DC’s Unskrypted, CEO takes the spotlight in upcoming ‘Founding in Color’ series

Unskrypted, a startup visual media network focused on Black creators’ content, will soon get its own visual spotlight thanks to Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs’ “Founding in Color” docuseries.

The series “shines the spotlight on eleven Black and Latino startup founders as they get candid about navigating race, family, identity, mental health and more, all while building and scaling businesses in America today,” according to its website.

This focus corresponds with that of Unskrypted’s DC-based founder and CEO Folasadé Ogunmokun, who described her startup’s platform as “the first ever interactive shopping streaming network focused on Black-led content with Black-owned businesses.”

“We are doing something that can help change the ecosystem of how the Black dollar works, how businesses are seen and how content creators are rewarded for their content,” she told Technical.ly.

Unskrypted’s website describes the network as “an interactive cinematic experience that aims to redefine the narrative surrounding the Black community through 24-hour programming made FREE to its viewers by using advertisements and commercials.”

Ogunmokun was already a fan of “Founding in Color,” and thus thrilled to be featured in the second season. She said the producers “put so much care and thought into each founder, learning about our journeys and showcasing our stories in different formats.”

For Ogunmokun, who is Nigerian American, the spotlight is necessary for other founders of color.

“We are still celebrating people who are the first at doing something,” she said. “By creating this space and opportunity for founders to share their stories, growth, wins and losses, we can encourage more people to take a leap of faith and turn their ideas into reality.  Otherwise, if you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist.”

Ogunmokun’s passion for a television career goes back to her childhood: “I was born talking,” she said, laughing.

She later took this drive to Howard University, where she studied television production. Realizing that she could better “redefine the narrative” by working behind the scenes, she abandoned her plans for an on-air career and ended up working at a TV station.

That was where she worked in 2012 when she, a new mother of a baby boy, was first deeply impacted by the killing of Trayvon Martin. She ultimately left the station determined to do something to “make the world better for my son, so I don’t have to look at another story like Trayvon Martin and fear that it could be my child.”

She started Unskrypted after identifying the disconnect between content creators and businesses. For other founders like her, she had a simple yet crucial piece of advice: “If you are interested in starting a business, it is very important to figure out the financials beforehand, even if it is just an emergency fund.”

Ogunmokun will appear in “Founding in Color” alongside fellow DC-area founder Maisha Burt, the CEO of workspace reservation marketplace WorkChew.

You can learn more about their stories when “Founding in Color” airs Feb. 16 on Peacock, Black Experience on Xfinity (Channel 1622), X1 on demand, Flex and via the Xfinity Stream app. Check out the trailer below, and if you like what you see, you can tune into Unskrypted’s virtual game night on Feb. 21.