‍ ‍Community Engagement

Vanna Black is an Afrocentric haute couture fashion label seeking to not just create beautiful garments, but also open doors for women of color in the global fashion world. We are in the process of building out a cultural exchange program between Harlem, New York, and Bahia, Brazil, to foster entrepreneurship, creative skill-building, and cross-cultural connections.

Our ambition is to build a pipeline for women of color to gain education and practical experience in fashion production, business operations, and design. Your support will enable this effort to come to fruition.

Vanna Black x Yayá Muxima

In the vibrant heart of Salvador, Bahia, Vanna Black joined forces with Yayá Muxima, a women-led Samba Reggae collective, to create more than carnival costumes. We’re crafting futures.

Carnival 2025: What We Built Together

In 2025, with your support, we brought this vision to life. Over two and a half weeks, we trained 7 women in professional fashion production, and in just one week of that time we made 150 costumes for Salvador’s legendary Carnival, all on only 3 working sewing machines. The collective took to the streets in garments they made with their own hands, and it was a wonderful celebration of what women can create when they’re given the tools and the training.

Carnival as a Classroom

Carnival is how we train. Each season, the women learn professional production skills such as cutting, sewing, construction and finishing by making real costumes on a real deadline for one of the biggest celebrations in the world. The skills they build are the same ones a fashion production studio needs.

Our Vision

Our long-term plan is for Vanna Black products to be made by women in both Harlem and Bahia, creating a production model that provides training, job placement and fair wages in the communities that need it most. Instead of sending production overseas, we’re building it at home, in our own communities.

What’s Next

Until Vanna Black’s production centers are fully up and running, Carnival remains our training ground, and it depends on your support. This December we’re launching our next fundraiser to buy the materials for this season’s carnival costumes. Every dollar goes directly toward fabric, supplies and equipment so the women can keep training, creating and building toward paid production work.

Your support helps write a new chapter in the story of Black women’s empowerment in Bahia. Together, we’re not just preserving culture. We’re creating opportunities that will echo through generations.