Oklahoma’s only Black-owned soda company celebrating culture and community
One man set out to celebrate culture and community after founding what he calls Oklahoma’s only Black-owned soda company
One man set out to celebrate culture and community after founding what he calls Oklahoma’s only Black-owned soda company
One man set out to celebrate culture and community after founding what he calls Oklahoma’s only Black-owned soda company
One man set out to celebrate culture and community after founding what he calls Oklahoma’s only Black-owned soda company.
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It’s not your classic soda.
“People love Afropop, and people feel a deep connection to it,” said Jamel Stephens, founder of Afropop.
What makes them stand out? They say they fizzle out the competition as they’re based on the “three C’s": creativity, craft and culture.
“An opportunity to create a blank canvas for artists,” Stephens said. “Blacker the Berry, like I said, inspired by hip-hop. I noticed there was no Black-owned soda company in Oklahoma, so I wanted to be able to create an opportunity for us to have that as a community and as a culture group.”
He said his creativity led him to create the craft, but he drew inspiration from Jay-Kola, which was one of the few Black-owned soda brands in the southwest U.S.
“It was a miracle to be able to do something like that in the 1960s and, honestly, it paved the way for me to do that again,” Stephens said.
His soda also allows local Black artists to showcase their talents, as each can is a canvas for storytelling.
“With Grandma’s House, that’s the butterscotch crème soda, everyone thinks about grandma’s house and that bowl of candy waiting for them,” Stephens said. “In a market that’s extremely crowded, there’s not a whole lot of natural options for people, and I wanted to give people an authentic experience as well as a natural experience.”
When you pop into your small local businesses, that’s where you’ll find Afropop.
Stephens said his end goal is to make it into bigger retailers.
“Supporting the local community, supporting small businesses. It creates opportunities for families to be supported, and you know you’re not supporting a large corporation but supporting people right here in your community,” Stephens said.
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