Lenexa based interior design company Dscover Ur Dzine was recently featured on the cover of the All Black Everything, a Kansas City magazine dedicated to promoting black entrepreneurs. Business and life partners Angelo Wright Jr. and Darrell Johnson run Dscover and create the items in their home collection.
“Me and my partner, we split what the actual home collection is,” Wright said. “I do the art in the trays, along with the stemless wine glasses, and my partner handles the other part of the business.”
“The foundation of our company is interior design and just over the last year, we’ve developed our home collection, so for probably about the last eight months of the year, I’ve been working on our candles,” Johnson said. “It took a lot of practice and a lot of mistakes to get to where we are now.”
On Jan. 15 the first issue of All Black Everything was released, with physical copies shipping Jan. 21. Patricia Mitchell created the magazine to promote Black businesses, artists and first responders.
“I utilized social media and said, ‘Hey, if I were to create a magazine that was targeting all Black businesses to promote and advertise services, products, and talents in the community, would you guys want to participate?’ and the response was a resounding yes,” Mitchell said. We don’t have the same opportunities in terms of advertising in mainstream media and magazines, and so this would be perfect.”
Mitchell quickly created a website that allowed interested companies to reach out to her. The first issue sold nearly two hundred copies in total.
“The feedback has been really amazing,” Mitchell said. “One lady indicated she had the magazine on her coffee table next to her Michelle Obama book. I was pretty impressed by that, because you got Michelle Obama on display, that’s huge.”
Wright is the cover image and Dscover Ur Dzine is the first business featured in the magazine. Wright and Johnson have history with Mitchell.
“We met her at a vendor about a year ago, we were a vendor, and she was one of the people that was there at the fashion show,” Wright said. “When she stood up, we were like, ‘Who is this woman, she looks like somebody of importance.’”
While Dscover Ur Dzine was originally only supposed to make an appearance, after repeatably asking Mitchell about various aspects of the magazine she eventually offered Wright a position as coeditor of the magazine.
“We kept having conversations with her, just kind of being more inquisitive about things to see what she was doing,” Wright said. “She came back to us and said, ‘Hey, not only do I want to put you guys on the very first issue of All Black Everything, I would like to know if you can be on the team and make you the co-editor of the company’ and I was completely, of course, honored.”
Dscover Ur Dzine has seen an increase in interest since the first issue of All Black Everything was released, and they’re not the only ones.
“I’ve had a couple of people reach out to me to tell me that they’ve gotten some additional new clients from the ad, and they’ve been approached by different individuals wanting to utilize their products or services,” Mitchell said. “Those individuals are saying, ‘Hey, I saw you in All Black Everything Magazine, and I’m interested in X, Y, Z’ whatever product or service they offer.”
The next issue of All Black Everything will come out March 15. Wright and Johnson plan to continue working with the magazine as long as they can.
“Absolutely, I believe that All Black Everything is a platform that is going to be a continuous conversation,” Wright said. “It’s going to continue to open up doors and opportunities, and not only is it going to do that, but it’s also going to just educate in every kind of way possible to any and everybody.”
“We’re proud of being Black men,” Johnson said. “We’re proud of other Black women and men, and what better way to celebrate than to be able to have a platform that is solely just for us and for everybody to enjoy.”
You can make an appointment with Dscover Ur Dzine through their website.
By Jason Yearout