It's Thursday night on ABC and if you're an avid follower of Shonda Rhimes you know it's TGIT (Thank God it's Thursday). For the first time in history Thursday nights are owned by one woman, a black woman.

For years many associations have celebrated Shonda Rhimes for the diversity she displays on television but in her book "The Year of Yes" Shonda admits that diversity wasn't the point, normalizing television was. Finally, television showed exactly what reality looks likes for the rest of us. Finally, the rest of the world was being introduced to #Blackgirlmagic.

While we are all aware that African American men and women have immeasurable online power, Nielsen wanted to prove just how powerful. Earlier this year Nielsen reported that black millennial are continuing to forge ahead in online social activism, civic and political awareness and a host of other activities.

Additionally, African Americans make up 69% of online buyers and users. This high percentage has caught the attention of several marketing and ad agencies; unfortunately, not many of these marketers and advertisers look like us.

With the steady increase of consumers of African American decent, the digital marketing industry has seen little increase in it's diversity in the field. If you take a quick scan through social media and linked you will wonder how there appears to be several African Americans who practice marketing but many of them are missing at the executive level. Why is this? Perhaps it's because African American candidates are often overlooked and passed on when compelling amongst white colleagues.

The Black Girl Group is a site designed for African American women to display their talents and connect with companies seeking diverse freelancers. Singing up is easy and you must set up a paypal account before accepting your first job. For more information visit www.blackgirlgroup.com.

StephanieCaudle

Writing since November 2016 · 1 story contributed