Striving to develop original First Nations talent and unique storytelling, social enterprise Awesome Black is an Australian-based creative agency.

Working across a variety of mediums, Awesome Black generates opportunities for First Nations creatives, to successfully work in the arts, digital and creative industries.

Founder by proud Gamilaroi/Darug man Travis De Vries, the agency was initially launched in April 2020 shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We originally launched Awesome Black in April of 2020 - two weeks before we went into our first lock down. I'd been doing the research and planning for starting Awesome Black for about 18 months before," Mr De Vries said.

"I'd been making an indie podcast called Broriginals alongside my younger brother and I wanted to share what we did, share our resources and networks to help others build together. I wanted to create a vehicle for Mob who worked in the digital creative space to grow, come together and collaborate."

Aiming to put First Nations individuals and communities first, Awesome Black strives to utilise the talent and knowledge of First Nations creatives when and wherever they can.

"We have a mantra that we fall back on for decision making: First Nations First, that if we can find a Blakfulla business or person to work with and hire we will. If there was a corner store down the street that was owned by Mob, I would shop there ahead of anyone else," he said.

Whilst De Vries and the broader cohort of Awesome Black employees do not make up an entire First Nations team, they work significantly closely with one another and are all pushing for this 'First Nations First' business model when it comes to work and industry opportunities.

"At the moment we're not a fully First Nations team because there's a shortage of Mob with the skills we need in the digital creative industry,"De Vries said.

"There's so much demand from non-Indigenous arts orgs for First Nations producers, creators and associated roles (like PR and Marketing) that we struggle to find people who are available to work with us all time and then we have to compete with the wages that other more established businesses are able to pay.

"At the moment we rely on our close team of Mob and non-Mob who we work incredibly closely with. First Nations First is an Ideal but not one we can always meet."

Having already worked on several First Nations projects, events and collaborations, Awesome Black has gained the attention of large-scale publications, retailers and more.

"We curate a playlist for Amazon Music that buys a billboard in a different city each month to promote the playlist - and each month a different Blakfulla musician has been the face on that billboard," De Vries said.

"Big names like Jess Mauboy and Royston Noell through to the currently lesser-known (though hopefully, that will change) Mr Rhodes & Jada Weazel."

Speaking on more recent achievements, Vries shares the agency's expansion into a funded gaming studio, as well as a partnership with SXSW Sydney.

"We recently received our first government agency funding through Screen Australia to fund the Awesome Black Gaming Studio and the development of a video game based on the IP we created. That's incredibly exciting but also terrifying," he said.

"We're partnering really closely with the SXSW team to consult on their curatorial, making sure there is a strong First Nations presence as part of the conference and festival.

"This is everything from making sure there is good representation across panels and curation through to making sure protocol is done in collaboration with MLALC and the local arts community through to inviting Mob along and making them feel welcome."

Whilst the agency has not completed its 2023 goals, Awesome Black already has larger plans for the future.

"We do have some exciting projects in the pipeline, not all that I can talk about but we're very excited to be working on the development of our video game," De Vries told Style Up.

"We're hoping to hire more blak creatives soon into the team as we grow and take on new projects and work alongside some amazing people who help us make things happen.

"We're moving so quickly and have some incredible wins but it's the getting to bring Mob up with us and share opportunities around that is the real win, that's what we set out to do when we started and it's amazing we're able to."

For more information on Awesome Black and their current clients, visit www.awesomeblack.org.

For more fashion, beauty and lifestyle news subscribe for free to the Style Up newsletter.