Why I Created BrumGyalieGyalDem

Growing up Black and of Caribbean descent, what I knew of was my family, which was Jamaican and St Kitts descent. My father and his parents being Jamaican, and my mum being born in the UK but of Jamaican and Kittitian descent, with her mum/my nan being from St Kitts. I felt proud of my heritage. I was aware that I was from Birmingham (the UK’s second biggest county) and that we were from, but not truly from, the UK.

I had a hyper-awareness that I wasn’t like the other kids, as I consisted of more melanin than them, and their lives seemed easier than mine, whereas I felt like I had to mask myself because I felt misunderstood without having to do anything. It was like living in between two worlds: one where things were predominantly white in primary school, and in my family and church life it was predominantly Black.

The different type of food that I ate compared to my white peers was very contrasting, especially when I went to their houses. The way their parents dealt with them and overall how their dynamic was in their life — there was a massive difference. Learning in school about history was basically white English history, and maybe it’s because Black British history is longer than what society tells us. But I had to dive deep into my history in order to get a sense of who I was and how my people got here.

It all truly began with COVID-19. I was 14 and felt depressed, lost, and alone. People said it was the time of their lives, but for me it felt like hell. Little did I know, this was the beginning of self-discovery for me.

COVID was a wake-up call to start looking after myself and actually seeing myself as pretty. As someone who is Black, British, and Caribbean, I sometimes still had a lot of low self-esteem. When I looked in the mirror, I felt like I wanted to cringe because I just didn’t take myself seriously, especially when it came to my appearance.

Within COVID, I stayed isolated, fighting demons that silently tortured me, and I thought this needed to end. I started seeking something that could fill the void within me. At some point, I came across an influencer that dabbled in new age practices like sun gazing, chakras, and frequencies, until there was specifically an influencer who had a spiritual encounter with God (The One True High God), and that changed my whole perspective.

I started to meditate on the Word of God and exercise frequently because I had a pot belly from sitting about all the time. Then I thought, when I turned 15 at the end of 2020, that I wanted to improve my confidence through skincare and haircare.

I did my search through the internet (as many would), and I discovered Alysium Beauty — Big up Alysium Beauty!!! Unnu should know about that brand by now. But yeah, I made my purchase with them in attempts to clear my skin and look after my hair. I will say it really did work. The dark marks started to fade, and pimples became less and less every day (except for when my menstrual cycle hits… ik, TMI), but I felt confident overall.

I carried myself with more of a silent confidence that people might have mistaken for shyness.

These were the days of listening to motivational words from a life coach called Latoya Okeia, who is a self-improvement expert, faith-based mentor, and business coach that encouraged me to stay in faith while going after my purpose.

Since life was just moving and Year 11 was approaching — which meant GCSEs, college options, etc. — I started to think in my head: what if I could become a businesswoman?

That’s when it stuck to me. In a short amount of time, it was like I went from clueless to then knowing exactly what I wanted. I remember getting through Year 10 and onto Year 11. Year 11 was not my year, by the way, but I managed to get through GCSEs and applied for an Enterprise Entrepreneurship course where they tried to teach me about business.

From a lesson where she asked us to think of a business name, on the way home on a coach listening to Adonia — Jackhammer, I thought of the name BrumGyalieGyalDem. A fusion of three words: Brum, coming from the place I was born and grew up; Gyalie, deriving from the word “Gyal,” meaning girl or woman; and GyalDem, meaning a group of girls or women.

It was a Tuesday late evening, and I opened up a presentation PowerPoint and typed it down (mind you, I was already in the process of formulating some clear lip gloss earlier that month or the month before). At the time, I didn’t know why I wanted to name it this, but I felt good things from it and also realised that it could be a brand for women.

Mind you, a part of my life story would play into this.

Because as a tomboy and being Black, I felt like people treated me like the unfamiliar. I felt like I wasn’t fully understood by the boys because many were white boys who played Mario (I loved the DS and Mario). I thought I was going to be understood and welcomed, but instead a lot of the guys were very sexist, especially when I wanted to play football. They would purposely leave me out and basically say I couldn’t play with them.

Eventually, I realised the boys I tried to hang with were a big mismatch, and I started having friends who were girls. That was a lot of drama overall. Three girls couldn’t be friends because one would always be left out, but I got through it. Then I had to go through it in secondary, but worse, and that left me with social issues and confidence issues.

Now that leads me back to being in college and thinking of the name BrumGyalieGyalDem — a name that expresses my culture in a way that’s not stereotypical like carnival and cuss words.

I loved it because it was mine. And it is mine. And all those that understand this story, the culture, the history and the identity.

All my life, besides family and that, I felt unseen… misunderstood as something that I’m not.

Hence why our tagline is:

“GyalDem. Not Just Seen — We Make The Scene™.”

Because as much as people may treat you surface level, you’re deeper than that. You’re a piece of art. A piece of work. A lifestyle.

YOU make the ✨Scene✨.

From The Founder, Abigail Johnson xxx