April 3, 2019

Meet Ashley Watson of Perfectly Black in Southwest Atlanta

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Watson.

Ashley, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve always been unapologetically black. My parents, who are from middle and south Georgia, probably had no idea that they would breed such a rebellious daughter. My parents both grew up poor and their ability to succeed through adversity made them very conservative in a lot of ways, however, I am not this way. As a child, I was raised in Historic South Atlanta and I remember being surrounded by books in my home and books being an escape for me. My earliest forms of rebellion were probably reading ahead of the teacher and completing assignments before being asked to. My rebellion eventually grew to become a completely, outspoken person and knowing I would one day become a blogger or media personality.

The hardest thing about leaving for the University of West Georgia (UWG) as an African American was learning that I would never be able to separate the rebellious black college student from any other black stereotype.

I studied Film & Media Arts at UWG and in 2014, I was given the opportunity to interview and film a panel of students and their reactions to my unfortunate arrest in 2014 by our infamous university police. I also asked about their personal experiences with racism & the university police on campus. I produced a mini-doc called “Silenced,” with Kelby Mitchell on the subject. We filmed this only a few months before the incident with Mike Brown occurred.

I graduated in April of 2015 and I knew I wanted to create the momentum going from my documentary. I wanted to create an outlet to discuss current events in the black community and that outlet was named Perfectlyblack.com in May of 2015.

Has it been a smooth road?
As an owner and blogger of Perfectlyblack.com, I had to find a way to balance my day job with blogging, organizing a book club and also creating Little Free Libraries and events. I’ve butted heads with previous writers on my blog and have had differences in our point of views. I also have had to work with others to organize the creation of our Little Free Libraries. I’ve personally had to apologize to community partners when they felt that I overstepped boundaries. I also continued to work with others when I really wanted to bail entirely on the partnership. I have always chosen to take the high road because I knew my mission to create, encourage and empower people to read was more important.

Reading is powerful and can be a refuge from a lot of our day to day responsibilities. PB book club is a center for encouragement. We become lazy sometimes and we want to quit reading but we encourage each other to keep reading and keep going.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Perfectly Black story. Tell us more about the business.
Perfectly Black blog was developed by myself to empower and inspire the “Black/African-American” community. It was created with the goal of becoming more than another trend or phase. Perfectly Black blog seeks to trigger reactions from its racially-charged blog posts & create a social community of like-minded individuals. Perfectly Black also participates in several protests & events, including the 2015 Million Man March in D.C and the 1st & 2nd Annual UmojaLife Juneteenth Festival in Atlanta. Since its creation in 2015, I have employed writers & implemented Perfectly Black Book Club which began in September 2016.

Perfectly Black or PB Book Club believes in rejuvenating the black reader. PB Book Club members intimately discuss cultural literature in person, via video & GroupMe. PB Book Club members are also very supportive of each other’s literary journey, as well as their personal goals and attributes.

I also began collecting children books & raising money to build a Perfectly Black Book Pantry for children to borrow & return books in 2016. PB Book Club members were also be able to donate their books into the pantry.

Since the creation of Perfectly Black, I was able to employ two writers on my blog. Also, I’ve collected over $200 in monetary donations and 100+ book donations. Lastly, I have successfully completed the organization, groundbreaking, and completion of 2 Little Free Libraries & events. My community partners and I were able to put up a Little Free Library in 2017 in Southwest Atlanta and put up a 2nd library in Brownsville Park in Lithonia, GA in 2018.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see my blog expanding to a black resource guide for young black adults and how-tos on navigating adulthood. I’d like to have at 5-10 writers on staff. I would also like to put up a little free library once a year across the state of GA. Right now, my book club is virtual and mostly held via group chat but I’d like to return to its original face-to-face, monthly meeting format.

I’d also like to advertise self-care products and resources on my website.

Contact Info:

Website: www.perfectlyblack.com
Phone: 470-424-1233
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perfectlyblackblog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perfectlyblackblog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerfectlyBlack_

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.