London mum launches magazines for black children after ignoring advice 'no one would be interested'

A London mum is publishing two magazines to inspire black children after ignoring advice that "no one would be interested".

Serlina Boyd is preparing to officially launch Cocoa Girl and Cocoa Boy after spotting a gap in the market during lockdown.

"I wanted to find some magazines for my daughter. I don’t tend to buy a lot of magazines and I tried to find a magazine that really had black children in it and represented her and there was nothing out there. So I thought let’s do our own," Serlina told ITV News London.

Serlina said her magazines were packed full black role models, adding: "I'm doing it because there is a need! And there is a lot of interest. Lots of people want it and for my community it’s exciting and it’s needed."

She rejected the opinion of a former colleague who questioned whether she should go ahead with the project. Serlina now hopes the magazines will help educate readers about black history.

"With these black history work books within the magazine it gets children to really research and to really find out about the prominent leaders that did magnificent things in history. The first one we’ve got is Mary Seacole, it’s really exciting," she added.

The magazines began being publicised on a Facebook page and orders are now being taken on the website for the July launch of Cocoa Girl. Cocoa Boy will follow in September.