Editor’s Note: This feature interview with Black Love creator Codie Elaine Oliver originally appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of CEOMOM Magazine.

For Codie Elaine Oliver, it’s more than a love thing. It’s a passion for storytelling. It’s a calling to use her platforms to magnify Black voices and move them beyond the role of supporting character. It’s family. It’s commitment. It’s transparency. It’s Black Love.
Six months after meeting, Oliver got engaged to her partner in life and business, Tommy Oliver. Together, they sought to bring the diverse and relatable stories of Black love to the screen. The Black Love docuseries made its debut in 2017 on OWN TV and is now working on its fourth season. They have featured notable couples such as Oscar winner, Viola Davis and her husband Julius Tennon, as well as “This Is Us” star, Sterling K. Brown and his wife, actress Ryan Michelle Bathe.
With several projects in the works under their production company, Confluential Films, and brand, Black Love, Inc, Codie Elaine Oliver is dedicated to creating content that she’s passionate about, no matter the subject matter or platform. Oliver spoke to CEOMOM Magazine about her role as a content creator and how she is using her platforms to fight for social justice.
I’m a mom and a wife who loves my community. My life’s work has been devoted to creating conversations in my community about being the healthiest, happiest versions of ourselves, most notably Black Love.
You and your husband, Tommy Oliver, have been on a journey with Black Love as creators and owners of the show. Describe what it’s like to be leaders in the docuseries space, specifically on topics that reflect your personal story as partners in life and business.
I don’t know that we think of ourselves as leaders in this space as much as people who are committed to telling our stories, especially Black love stories. We are committed to telling stories that talk about the human condition and who we are as people universally. We are doing that as much as possible through Black and brown faces. I’m fully aware that Black Love launched the conversation around more content in the authentic black space. And I say authentic from a documentary perspective as opposed to scripted or even reality, which is loosely scripted. I’m humbly aware of the impact that Black Love has had. I’m grateful that we have created something that people want to either model or build upon.
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