The Divine Nine | The Daily Social Distancing Show

Black Excellence: A Short History of Black Sororities and Fraternities

The Divine 9 (D9) is a collective of Black Greek-lettered sororities and fraternities that, for decades, have been uplifting and amplifying black voices at American universities. Our Community Organizer, Torey, witnessed first-hand the black excellence these organizations promote.

The Divine Nine (D9) is the example Black collective.

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Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit" Live 1959 [Reelin' In The Years Archives]

Kendrick Lamar - Alright

Les Amazones d'Afrique chantent "I Play The Kora"

In the United States, protest music dates back to the 18th century and the American Revolutionary War. During the 19th century, songs were expressions of protest against topics such as poverty, the Civil War, and slavery with African-American spirituals like “Oh, Freedom” defining this time.

A short history of protest music

My knees gettin' weak and my gun might blow

-Pre-chorus from Kendrick Lamar’s "Alright"

Murals. Drawings. Paintings. Following George Floyd’s death in 2020, the world saw him globally immortalized by countless artists who created works dedicated to his memory, and pleading for his killers to be brought to justice. George Floyd has become an icon, both in a personal and artistic sense.

A Short History of American Protest Art

As long as America has existed, art has been used in all forms to challenge the status-quo.

2020 has kept us plugged in all year, scrolling through news feeds, texts, emails, you name it. So to celebrate the passing of 2020, we thought we’d share a playlist of the tunes that got us through this SPECTACULAR year.

2020: At Least the Music Was Good

This is a rally cry. A shout into the digital universe. A signal for the restless who cannot stop.

Calling All Digital Misfits

This is a rally cry. A shout into the digital universe. A signal for the restless who cannot stop exploring, experimenting, testing and trying to break the rules. An invitation to those creative bandits who want to surprise the world with new ideas and even newer ways of delivering them.  

In the Key of Ecosystems

Let’s take our Sundays and use them as the reset buttons they were meant to be.

Sundays and Silver Linings

Vote Every Day Campaign Video

B Before C: A designer's insight on purpose-driven companies

We support Houston women: a map to March On all year long 

The rush and feeling of community empowerment from walking with Houston Women March On* is still going strong in our office.

We support Houston women: a map to March On all year long

Condensed

Black Sheep’s interview with Minal Patel Davis, Special Advisor to the Houston Mayor's Office on Human Trafficking

A Hidden Crime

We’re hiring for a Concierge/Task Master/Office Parent/General Getter of Things Done. And, hey, you can even help us pick your title.

Are you the match we're missing?

We are no longer accepting applications, but want to stay connected! Sign up for our newsletter or send us a note to be the first to know when we're hiring. 

Are you the match we're missing? (CLOSED)

A Decade of Discourse: Our Best Blogs from the First 10 Years

A list of our top 10 best blogs over the last decade.

Everyone loves to count backwards from 10. The growing volume of the crowd. The anticipation. The promise of something unmissable at the end. And whether it’s a rocket launch or the clock ticking its way into a new year, hitting zero is always exhilarating.

Hello, World. Here are our newest Black Sheep.

Hey there. These are our newest Black Sheep.

The Black Sheep Agency Manifesto

The Change You Can Make with 10

Happy National Book Lovers Day. From, The Flock.

Today, The Flock is celebrating National Book Lovers Day.

At Black Sheep, activating people around things that matter looks different every day.

Make America Dinner Again

At Black Sheep, activating people around things that matter looks different every day. Sometimes we’re rallying big crowds for an event. Sometimes we’re championing our clients’ causes by counting impressions and reach. Lately, we’re sitting down for dinner with a few strangers in our space to talk politics.

If the idea of inviting a bunch of people you don’t know to dinner and immediately bringing up the last election sounds like a twisted nightmare to you, there are a couple of ladies you should meet.

In 2017, following a heated presidential election (you know the one), two women created Make America Dinner Again (MADA), exploring the idea that dinner and thoughtful conversation could bring people together… again.

No lip, all heart: We are an Inc. Best Workplace 2019

The only way to truly be the best at what you do is to know that being “the best” isn’t static. It’s a measure that rises and falls.

Leading the conversation about women’s health starts with you—the new Digital and Social Media Strategist for Own Every Piece at the UTHealth School of Public Health.

WORK: Social Media Strategist Needed

The Miami Vice AJ1. An MTO handcrafted with white and pink crocodile leather as well as turquoise and black python. Lined with Japanese plonge leather liner.  Inspired by the vibrancy of Miami.

@levis x @jumpman23 IV . I’ll be dropping these somewhere in Paris . You find em you keep em . Stay tuned ✌🏽

We live in a high culture of customization—our diets, hair color, movie recommendations, travel experiences.

Customize this

We’re hiring for an Administrative Concierge/Jack of All Trades/Task Master/Office Mom/General Getter of Things Done. And, hey, you can even help us pick your title.

Are you the match we’re missing?

There’s a particular kind of project that doesn’t feel like a project.

It feels like something else entirely. Over Black Sheep’s 16 years, we’ve learned to recognize these engagements — the ones where the stakes are real, where the mission is load-bearing, where getting the story right genuinely changes what’s possible for the people an organization serves. We’ve also learned that these are the projects we want to fill our days with.

Right now, our roster is full of them. I want to talk about that — not as a highlight reel, but as a reflection of what we believe this work is for. And if you’re leading one of these organizations right now and it feels heavy or uncertain or like your story isn’t keeping pace with your mission, this is for you too.


Some projects aren’t a single scope — they’re a relationship, built over time, through the kind of trust that only comes from doing hard things together.

Houston Arts Alliance is in one of the most pivotal moments in its history. A new CEO — the first woman and person of color to lead the organization — has stepped into a role that carries both enormous expectation and extraordinary possibility. We are building alongside them from the ground up: immediate messaging and leadership transition tools, a mission and vision refresh, a public education campaign, a community engagement process and a full brand foundation. Long, layered, listening-first work. Some of our favorite kind.

Houston Parks Board is marking its 50th anniversary at the start of an exciting new chapter — bold new leadership, a visionary strategic plan and a future that has been a century in the making. We’re evolving their brand to match the scale of that moment. Being trusted when the foundation is strong and the future is wide open is its own kind of honor.

Good Reason Houston is an organization we know well — we built their original brand in 2018, and they’ve called on us at several points of strategic inflection since. This is one of those moments. The world these leaders are navigating looks almost nothing like it did seven years ago, and our work together right now is about finding language that tells their story with clarity and confidence for where things are today.

Civic Builders finances and develops school facilities across the country, making excellent schools possible in communities where the need is greatest. We completed a full messaging and positioning strategy with them, and we’re now deep into their visual identity system — in genuine collaboration with their extraordinary internal team. This partnership is the kind we aspire to: the work belongs to all of us.

The Greater Houston Partnership is building an AI-powered tool to connect educators, employers and community partners in ways that expand workforce opportunity. We’re building the brand that makes it accessible and credible from day one.

Fervo Energy is redefining what clean energy looks like. We are their strategic design agency — giving visual and creative form to the complexity of what they’re building, because a breakthrough technology deserves a story told with equal craft.

The University of Nevada, Reno trusted us to direct a digital campaign for their Black Youth Mental Health Initiative — designed to reach young people at the right moment, in the right channels and keep them connected to support that can change the trajectory of their lives. This follows our branding and strategy work for their CDC-sponsored Safer Nights opioid overdose prevention campaign last year.

The Center for Civic and Tech Life is now publishing a magazine for local election officials — the people who make democracy function at the ground level. We named and developed the publication’s visual identity, because this community deserves tools that reflect the seriousness of their work.

In collaboration with January Advisors, we’re working with the League of Women Voters Houston on a set of core values and a strategic plan built for what comes next. The League has been doing this work longer than most organizations have existed. Helping them articulate where they’re headed is not something we take lightly.

Much of this work is happening in Houston — the city where Black Sheep was founded, where many of us live and where we feel the stakes of these institutions personally. When you’re a Houstonian working on Houston, it stops being a client list and starts being something else.

It takes something to make this call. The leaders we work with aren’t doing it because things are easy — they’re doing it because they’ve decided that a story that can’t carry the mission is a liability they can’t afford. That takes clarity about what’s actually at stake. It takes a willingness to look honestly at the gap between where you are and how you’re being perceived. And it takes the kind of courage that doesn’t always get named as courage — the quiet decision to invest in something foundational when there are a hundred urgent things competing for the same resources.

But the thread running through all of it — local and national — is the same: find the organizations doing the most necessary work, and make sure their story is strong enough to carry their mission forward.

If your organization is in a moment that demands more clarity, more confidence or a story that finally matches where you’re headed — we’d love to be in that room with you.

A reflection on 16 years of learning which projects are worth our days — and the mission-driven organizations we're building alongside right now.

The Work That Doesn't Feel Like Work | Black Sheep Agency

What it takes to build a story strong enough to carry a mission forward.

A reflection on the partnerships filling our roster right now — and what it takes for mission-driven organizations to build a story strong enough to carry their work forward.

The Black Sheep blog is turning up the volume on community engagement, social media strategy, Houston happenings and what it means to lead a purpose-driven life.

The Black Sheep Agency | Social impact and nonprofit blog

We like to type as much as we like to listen.

We're not shy.

The Work That Doesn’t Feel Like Work

Black Excellence: A Short History of Black Sororities and Fraternities

A Short History of Protest Music

A Short History of American Protest Art

2020: At Least the Music Was Good

Calling All Digital Misfits

In the Key of Ecosystems

Sundays and Silver Linings

B Before C: A designer's insight on purpose-driven companies

We support Houston women: a map to March On all year long

A Hidden Crime

Are you the match we're missing? (CLOSED)

A Decade of Discourse: Our Best Blogs from the First 10 Years

Hello, World. Here are our newest Black Sheep.

The Change You Can Make with 10

Happy National Book Lovers Day. From, The Flock.

Make America Dinner Again

No lip, all heart: We are an Inc. Best Workplace 2019

WORK: Social Media Strategist Needed

Customize this

Are you the match we’re missing?