it’s about working with what you’ve got. There’s no right or wrong way to go about it, she says.

“I always knew I wanted to be a mom, so I was always mentally preparing myself for that,” Oliver shares. “Parenthood is going to be difficult. But if you want that, then those sacrifices are just that much easier.”

Catch new episodes of Mompreneurs every Monday on MADAMENOIRE’s YouTube channel. Or listen to the podcast online at Urban1Podcasts.com.