Join NAAM for a virtual afternoon with A’Lelia Bundles, the great granddaughter of legendary beauty entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social activist Madam C.J. Walker.
A’Lelia Bundles
A’Lelia Bundles is an engaging public speaker and skilled MC, who brings warmth, intelligence, humor and a strong grasp of current events and history to her presentations.
Author and journalist A’Lelia Bundles is at work on her fifth book, The Joy Goddess of Harlem: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, a biography of her great-grandmother, whose parties, arts patronage and international travels helped define that era. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker – a New York Times Notable Book about her entrepreneurial great-great-grandmother – is the inspiration for Self Made, the fictional four-part Netflix series starring Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer that premiered in March 2020.
A’Lelia is a vice chair of Columbia University’s Board of Trustees and chair emerita of the board of the National Archives Foundation. She also is a member of the advisory boards of the March on Washington Film Festival, the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative. She founded the Madam Walker Family Archives – the largest private collection of Walker photographs and memorabilia – and is brand historian for MCJW, a line of hair care products inspired by Madam Walker and manufactured by Sundial Brands.
A’Lelia was a network television news executive and producer for thirty years at NBC News and then at ABC News, where she was Washington, DC deputy bureau chief and director of talent development.
Her articles and essays have been published in the New York Times Book Review, Variety, TheUndefeated.com, Al Jazeera, Parade, Ms., O Magazine, Essence, several encyclopedias and books, and on her blog at www.aleliabundles.com. As a speaker and emcee, she has appeared at universities, corporations and book festivals, as well as on ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, PBS and BBC. She has served as an advisor for numerous documentaries, museum exhibits, biographies, scholarly papers and history texts.
A recipient of an Emmy and a du Pont Gold Baton, she has participated in writing residencies at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony.
She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received a masters degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
@aleliabundles on Twitter and Instagram
Brandi Mitchell
Known as “The Brand Producer” and called a Renaissance Woman for her creative ability to fuse entertainment, marketing, inspiration, and storytelling into a bankable brand.
Brandi is the President of KORIS Media, marketing strategist, 4-time author, business coach, and filmmaker.
She is the “secret sauce” that the top experts, entrepreneurs, consultants, and businesses choose when they are looking to build an iconic brand, up level their positioning, and build powerful signature programs based off their expertise.
Brandi earned a degree in Psychology from Florida A&M University, and is a veteran of the TV and film industry where she spent 20 years as a celebrity makeup and hair artist before transitioning into directing and producing with her own multi-media production company.
She claims her biggest success inside of her family, being happily married to the love of her life for over 23 years and raising her children along with finding holistic success by balancing family and business.
About Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C. J. Walker was beloved within her community for her philanthropy and expanding the local black YMCA, but she couldn’t have done that if she weren’t the first female self-made millionaire and one of the most successful African American business owners ever.
Born Sarah Breedlove, she was the first person born free in her family. She married Charles Joseph Walker and became known as Madam C. J. Walker, the name she would later use on her haircare products. After talking with her brothers, who were barbers, and experiencing problems with hair loss, she developed a formula that healed scalp infections. This inspired her to start her own line of hair care products to do things like reduce dandruff, grow longer hair, smooth hair, or prevent baldness. Her company employed thousands of door-to-door saleswomen from all over the United States and the Caribbean.
She supported the African American community by making a $1000 contribution for a new YMCA building in Indianapolis, funding scholarships for Tuskegee Institute and Daytona Normal Institute for Girls, and becoming a patron of the arts in the early years of the Harlem Renaissance.