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the Hollywood Reporter | South African Surf Brand Mami Wata Pops Up in Venice
The Afrocentric lifestyle label, co-founded by TV host Selema Masekela, opens on Abbot Kinney for four months, offering beachwear and surfboards inspired by motifs and proverbs from across the continent.
African surf brand Mami Wata has just a debuted 4-month-long pop-up shop in Venice.
Co-founder Selema Masekela — a TV host (Vice World of Sports), sports commentator and producer — had long dreamed of creating a surf brand reflective of African people.
Wolfgang Puck to Collaborate With Ghetto Gastro at Post-Oscars Governors Ball
Wolfgang Puck will again be back in the kitchen steering the menu for this year’s Governors Ball — but he’ll have company.
The high-profile chef will collaborate with Bronx-based culinary collective Ghetto Gastro. Led by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao and Lester Walker, the group offers more than just meals; it’s a movement that merges food, fashion, music, art and design by blending “influences from the African diaspora, global South ingredients and hip-hop to create offerings that address race, identity and economic empowerment.”
PR NEWSWIRE | Genesis X Concept Unveiled
Genesis partnered with award-winning director, Jason Bergh, to create the 'Genesis X California' film, highlighting the dynamism of California's car culture, Genesis' pioneering spirit, and the promise of a sustainable future for all.
Forbes | Five Stellar Questions With Carri Twigg: Cannabis Social Justice Warrior
A Former Special Assistant to President Obama and Director of Public Engagement for Vice President Joe Biden, Carri Twigg is a leading cannabis social justice warrior. Twigg is a founding organizer of Possible Plan, one of the first brand agnostic foundations working for equitable access and reparatory justice in the marijuana industry.
50 NEXT | Class of 2021 - Entrepreneurial Creatives
Jon Gray doesn’t run from the word ‘ghetto’. Born and raised in the Bronx, he says that his disruptive project – Ghetto Gastro – is about “showing you what we already know: the hood is good”. The collective, which he co-founded and of which he is now CEO, uses food as a medium to ignite conversations about race, inequity and inclusivity. But it’s about much more than food: it’s a school of thought that challenges people’s expectations and perceptions of the Bronx and helps build new narratives that empower the black and brown people in the community.”
HIGHSNOBIETY | Ghetto Gastro’s Guide To Good Taste
To those who complain that nothing new or original is happening in the culture of today, let us point you directly towards Ghetto Gastro. If a collective innovating at the nexus of culinary arts, fashion, political activism, and community engagement isn't original, we're not sure what is.
MR PORTER | What’s Cooking, America? Ghetto Gastro On The Politics And Festivity Of Food
Throughout a year in which there has been very little about which to be thankful, the guys behind the Bronx-based culinary collective Ghetto Gastro have been a godsend. Inspiring, even when confronting the darkest and seemingly intractable issues of race and resource allocation in the US. Incredible when mobilising their local community to create and distribute meals during the nadir of our lockdown. And positively joyous while engaging their global network of influential friends and partners to drive necessary cultural conversations, both online and off.
VICE | The Dinner Party of Dreams
We asked a group of chefs, creatives, and activists who are bringing change and new perspective to the food and wellness worlds—who are actively working to examine and highlight notions of identity, access, and sustainability, while decentering whiteness in food narratives—to step into an imaginative headspace, to think up their own dream dinner parties. The act of imagining can have tandem purposes, too: to inspire a moment of respite in the present, and vibrant hope for the future. Because, in the words of Ghetto Gastro’s Lester Walker, “If you're not at the table, you on the menu, man.”
SNOWBOARDER.COM | Elevating Voices: Selema Masekela
Selema Masekela’s role in framing snowboarding to the masses is unparalleled. The same could be said about his ability to contextualize worldly issues. The son of a political exile from apartheid in South Africa, Selema has been at the frontlines of snowboarding and race issues since his earliest memories. His meteoric rise through the action sports industry includes monumental and continued contributions at brands, events, and non-profits, in addition to being an esteemed and vital voice in snowboarding, both on and off the mic.
Sneaker News | Ghetto Gastro Puts Their Flavor On The Air Jordan 1 Low React “Fearless”
Widely known for their remarkable talents in the kitchen, Ghetto Gastro is taking their talents to the world of sneakers by cooking up this forthcoming collaboration with Jordan Brand.
The New York Times | Black Surfers Reclaim Their Place On The Waves
The first time Selema Masekela, a surfer and founder of Mami Wata, a lifestyle brand, saw another Black surfer in the water in California, he paddled right over so that they could exchange origin stories.
“I didn’t even need to know him to know what it took for him to be out there,” said Mr. Masekela, who recently published “Afrosurf,” a book celebrating surfing in Africa. “There’s so much you have to do on land to make the choice to even go. Then there’s the outright potential for aggression and the constant processing of micro-aggression.” The code-switching he said he needed for surfing “had become like a subliminal superpower.”
Vanyaland | Matt Bellassai brings his ‘Unhappy Hour’ to a state with no happy hour
Matt Bellassai may be making a conscious effort to ensure his abs don’t make an appearance in the Bay State this weekend, but he’s okay with doing that, because he’d rather give us all a great workout with some laughs.
WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY | Dockers Taps Selema Masekela and Ryan Harris, Advocates for Racial Equality and Sustainability in the Surfing Industry
To celebrate 35 years in the industry, Dockers is spotlighting Selema Masekela and Ryan Harris in its latest ad campaign. Harris, an artist and surfboard shaper, is the creator of Earth Technologies, an innovative California-based company that manufactures eco-friendly surfboards and promotes a zero-waste approach to production. Alongside fellow surfer Masekela — who wears many hats as a creator, entertainer, TV host and producer — Harris cofounded 1 Planet One People (along with Danielle Black Lyons and Hunter Jones), a collective advocating for sustainable practices, racial and social equality in surfing.“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
Localish | S1 E55 Matt Bellassai Gets Paid To Get Drunk and Whine About Life
Matt Bellassai is a an internet star, comedian, and all-around wine connoisseur, and his go-to wine bar is Bar Veloce on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Check out his weekly video series To Be Honest, and follow him on social media @MattBellassai.
SHOP-EAT-SURF | Burton Adds Selema Masekela to its Board of Directors
Today, Burton is proud to welcome Selema Masekela to its Board of Directors, a group of trusted advisors who provide valuable guidance to the world’s leading snowboard company, which is privately owned by Donna Carpenter.
“For several decades, Jake and I have consulted a small group of trusted advisors to guide and challenge us as we led Burton through ups and downs,” said Donna Carpenter, Chair of the Board and Owner of Burton. “We were so young, and neither of us had run a company, a brand or a sport before – we were literally learning as we built Burton. Jake always half joked that he didn’t have a boss – except the Burton Board. He wanted the board to give him candid feedback, and he took their advice and constructive criticism to heart. As our three sons got older, they also started participating in our board meetings. At our most recent meeting in November, George, our oldest son, presented the idea of having Selema join the board, and we’re so very honored he accepted the position.”
ELLE | Ghetto Gastro Shares Their Arroz Ají Amarillo Recipe with ELLE
Bronx-based culinary collective, #GhettoGastro is on a mission to empower communities through food. Today on #MamaIMadeIt, we join the trio– Pierre, Jon, and Lester – in the kitchen as they walk us through their Arroz Ají Amarillo Recipe. Eat Up!
VOGUE | Michele Lamy and Ghetto Gastro Are Cooking Their Way Through Lockdown
Michèle Lamy’s longstanding role as business partner and creative collaborator to Rick Owens may have secured her status as one of the fashion world’s most beloved eccentrics. But an oft-forgotten fact is that back in the late ’90s, when the pair lived in Los Angeles, Lamy not only worked as an artist and designer but was also a successful restaurateur.