Josiane Faubert is the creative behind PICHA Stock, an Afrocentric visual marketplace she founded four years ago. Originally from Gabon, she jumped into the world of photography after a few years of working in marketing research.
Photography led her to PICHA Stock with the mission to provide representative and authentic visuals of Afrocentric communities that marketers can use on their campaign and in advertising. Josiane is building a community of visual content providers that are also interested in redefining African visual stories.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, which falls on Monday, March 8, 2021, the Afrocentric stock photography company, PICHA Stock has partnered with the lifestyle, entertainment, and fashion website, Bella Naija to launch the Afrofemme collection.
Women around the world have in various capacities shown leadership with extraordinary contributions to our communities. Afrofemme relates to or is characteristic of modern women of African descent based anywhere in the world. The Afrofemme collection celebrates the beauty, intelligence, resilience, and creativity of the Afro woman.
The role of black women throughout history is hard to ignore and this collection of licensable images is here to honor them. Be it bottom-up from the home where the foundations of society are shaped, to top-down from government and policy that affect masses, or lateral throughout industries and sectors, women have played key and influential roles that cannot be underplayed.
History gives us names like Jamaica’s Queen Nanny of the Windward Maroons, Ghana’s Yaa Asantewaa and Nigeria’s Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti who were influential in political leadership, military strategies and were front liners in ending the colonial rulership.
South Africa’s Miriam Makeba through the power of her sound in music reignited her people’s flame against apartheid and Kenya’s Wangari Maathai who used environmental sustainability as a tool for economic empowerment.
In the present day, we have seen young women like Allyson Felix running in the stead of Wilma Rudolph, history’s fastest woman in the world. We are seeing younger ladies like Amanda Gorman speaking on the poetical stages set by Phillis Wheatley and Maya Angelou, a billion more obtaining their college education through the wide vision lenses of Mary Jane Patterson.
Today, more black female nurses are following the steps of Mary Eliza Mahoney. NASA, Engineering, and Astronomy give us names like Mae Jemison, who was the first black woman in space, and Lucy Quist in global telecommunications.
We have also encountered more women like Abena Osei- Poku in the stead of Maggie Lena Walker leading global banks, Oprah Winfrey spearheading women in wealth and wielding financial power, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, leading the fronts of global trade and treasury systems, and the millions of women entrepreneurs running their own worlds in every way possible. We are rest assured of the ones who will soon follow Kamala Harris. The list is inexhaustible.
“Because our minds are wired visually, it was very important to put this collection together, highlight the Afrofemme, and ‘kill the stereotypes typically associated with Black women,” says Josiane Faubert, founder of PICHA Stock. Black women deserve to be highlighted in a nonbinary way, in their true diversity as we know that stereotypes and prejudice only perpetuate other people’s biases leading to discrimination.”
The Afrofemme collection aims to uplift and inspire while shifting perceptions and helping to change the visual narrative of the Afrofemme. Representing women from all walks of life internationally, the goal of the collection is to empower marketing, advertising, and communications professionals to include more images of Black women of African descent in their campaigns.
The collection comes in different sizes: a free social media XS size, a standard, and a large size all under royalty-free licenses.
To learn more about PICHA Stock and to download and/or purchase images from the collection, please visit pichastock.com and follow PICHA Stock on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook.
PICHA Stock is a collection of authentic Afrocentric stock photography working with brands and agencies who are really looking for one of a kind visuals content.. Founded by Josiane Faubert whose mission is to amplify the voices of creatives and allow for authentic Afro-generated content to fill the representation gap.
