Black Creators is a special series highlighting some of the amazing Black women and men who’ve successfully used their passion and platform to unite our community.
Building an online community takes a special kind of determination. Case in point: Taylar Barrington-Booker. Barrington-Booker is the founder and CEO of Cliquish— a global educational hub that teaches women bloggers, influencers, and content creators how to build profitable businesses. After all, having a platform or business is one thing, reaping a profit involves a different skillset.
“As we are internally working with PR, brand, and marketing teams, a lot of the conversation has shifted from how many followers a person may have, and more so about how you’re resonating with the communities that they’ve built,” she says about her own platform.
With more than a decade of marketing experience under her belt, Barrington-Booker’s ability to create a high-level strategy, branding assets, and measurable tactics for corporations led her to formally consult for companies including Hyatt, Nielsen, Samsung, Verizon, and Kraft Foods.
From her unique insight into brand marketing, her experiences as a teacher, and a love for community building, the founder was inspired to create and launch Cliquish in 2018.
Since its inception, Cliquish has reached more than 25,000 women content creators through their rapidly growing membership club. Here, members are given the options of virtual (and in-person pre-pandemic) expert-led education. Think: online courses, in-person events, professional coaching, and access to an online collaborative network of content creators.
Much of the focus within the community centers around the business aspects of social media and the importance of strategy and knowing your audience. With years of experience in social media marketing, Barrington-Booker also has a personal wealth of knowledge to share on building an online presence.
“We highly suggest that content creators focus on community building, engagement, connecting, and making an impact in their vision of space,” Barrington-Booker says.
Today, Barrington-Booker can be found creating a content strategy for Cliquish’s business development with her team, rolling up her sleeves to lead a panel or a workshop for content creators, or exploring her next big adventure with her husband, James. Her vision matches her work ethic as a trailblazer in marketing, and she believes wholeheartedly in the development of women and the cultivation of inclusive communities where those women can thrive.
“[Social media] helps us connect with our audience in real-time and in real ways – thus helping us build real relationships with our customers. We’ve made the platforms a primary component of our marketing funnel, from Facebook groups to Instagram Reels, we have witnessed explosive growth using them all. We also feel confident that there’s a solution to present content in any format we see optimal. I do not doubt that Facebook and Instagram are prioritizing businesses to give us access to the global audience; we need to grow a massive impact,” Barrington-Booker says to ESSENCE.
You can learn more about Taylar Barrington-Booker’s work here and follow her across various platforms at @cliquish.