Goldine Pompey is the founder of Pearls Pages Publishing and COUSINS Magazine. If I had to give her life a motto it would be “lifting and loving.” Read on to find out more about this amazing Black woman and her new magazine, COUSINS.

1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I love God & that means loving ALL his people, not just the ones that look and act the way I want them to. I have a servant’s heart. I am growing. I love acquiring knowledge at every turn. I am an old soul. I’m unconventional. If you believe anything about horoscopes, I am a Scorpio. I love HARD. I stand up for people. I want to change the world. One of my dreams is to win a Nobel Peace Prize for uniting races and ending homelessness. I want to inspire a generation, an entire generation. Also, I love Michelin-star dining and traveling the world.

2.) Tell us about Cousins magazine.
Cousins magazine is inspiring if nothing else. Full of stories and pictures that speak to opportunity and self-love. Cousins Magazine is here to give people a start.

3.)What inspired you to start Cousins?
Life, healing, and Black Twitter inspired the vision for Cousins Magazine. Yes, Black Twitter lol.

4.) How did you come up with the name for your magazine?
On Twitter, I read so many familiar stories of everyone’s upbringing and I would just respond “you can’t tell me all Black people are not Cousins”. From being huddled together at grandma’s house to knowing what oldies on Saturday morning meant, we are all connected. I wanted to bring that vision to life. I felt like the word Cousins represented community.

5.) What type of content will Cousins magazine be sharing with its readers?
Cousins magazine is dedicated to sharing all things Black and positive. My favorite part is the directory section featuring Black-owned businesses and products. From life insurance agents & Black doctors to mechanics and lipliner. All of our ads will feature Black-owned businesses. We are not interested in making the rich richer, we are focused on “the come-up”. We are interested in helping underserved communities grow and reach a wider audience.

6.) How often will the magazine be published?
Cousins magazine is a monthly publication.

7.) Can you share some details about what will be in the first issue?
There will be stories of emerging entrepreneurs, finance tips, insurance pointers, travel must-haves, and recipes. Lots of ads! We want to make sure the products and services by Black people are front and center. We also want to educate people on our history and why we may be further behind than other groups of people. Not for an excuse but so that we can give each other grace because we are all doing the best we can do. When we know better we do better.

8.) What are some of the challenges you have faced getting Cousins published?
Motivation. Just like parenthood, entrepreneurship can be thankless during the early stages. I had to keep reminding myself of my why. Those closest to me had to keep reminding me of my why. I would be untruthful if I didn’t say there were many days and weeks at a time where I questioned if enough people cared about supporting Black business. I questioned if enough women had suffered at the hands of doctors that do not look like them or relate to them so they need our Black directory to find someone who cared about them. Finding motivation was a long hard journey but if we can help just one person with Cousins, it has all been worth it.

9.) You have a full-service publishing company called Pearl Pages Publishing, and your tagline is “Proclaiming the voices of the unheard.” Share more with us about Pearl Pages and the story behind it.
Named after my maternal grandmother who passed away from covid-19, Pearl Pages Publishing was created in the wake of riots, protests, and the pandemic.

I was trying to figure out who I wanted to publish my book with and felt compelled to start a company that listened to the voices of those who cannot and may never be on a NY best sellers list by THEIR standards (btw, after some research about that list if you want to maintain creative control and ownership of your work, stay far away from that list).

In any event, I decided that I wanted to maintain creative control and I didn’t want someone else to own the rights to something I had worked so hard for and I of course did not want anyone making more money than I would be making for MY product. After some brainstorming, my business partner helped me think up Pearl Pages Publishing.

My grandmother was a helper. She had so many “adopted” children and random people in her house all the time. She always took people in and made sure they were treated well. That’s exactly the theme at Pearl Pages Publishing. We are here to help people who look like us and to also help those that look like us but maybe they’re homeless or cannot read and of course, no fortune 500 company wants to deal with that even if they have a great story to tell. We want to promote good stories, good people, and help people create a legacy.

10.) What services does Pearl Pages offer to its clients?
Pearl Pages Publishing is a full-service publishing company offering packages for self-publishing, hybrid publishing, and traditional publishing. We have a la carte services; if you just need an illustrator, editor, or web designer, we can do that without a full publishing package.

11.) When does the first issue of Cousins magazine drop?
Cousins magazine’s inaugural issue excitedly drops Thursday, September 22nd!

12.) Where can prospective readers purchase your magazine?
Readers can sign up for our newsletter at cousinsmagazine.com and they will be emailed when each issue drops. The magazine will be published at issuu.com. At issuu.com you can go to search, sort by publisher, and search for Cousins Magazine. Psst, the digital magazine is free!

13.) Where can we find you on social media?
Cousins magazine is on Twitter, TikTok, FB, and IG.

14.) What websites of yours would you like to share with our readers?
If you are looking for publishing, whether it’s consultation, self-publishing, hybrid, or traditional publishing head over to pearlpagespub.com.

To check out Cousins magazine and our amazing “Wu Tang raised us” playlist, head to cousinsmagazine.com. You can use the same link to submit books for reviews, submit poetry to be featured in the magazine and more!

For other services such as web building or writing author bio or book descriptions, reach out to me personally at Slaaapchop on IG.