Being a Virgin Islands native is a unique experience. Not many people can say they had an upbringing involving perfect Caribbean beaches, a unique culture, amazing food, and so much more.
Unfortunately, natives are also familiar with the reality of limited creative outlets, entertainment, and opportunities that are often out-sourced to mainland entities that leave locals out of the narrative and the benefits.
Enter the Blen Collective: a cooperative comprised of multiple Virgin Islanders with a common mission of creating immersive experiences as well as new entertainment opportunities to the territory with locals in mind.
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We recently had an opportunity to sit down with three of the group’s founders to talk all about the Blen Collective’s inception, mission, and future plans. Check out their interview below.
On Creating The Collective
Keiann Corlise, Blen Collective’s Lead Designer and St. Croix native, attributes her connection to the Blen Collective as a desire to expand her work.
“Initially, I was asked to design the logo, but at this point in my career, I wanted to be able to do more. So I asked to be in charge of the overall branding of the collective.”
When it comes to the overall look and feel of the Blen Collective, there is much more thought that goes into it than your typical brand suite. As a designer known for the Sports Illustrated featured brand KASS Swimwear, Keiann wanted Blen Collective’s brand identity to reflect the people for who it was created. She noted that its overall look is a reflection of the collective itself – a mirror of Virgin islands people seen in the brown and nude tones used in its graphics and products.
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Blen Collective’s Creative Director Whitney Frederick works closely with Keiann to tie projects and products together to advance its mission and communicate that to the public.
“We have graphic designers, videographers, and photographers, you name it. I get to help connect the dots when it comes to the content.”
Whitney recalled how TK Petersen, one of the Blen Collective’s founders, reached out to her to pitch the Blen Collective idea and how the opportunity to create an impact for Virgin Islanders convinced her to become involved. “We stayed on the phone for a while talking about it. At the time, I was working two jobs and creating my personal content, so I had no time, but after he pitched it, I decided I would make time.”
On Execution and Planning
Blen Collective’s inaugural event took form as “BLENSZN,” a conference and showcase hosted at TK Petersen’s “The Gathering Spot” Atlanta location that brought dozens of Atlanta-based Virgin Islanders together to hear from featured creators, artists, and industry leaders.
“We try to plan events in places where we have the most resources to be able to execute them well.” shared Taniya Larencin, who takes on the music and content for the organization, regarding the choice of Atlanta as the event location.
To make it happen, the team worked hard and collectively in the spirit of their name. From hosting daily team calls to traveling to Atlanta together and locking themselves in their workspace to map out the entire event, refine it, and plan logistics.
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Keiann reflected on the pride she felt while seeing an event of this nature come to life. “There were so many moments where I started to cry just seeing how rich VI culture is and seeing how Virgin Islanders have done so well outside of home and how that came together.”
The team followed the success of their conference by hosting a second event this July on St. Croix titled Freedom Fest: a three-day festival featuring local music and culture, which allowed people to come together to celebrate Virgin Islands Emancipation Day.
“I like to think of it as a cultural extravaganza outside of our usual events. The basis of it was to put a focal point on Emancipation Day. Freedom Fest was birthed by the idea that we should be celebrating Emancipation Day more intentionally than we do July 4th.” Taniya noted.
Blen Collective collaborated with local entertainment and event company KDM Productions to launch Freedom Fest, noting that they never plan an event without starting with local contractors.
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More Than Just Events
“I went to high school with TK. Our friendship was heavily centered on a love of music, so we try to integrate music into everything that the collective does. That includes giving local artists platforms,” shared Taniya.
She noted that the founders kept an eye on culture early on and that the concept for the collective came from that need for artist exposure in all fields. The team shared that they had witnessed Virgin Islanders being pushed out of spaces that should be local.
On giving back and reclaiming those spaces, Keiann stated that their projects are also the collective’s way of developing local products in many different areas. “From rolling papers, to talent, clothing, artists, decision-makers, and more. It brings Virgin Islanders together to create products that can then go back into the economy.”
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On Not Taking “No” For An Answer
In addition to their shared mission of reclaiming space, the team also recognized that they were unwilling to follow a status quo that usually sees young organizations give up after hearing “no” too many times from larger entities.
“The way the collective is set up is so that no one can tell us no. We have people skilled in media, cultural history, we have lawyers, architects, you name it. I want to change the VI, but I’m one person, and they can tell me “no.” It’s hard to say “no” to a group of people who feel the same way.” shared Whitney.
The team noted that they could have taken their formula and applied it anywhere globally, but a commonality in culture drove them to keep it in the Virgin Islands. Taniya shared that “it feels good to work and navigate in a professional space and still talk in my accent. To me, that’s what makes it special.”
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On The Future of Blen Collective
The Blen Collective team hopes to see their work grow while encouraging other Virgin Islanders to make room for collaboration and exposure.
“The biggest export in the Virgin Islands is people, which is a good thing. It means we’ve seen the world, so we know what’s possible. You have to leave so that you can physically see that the world is bigger than home, figure out how to make an impact, and then come back and execute that impact.” Keiann shared.
Both Whitney and Taniya hope for the Blen collective to become a source for all things local while expanding how people think about culture.
“We’re hoping that we grow to a point where we completely transform the idea of what “cultural” means in the Virgin Islands. We want to set the standard and show that culture can mean high end, it can mean luxury, and it can still be authentically Virgin Islands.”
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