1. 🙂 (I am happy), and
2. 🙁 (I hate you), in the modern, eyes glued to iPhone screens millennial-driven world actually betters the English language. Trey Brown, 26, a Howard grad and CEO and Co-Founder of the WeMojis app, believes all of this is great. But unless you have been living under a rock lately, you probably do not see any people of color when trying to use a Black Santa emoji, or a Black army soldier emoji.
“We knew that not only did we need to create black emojis but emojis that would reflect all aspects of the black experience.” – Trey Brown
“Emojis are basically icons that are meant to express ones views through picture form on electronic devices,” Trey Brown tells me in a HBCU Buzz exclusive interview. Brown has his degree in Communications from Howard. He says that one day sitting down with his brother Donovan Brown, Director of Marketing and Co-Founder at WeMojis, the idea begin to create “culturally relevant Black and Hispanic emojis” on the iOS 8 keyboard to the urban community. “We knew that not only did we need to create black emojis but emojis that would reflect all aspects of the black experience. “This is how WeMojis was born,” Brown said.
Compared to the other similar mobile apps targeting Black people, WeMojis is “extremely user friendly,” according to a release. But WeMojis is more than just a distinctive user experience for the many, several thousand people using emojis today, it is simply the best there is right now, and Brown believes his brand has “vast potential for growth and expansion into other sectors.” “…Nobody is going to give you a seat at the table. You have to take it,” said Brown.
Check out my entire interview with Trey Brown below.
Tommy: One of the first things that caught my eye about the app is the “culturally relevant” emojis for people of color. How did this come about?
Trey: The idea for WeMojis came about simply through an observation that I had while sitting down with my brother, also head of marketing for WeMojis, that there were no black Emojis in the original set. Emojis are basically icons that are meant to express ones views through picture form on electronic devices. We knew that not only did we need to create black emojis but emojis that would reflect all aspects of the black experience. This is how WeMojis was born.
Tommy: Besides Black and Hispanics, what other races are featured in the WeMojis app?
Trey: As of right now there are no other races represented in Wemojis but we plan on expanding at the appropriate time. This app was originally created to serve an overlooked yet highly important piece of the American pie.
Tommy: What challenges did you face when you were creating this app, did it come to you quickly?
Trey: The market share for people of color has not had the chance to mature within the tech industry. There are impressive numbers for sustainable market share but it’s sometimes hard to get people to understand this fact. Every major market product aimed at the African American demographic has had this uphill battle. (Think Dark and Lovley or Ciroc). We knew that we had an opening. We just had to make the images feel familiar enough for the user.
Tommy: Finish the sentence, “I know the WeMojis app will be successful when…”
Trey: We are fully integrated or allowed access to every major platform in existence. We are working on that and the more downloads we get the easier it is to make happen. We have provided an organized voice for underrepresented people. Nobody is going to give you a seat at the table. You have to take it.
Tommy: Has creating apps like WeMojis always been something that interests/challenges you?
Trey: It has. We have other works in the projects but right now the main focus is bringing our style and culture to the forefront in a technologically driven world.
You can download the WeMojis app here https://appsto.re/us/4y-Z5.i
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Elr7JM9jM8]
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