What BLK + GRN does

BLK + GRN is a curated e-commerce marketplace and content platform exclusively dedicated to non-toxic wellness, personal care, beauty, home, and lifestyle products made by Black-owned artisan brands. Founded in 2017 by Dr. Kristian J. Edwards — a Yale and Johns Hopkins-trained public health professional — the company was built in response to documented disproportionate toxic-chemical exposure among Black women and a lack of trusted, transparent alternatives in mainstream retail. The platform vets every brand against a proprietary "Toxic Twenty" ingredient standard developed with Black health professionals and informed by Environmental Working Group research, aggregating 136+ vetted artisan brands and approximately 169 products across skin care, hair care, home care, and wellness categories. Beyond commerce, BLK + GRN operates a content ecosystem including an educational blog, the BLK Garden Podcast (78+ episodes, 15K+ monthly downloads), a wellness events calendar, and a 38K+-subscriber newsletter with 210K+ social followers cumulatively.

The company generates revenue through two streams. The first is marketplace sales — historically direct product sales through the platform's own storefront, now transitioning (as of March 2026) toward an affiliate/discovery model where customers purchase directly from artisan brand websites. The second is a tiered menu of marketing services sold to artisan brands: sponsored blog posts ($100), newsletter features ($250), Instagram story placements ($125), wellness calendar postings ($75), and link insertions ($60). Distribution is direct-to-consumer through the blkgrn.com e-commerce storefront, with content marketing, earned media, podcasting, and community events serving as primary demand-generation channels. The business is founder-owned, bootstrapped (no disclosed institutional funding rounds), and operates with a 1-10 person team out of the Washington DC metro area.

The March 2026 strategic pivot from warehouse fulfillment to a discovery-and-affiliate model is the most consequential recent move, signaling a deliberate retreat from capital-intensive logistics toward a leaner, content- and community-driven monetization model. This shift positions BLK + GRN less as a retailer and more as a trust layer and audience intermediary between Black artisans and health-conscious Black women consumers. Earned media coverage in NYT, Forbes, Essence, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and Beauty Independent provides brand credibility that translates into the platform's pricing power for marketing services.

Name

BLK + GRN

Legal name

BLK + GRN, LLC

Website

https://blkgrn.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BLK + GRN is a curated marketplace and content platform connecting health-conscious Black women consumers with non-toxic wellness, beauty, and personal care products from 136+ vetted Black-owned artisan brands, monetizing through affiliate sales and paid marketing services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clean Beauty Marketplace

NAICS

Cosmetics, Beauty Supplies, and Perfume Retailers (456120), Food (Health) Supplement Retailers (456191)

SIC

Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations (2844)

akta.pro primary industry

Beauty & Salon Professional Supply Marketplaces (CRAFAHAH)

Keywords

• Non-toxic wellness marketplace
• Black-owned artisan brands
• Clean beauty curation
• Natural personal care
• Wellness marketing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Upper Marlboro

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Marketplace Sales: BLK + GRN acts as a curated marketplace connecting consumers with Black artisan brands. The platform earns through affiliate referral links where purchases redirect to artisan brand sites, as well as direct product sales on the platform. A recent shift announced in March 2026 will move customers to purchase directly from artisan brands rather than through BLK + GRN's warehouse.
2. Marketing Services: The company offers paid marketing services to artisan brands including sponsored blog posts ($100), wellness calendar postings ($75), newsletter features ($250), and Instagram stories ($125). These services provide visibility within BLK + GRN's engaged community of health-conscious Black women.
3. Blog Content Sponsorship: Brand-sponsored blog posts priced at $100 include original content, backlinks, and full brand features. Link insertions into existing blog posts available for $60. Both options drive traffic and boost visibility within the wellness community.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

BLK + GRN operates a curated online marketplace featuring non-toxic wellness, skin care, hair care, home care, and lifestyle products made by 136+ vetted Black-owned artisan brands. The platform screens products against a proprietary Toxic Twenty ingredient list developed with Black health professionals, and as of 2026 is transitioning from direct warehouse sales to a discovery-and-curation model that directs customers to purchase from artisan brand websites via affiliate links. The company also sells paid marketing placements to artisan brands across its blog, newsletter, Instagram, and wellness events calendar.

Product overview

BLK + GRN is a curated non-toxic wellness marketplace built exclusively around independent Black artisan brands. Founded in 2017 by Dr. Kristian J. Edwards, the platform connects conscious consumers with safe, clean, effective products across five main categories: Skin Care (face, body, hands+feet), Hair Care (shampoo, conditioner, oils, butters, gels, creme), Home Care (cleaning, laundry, aromatherapy), Wellness (menstrual care, tea, superfoods, vitamins, oral care), and All products. The marketplace features over 136 Black artisan brands and 169 products. BLK + GRN also offers a content platform through its BLK Garden Podcast and wellness-focused blog, plus a BLK Wellness Calendar for community events. Marketing services are available for artisan brands including sponsored blogs, newsletter features, and Instagram story placements. The marketplace uses a Toxic Twenty ingredient screening list developed with Black health experts to ensure product safety.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BLK Garden Podcast: The company's podcast featuring conversations with wellness entrepreneurs, artisans, and health experts focused on Black women's wellness
• BLK + GRN Wellness Marketing

Products and services

• BLK + GRN Marketplace Curated online marketplace dedicated to non-toxic wellness and personal care products made by Black-owned artisan brands, featuring 136+ artisan brands and 169+ products across skin care, hair care, body care, home care, and wellness categories.
• Skin Care Collections Curated non-toxic skin care category featuring face care, body care, and hands/feet products from Black artisan brands.
• Hair Care Collections Curated hair care category offering shampoo, conditioner, oils, butters, gels, and creams from Black artisan brands.
• Home Care Collections Curated home care category offering cleaning, laundry, and aromatherapy products from Black artisan brands.
• Wellness Collections Curated wellness category offering menstrual care, tea, superfoods, vitamins, and oral care from Black artisan brands.
• Sponsored Blog Post Paid marketing service for artisan brands offering a dedicated blog post with original content, backlinks, and full brand features, priced at $100.
• Newsletter Feature Paid marketing service offering newsletter feature placement reaching 38K+ email subscribers, priced at $250.
• Instagram Story Placement Paid marketing service offering Instagram story placement to 210K+ social followers, priced at $125.
• Black Girl Wellness Events Calendar Posting Paid marketing service offering calendar posting for wellness events targeting Black women, priced at $75.
• BLK Garden Podcast Weekly podcast platform featuring conversations with wellness entrepreneurs, artisans, and health experts on topics of health, rest, and intentional living for Black women; 78+ episodes and 15K+ monthly downloads.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,900+ five-star customer reviews demonstrating product satisfaction and trust
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Black Artisan Wellness BrandscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2017BLK + GRN partners with 136+ independent Black-owned artisan brands as its primary vendor base. These brands supply non-toxic wellness, beauty, personal care, home, and lifestyle products to the marketplace. The partnership involves a four-step approval process including ingredient review, brand alignment assessment, quality assurance testing, and onboarding support.
• Environmental Working Group (EWG)minorOthersBLK + GRN references the Environmental Working Group's research and ingredient safety scoring (e.g., EWG Verified products with low hazard scores) as part of its ingredient vetting framework. The Toxic Twenty list was developed utilizing the latest research from leading regulating agencies.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Thirteen Lune: Thirteen Lune is a curated e-commerce marketplace dedicated to Black- and Brown-owned beauty and wellness brands, mirroring BLK + GRN's curated marketplace model with a similar target demographic and value proposition around discovery of brands owned by people of color.
• The Honey Pot Company: The Honey Pot is a Black-founded wellness and personal care brand focused on plant-based, clean feminine and body care. It shares BLK + GRN's focus on non-toxic ingredients, Black women consumers, and is sold through similar DTC and curated marketplace channels.
• Mented Cosmetics: Mented is a Black-owned beauty brand (makeup and nail) built specifically for women of color. It competes in the same consumer segment as BLK + GRN's curated artisan brands and exemplifies the type of vendor the marketplace curates.
• Pattern Beauty: Pattern Beauty is a Black-founded haircare brand serving textured hair, founded by Tracee Ellis Ross. It exemplifies the high-profile Black-owned artisan brand that BLK + GRN curates and competes for the same health-conscious Black women consumer.
• Briogeo: Briogeo is a Black-founded clean haircare brand. As a leading non-toxic Black-owned personal care brand, it is the type of vendor BLK + GRN both curates and competes for consumer attention with.

Broad incumbents

• SheaMoisture: SheaMoisture (Sundial Brands/Unilever) is an established Black-founded natural personal care brand with mass retail distribution. It competes broadly in the same non-toxic, Black-consumer-focused category but operates at significantly larger scale across grocery, drug, and mass channels.
• Sephora (Black-owned curation programs): Sephora's 'Black-owned' and BIPOC curation initiatives, alongside its Sephora Accelerate program, are a broad incumbent competing for the same Black-owned brand shelf space and consumer discovery that BLK + GRN operates in, but at vastly greater scale and resources.

Emerging players

• Epara: Epara is a Black-founded luxury skincare brand formulated for melanin-rich skin. It is the type of premium, non-toxic artisan brand BLK + GRN curates, with overlapping target consumer and ingredient philosophy.
• Golde: Golde is a Black-founded wellness and superfood brand selling turmeric lattes, face masks, and supplements. It overlaps with BLK + GRN's wellness category and Black-women consumer targeting with a similar clean, culturally resonant positioning.
• Brown Girl Jane: Brown Girl Jane is a Black- and Brown-women-founded luxury wellness and CBD beauty brand. It overlaps with BLK + GRN's non-toxic wellness positioning and serves a similar conscious-consumer audience at the premium end of the segment.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/blkandgrn
• Xx.com/blkandgrn

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BLK + GRN