Mompreneurs: Ebony Bradley & The Business of Content Creation

Ebony Bradley left her 9-to-5 to become a full-time content creator, and she hasn’t looked back since. The lifestyle influencer and YouTuber sat down with Mompreneurs host Nancy Redd to discuss the inspiration behind her first video and how her content has evolved.

Since she started creating videos documenting her natural hair journey in 2015, Bradley’s YouTube channel, Ebony’s Curly TV, has garnered more than 150,000 subscribers. Today, Ebony’s Curly TV is a growing brand with a presence across social media. From hair care to her IVF journey and now motherhood, Bradley’s content has evolved as did her own journey.

At first, the Morgan State grad had no idea where this new venture would take her. But along the way she learned to trust herself and chose to stay consistent — and the work paid off.

Bradley’s husband gave her the push to start creating content.

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Bradley’s journey as a content creator began before she became a wife or a mother. After she was let go from her 9-to-5 job, her husband (who was her boyfriend at the time) encouraged Bradley to make videos.

“He was trying to encourage me to do it, but I was so shy,” she said. “I didn’t like the sound of my voice, I didn’t have the camera equipment, I didn’t know how to edit a video at all, and I just wasn’t familiar with it in a way that made me feel like I could do it.”

Still hesitant, she agreed to make one video “if for nothing else to get him to stop asking me.” And just like that, she felt the spark. It wasn’t about views or engagement at that point. “I just knew that I wanted to do another one because I know I can do it better,” she said.

She learned how to trust herself.

Bradley’s journey has been a lesson in trusting herself and breaking out of her comfort zone. She never imagined living the life she has today. Growth “took a lot of time” and the path was anything but straightforward.

“I kept making videos, I kept putting out content, but I didn’t really know what would happen,” she said. “I was just doing things in a sense that, if I’m consistent and I continue to put the work in, then something will happen. Something has to happen.”

At one point, Bradley returned to work, this time at a police call center. It was a steady income. But when the job required her to pivot to police dispatch work, the stress became too much. After three years, she decided to leave. “That was the first time I quit a job without one lined up,” she said. “It was one of the best decisions that I made.”

Things turned around during the global pandemic. She continued to create content and was inspired to step outside of her comfort zone. This led to an opportunity to sign with a talent agency. “It was kind of that break that I knew would happen if I just stayed consistent,” she said.

Despite the slow burn of her uphill journey as a content creator, Bradley was encouraged along the way by the positive feedback she received from people who connected with her content — whether it was about natural hair care or her IVF journey. “Things like that made me know, okay, I’m going to continue this even if it turns out to be nothing,” she said.

As a new mom, her content became more personal.

Bradley decided that it was time to switch things up when she started the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. She began to vlog about her IVF journey, sharing a more intimate side of her personal journey. “I decided to get more personal because other people being personal in that space really helped me,” she said.

Now with beautiful 15-month-old daughter Lennox by her side, Bradley is sharing her life as a new mom. Producing videos with her daughter has been a learning experience that completely changed her creative approach, but she’s having fun with it and going with the flow. “I put her in front of the camera and she’s going to do whatever she feels like doing,” she said. “That’s the fun of it. It gives me more space to be creative in ways that I wasn’t expecting.”

‘There’s no one like you, so your perspective will always be unique.’

Throughout her evolution as a content creator, Bradley was open to learning and trying new things. She reminds herself that it’s about progress, not perfection. “I think a lot of times we let fear direct what we do,” she said.

She embraced her own lived experience and saw the value in connecting with her supporters through content creation. “There’s no one like you, so your perspective will always be unique,” she said.

Also in this episode of Mompreneurs, Bradley shared her advice for new content creators and discussed the unexpected video that caught the attention of Keke Palmer. Watch the full episode above.

Every week, we celebrate beautiful Black entrepreneurs who are simultaneously amazing business moguls and awesome moms. We listen to their life stories and inspiring advice. Catch new episodes of Mompreneurs every Monday on MADAMENOIRE’s YouTube channel. Or listen to the podcast online at Urban1Podcasts.com.