Watch as Imani Lee, founder of Black Stock Footage, takes the stage at Tampa Bay Wave's prestigious TechDiversity Accelerator Program Demo Day in July 2023. In front of an audience of 200+ investors, political leaders, professionals, and community members, Imani shares our mission to create better Black representation in the stock video and photo market.

Bold Journey interviewed Imani Lee to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey, how he learned to be resilient, and the exciting progress he's making with building and growing Black Stock Footage into the largest supplier and distributor of stock content focused on Black representation.

Tampa Bay Wave’s TechDiversity Accelerator program, powered by The Nielsen Foundation, is a 90 day program designed for early stage tech companies 51% owned, controlled and operated by people of color (including Black, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Latino or Latina, Native or other minority entrepreneurs), women, veterans, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities or combination thereof.

In honor of Black History Month, advertising agency PPK featured the founders of Black Stock Footage and their journey to building a tech startup with a mission to increase Black representation in digital media!

"Why Black Stock Footage is one to watch: The company was one of 10 in the nation that won a $25,000 grant from the NAACP and Daymond John, an entrepreneur and host of ABC's 'Shark Tank'. The grant comes three months after Black Stock Footage won another $25,000, this time from Miami Endeavor's Pitch Competition."

"Besides meeting clients’ need for clips with Black representation, Black Stock Footage will serve as an education tool through a search function enabling users -- and even casual browsers -- to drill down and see clips of Black people with different skin tones, or who are from different cultures and communities."

Every day advertisers bombard consumers with thousands of images, trying to sell something or send a message. However, those images aren’t always inclusive, and a Tampa startup is focusing on changing that.

"I founded Black Stock Footage with the idea to solve the issue of the lack of Black representation and visibility within the stock media platform,” said Imani Lee, founder and CEO of Black Stock Footage.

Daymond John, the founder and CEO of FUBU and Co-Star of ABC’s four-time Emmy Award winning show, Shark Tank, alongside Chase for Business present the NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant to Black Stock Footage at the second annual Black Entrepreneurs Day live from Harlem’s Legendary Apollo Theater.

"I started looking and said, 'I don't see enough of people who do look like me and in the Black community.'"

A Tampa couple, and startup co-founders of Black Stock Footage, pitched a winning idea to Microsoft that is paying off. 

"This is where we first starting dating," said Zebrina Edgerton-Maloy, pointing to a photo of her and now fiancé Imani Lee in high school. 

The high school sweethearts have been celebrating a decades-worth of milestones together, including the launch of their business in which Microsoft is investing $25,000. 

As publishers and creative agencies attest, finding stock visuals portraying Black consumers and community members in everyday activities can be a challenge. With that need in mind, three judges selected Black Stock Footage, a stock video platform 100% focused on Black representation, as the winner of Endeavor Miami’s first pitch competition for Black entrepreneurs. Black Stock Footage founder Imani Lee took home $25,000 in non-diluted cash, plus $25,000 worth of credits to utilize Microsoft’s Azure cloud service.