Tiffany Griffin and her husband/business partner, Dariel Heron are on a mission. Using candles as a platform and scent as a medium they started Bright Black to honor and represent the Black Diaspora, and to help create a world where their daughter Elena has positive representations of people who look like her.

Of course, the past year has seen a new and expanded national dialogue on Blackness — a dialogue that has been at times turbulent, productive, revealing, revelatory, dismaying. As we celebrate Black History Month, Griffin says she believes that the wider understanding of the “the beauty and brilliance of Blackness” is here to stay — both during Black History Month … and in the other 11 months, as well. “I don't tend to be a very dichotomous thinker — I live in the both/and, and I relish in the grey spaces,” she says. “I absolutely do not think we've outgrown celebrating Black History Month and I think that Black businesses should be highlighted and celebrated year-round.”

Bright Black founder Tiffany Griffin pictured with her husband/business partner Dariel Heron and their daughter, Elena

She’s hopeful for better in the more enlightened years that will follow this tumultuous time: “I think what 2020 showed us is that there's a growing consciousness around the direct linkages between economic justice and racial justice, and there's a growing consciousness around mindful consumption,” she says. “We live in a society where we need to consume to exist, to persist, to subsist. Given that reality, how can we do so in ways that align with our values, how can we consume with organizations that give back, treat people fairly, that truly embody strong values 365 days a year, not just for cutesy marketing campaigns? I think people are really craving this right now. I think it's a beautiful movement that will, hopefully, lead to more equality and equity over time.”