Carvd N Stone founder Nyesha Stone received the Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Alumni Association for her work uplifting Black and Brown communities last month.
“Our final GOLD Awardee will be Nyesha Stone ’18, founder and public relations director of Carvd N Stone, which provides positive stories and branding that represents Black and Brown communities. To empower the next generation, Stone also established a scholarship program,” the UWM Alumni Association wrote in a statement.
Carvd N Stone, a news company and marketing agency, covers positive stories from cities across the nation. This includes metropolitan areas such as Milwaukee, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles.
(Photo: Tyree Pope III/Carvd N Stone)
“I started it when I was in college. I started it because no one else was doing it,” Stone told Madison365.
Founded in 2017, the company’s name references her surname, “Stone.” She was a junior pursuing a degree in journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Before launching her platform, Stone interned for news outlets like Milwaukee Magazine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Shepherd Express. She also worked as a runner for CNN for a weekend and even worked as a news editor and reporter for Milwaukee Courier, a weekly African-American newspaper for a while.
“I started interviewing creative people that I knew. We started as a features website, and then a year in I was like, ‘You know what? Why don’t we treat this as news?” she said.
After, Stone started applying for press credentials to attend specific events. She remembers the first newsworthy event was when President Barack Obama visited the city to campaign for Democratic candidates in the gubernatorial and senatorial elections in 2018.
Credit: Tyree Pope III/Carvd N Stone
Today, the news company’s reporting includes local initiatives to help marginalized communities, profiles on local businesses, and large entertainment festivals. Recently, Stone interviewed Bel-Air cast members Jabari Banks (The Fresh Prince), Jordan Jones (Jazz), and Olly Sholotan (Carlton) at the Rolling Loud Festival 2024 in California.
Carvd N Stone also has a podcast, featuring interviews with creatives, wellness advocates, and journalists. In each episode, Stone discusses topics such as media representation, women’s health, and how to become an entrepreneur.
“We’re literally educating people through journalism, which is the whole point of journalism, and that was missing. We’re educating people through positive news,” Stone said.
However, she sometimes finds people are mistrustful of Carvd N Stone’s intentions as an independent news company. While this doesn’t happen often, Stone said she doesn’t take these sentiments personally.
“We fight that criticism or those questions by showing them what we’ve actually been doing over the years,” she said. “I do essentially connect with people I interview people so it doesn’t just stop at the story for me.”
In the last few years, Stone found many ways to give back to her community. This includes establishing a $1,000 travel writing essay contest and a scholarship fund for students and creatives, a program that lasted for four years. The CNS Scholarship Fund officially ended in 2022 after awarding young people $22,500 in scholarships.
Carvd N Stone turned 7 years old in January. Stone said the organization is still growing. Last year, Carvd N Stone received its first national marketing client, The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB).
“They have been super supportive of us. The person that contacted me, apparently she’s been watching my work for a few years,” she said. “It’s really all been about relationships. Like people really like who I am.”
These relationships have translated into people supporting Carvd N Stone by seeking out paid services. Readers also have the option to purchase a subscription to their newly redesigned news site.
“Now we’re finally making money off our positive news coverage and we just got a new site. It’s taking a few years but I’m creating different revenue models, different revenue streams for us to be sustainable,” Stone said.
