Journalist Letter

“The most awesome experience was being on television and millions of people embracing the magazine all over the world. ”

Serlina Boyd - Founder & Publishing Director, Cocoa Publishing

Dear me,

Serlina Billett, how are you? Actually, you are Serlina Boyd now because you got married on the 10^th January 2010 on the sunny Island of Jamaica. it absolutely poured down with rain but hey, we still had a fantastic time.

Faith Boyd is your daughter and she is 7 years old; you also have a gorgeous little boy called Solomon who is 3 years old and they keep you very busy. Faith is your little heartbeat she was the inspiration behind a magazine idea you had during lockdown. Yes, you heard correctly LOCKDOWN. The country had to stop almost everything and went through a strange time because a virus was on the loose called COVID-19. This virus was very dangerous and began to take the lives of so many people, so the government had to stop the spread by telling everyone to stay home and work from home. This meant your nursery had to close and you were not busy for the first time in your life. You had so much time to spend with your family.

So back to Faith being an inspiration, whilst you were out shopping you searched and searched for a magazine that represented your daughter, just one magazine that had somebody that looked like her and you could not find anything. Scratching your heads, you decided to design a magazine that could help other children that looked like Faith feel good about themselves and feel seen in a world that sometimes promotes one type of beauty. There Cocoa Girl was born a magazine that affirms black girls, inspires, educates and aspires them to become great role models when they are older. This magazine had everybody talking because it was the first of its kind. The magazine also teaches children from different cultural backgrounds about black culture.

The most awesome experience was being on television and millions of people embracing the magazine all over the world. We were even on Access Hollywood which is an American TV network.

The process to creating this magazine has not been an easy one because your background has been in Graphic Design you had to learn new skills such as writing and managing a team overnight. The most amazing experience on this journey is seeing how much Faith has learnt. At the tender age of 7 years old she is the youngest editor in the country. She contributed to most of the features and is constantly coming up with ideas on how we can improve the magazine. Faith’s confidence has also blossomed and has now a real appreciation for her culture.

The plan is to see Cocoa Magazine grow and we are about to launch more titles that is sure to get everybody talking again. My message to you Serlina is that many doors may close in your face, but one life changing door will open up for you and this door will help so many children realise their true potential. Cocoa magazine will go down in history so go forward with confidence the sky’s the limit!