Meet Our Black Bonita Creator Fund Finalists & Winner

Hola Bonitas!

Have you missed us already? These past few weeks, we have been busy focusing on strengthening our relationship with our Bonitas. At The Bonita Project, we are proud of our commitment to our company’s message of inclusion and diversity as well as our efforts to prioritize our communities' creative spaces. In February, we took our philosophy to the next level for Black History Month and launched our first-ever Bonita Creator Fund. 

For our $1,000 grant, we wanted Black creators to share their inspirations, stories, and future objectives. Whether it's to entertain, enlighten, or educate, black creators are a significant part of the trends and movements we see daily on social media platforms. When these trends emerge, their voices need to be heard. We are taking steps to provide these creators with resources, starting with funding. As a team, we believe raising awareness of the racial pay disparity among content creators is critical, and we want to encourage change the best we can. 

After receiving so many incredible grant applications, it was finally time to select a winner! Choosing from so many incredible visionaries was the toughest decision ever (y’all are talented, for real)! With many creators to choose from, we boiled it down to five finalists, and then chose one winner. 

Each creator submitted thoughtful responses, and a video describing their ideal brand collaboration as part of their application. From fashion to beauty, to art to education, these creatives should be on your radar!

Meet Our Five Finalists

Jacque Aye

Instagram: @jacqueaye / TikTok: @jacqueaye

Jacque posts lifestyle, comedy, and body positivity content and even published her own book “How To Be A Better Adult”. Jacque also posts podcast clips and creative project updates. The content she makes revolves around young women's mental health. She likes to add (in her words) "magic to the mundane'' through sharing fashion and her feelings. She’s collaborated with HBO Max, but her dream collaboration is to work with the skincare brand Topicals and Therapy for Black Girls. We can’t wait to see what she’ll achieve in the future!

Yerson Leandro Villegas

Instagram: @yersonlv_ / TikTok: @sureleandro

Yerson creates content around comedy, activism, and vlogs. His current goal with creating content is to teach, inspire, and entertain viewers about Latinx history, culture, and his experiences in the United States. Yerson has collaborated with brands like Target, Disney, and Fenty Beauty, but his dream partnership is with Savage X Fenty. We can totally see him modeling Riri’s pieces, #manifesting 🕯️✨

Gabriella Carter

Instagram: @growingwithgabby / TikTok: @growingwithgabby

Gabriella creates educational content to help students secure scholarships and navigate higher education. She sees content creation as an opportunity to share educational information that most people aren’t privy to because of various societal inequities. Her dream brand collaboration is with Chase Bank, but she has already had the chance to work with brands like Walmart and Target. 

Debora Charmelus

Instagram: @deb0nair

Debora creates content that supports and uplifts small businesses. She was always that friend with a recommendation in her back pocket and soon realized that she could use her keen eye to support small businesses in her community. She has already worked with CORA, but her dream collab is with Fifteen Percent Change.

Amanda Gardner

Instagram: @amandapleeze / TikTok: @msamandagardner

Amanda creates content around beauty, lifestyle, and body positivity. In her submission, Amanda describes her creative process and what it means to her, “When I create content, it’s because I’ve found a place where I can be my complete self no matter how it impacts people. At the end of the day, I do it for myself, and that’s what keeps me making content.” Before creating content, Amanda Gardner didn’t see many plus-size creators shaking things up in the influencer space, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. Amanda has recently partnered with Yitty, but her dream brand collaboration is with Netflix.

With finalists like these, you can see how it was so hard to choose 😭! After a lot of thought, there was one candidate that completely stole our hearts. 

Meet Our Winner

Erica Simone Schnell

Instagram: @somuchsimone / TikTok: @somuchsimone

Erika uses her platform as a beauty-focused influencer to share versatile makeup looks and product videography content. Aside from being a multi-faceted beauty influencer, she has introduced a new series to her platforms titled “Filming with the Brand’s Aesthetic,” where she produces her product videography inspired by the brand’s social feeds - and the content is always GIVING. We are thrilled to support her mission and can’t wait to see her continue to inspire others.

So, are you guys ready for our next Bonita Creator Fund? 👀💸

Besos,
Bonita Team