Today we’d like to introduce you to Taj Salaam.
Hi Taj, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The idea for BlakListEd came about when I was overwhelmed by all the interesting unread books I purchased that were piling up in my office. And I was frustrated because I could never find time in my busy schedule to read them. Moreover, I saw many book influencers on social media had images and memes that expressed the same pain point—a love for reading, but no time in their busy schedules to read all the books that they wanted to read. Then it just clicked! I thought, “why not have a service that gleans key insights from books that people can read in minutes on their smartphone?!”
I did my research and saw that there were a few companies that summarized books. However, all the companies neglected to summarize nonfiction books that catered to a Black diasporic audience. They all mainly focused on business books.
I told some of my friends about my idea and they were immediately sold on the concept. Many of my friends are avid readers, school teachers, or work closely with Black youth and know firsthand that many Black kids are not exposed to the plethora of Black nonfiction books that are available. Knowing that in today’s world, computer and smartphones are where we get most of our information, making the medium for BlaklistEd an app on smartphones to read the summaries, was a game-changer.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Honestly, it has not been a smooth road. Mainly because startups need cash and capital. There is a long history of neglect by angel investors and venture capitalists in funding black-owned startups. The fundraising world for startups still remains focused on funding startups founded by white people. There has been some positive change but exponentially more support is needed. As a result of this, I have to bootstrap most of the cash and capital needed. Fortunately, the business is growing and revenue has helped offset raising pre-seed funding. This is one of the main reasons we should all support black-owned businesses not by just spreading the word about the business but buying from the business.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
BlaklistEd is an app that provides key takeaways from Black, progressive, and/or socially conscious books making it easy for you to read or listen in 15 minutes. The positive result is you gain more knowledge in minutes throughout your busy day.
What sets us apart from other book summary services is our book summaries focus on the African diaspora and progressive issues while our competition does not. BlaklistEd knows that most people are either too intimidated to read lengthy nonfiction books or as much as they want to, they just don’t have the time to read all the books that they want to read.
Moreover, we (Black people) understand that one of the many ways to better our situation is we must read to attain the knowledge to uplift our situation and our community because mass media and the educational system do a horrible job portraying our lives to the world. Books give a more honest portrayal of Black lives because it’s a more controllable and accessible outlet for Black people to express themselves. The only problem is most people can’t read as fast as they can watch something on TV or the internet; therefore, either purchased books pile up for an intended future read or people think it’s futile to try to find time to read for the information, even when they know it’s one of the best ways to glean information.
BlaklistEd makes learning more accessible through short powerful summaries in the palm of your hand via your phone. Our engaging summaries also do a great job in helping people to decide if they want to spend their hard earned money to purchase the book to delve deeper into the subject matter. Also, our summaries are a great supplement to books. Many customers have said when listening to our summaries with their books, they are able to comprehend and retain more from the books. BlaklistEd makes learning easy and fun throughout our busy lives.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
BlaklistEd is available for download in both the Apple AppStore and the Google Play Store. Start your 3-day free trial today.
Pricing:
- 3-day free trial
- $3.99 per month
- $39.99 per year
Contact Info:
- Email: info@blaklisted.com
- Website: https://blaklisted.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blaklistedapp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blaklistedapp
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlaklistEdapp
