In late 2022, Ebony Walden went to Dakar, Senegal on a three-month sabbatical from her racial equity consulting firm, with the goal to rest and take refuge from American racism and the fight against it. While visiting a friend from Richmond who’d moved her family there, Walden stood at the Door of No Return on Gorée Island, a site of remembrance of the transatlantic slave trade, where enslaved Africans would have seen the continent for the last time.

“With ancestral roots stretching across seven West African countries, I felt the weight of history and the triumph of survival,” Walden says. “I was alive because so many of those enslaved Africans had survived slavery and ongoing oppression.”

The result of that trip was “Black Beyond Borders,” a new documentary-style travel web series that explores culture, connection and cuisine across the African diaspora. Season one, set in Dakar, is hosted by Walden, a seasoned traveler who has visited 48 countries [disclosure: she is also on the VPM Media Corp. Board of Directors; VPM owns Style Weekly]. Rather than simply a sightseeing tour, the new series is more of a love letter to the diaspora and a celebration of Black life, identity and creativity across borders.

Over four 10-to-15-minute episodes, viewers follow Walden as she reflects on identity, eats her way through Senegalese cuisine, celebrates her birthday at The Biennale, Dakar’s Contemporary African Art Festival, and reconnects with friends from the U.S. The series launches this Wednesday, Nov. 5, on YouTube.

“Black Beyond Borders” is part-travel diary, part-cultural study, and part-love letter to the African diaspora. Created with a DIY aesthetic using just a vlogging camera, an iPhone and a vision, Walden set out to capture the beauty, complexity and joy of Black life across the globe. “’Black Beyond Borders’ is my way to inspire others to connect, travel and tell their own stories,”  she explains. “I set out to capture what I saw and felt, not in a polished or high-budget way, but real, raw, and from my own lens. I wanted to document that journey of culture, connection and cuisine in a real and relatable way.”

Cuisine was an integral part of the focus because, she says, food is culture. The first thing she does in another country is taste its cuisine, going on street food tours, dining in people’s homes and eating her way through the country, from food trucks to rooftops. “It’s how people welcome you, show love, and share who they are,” she explains. “Meals tell stories about migration, memory and resilience; and including cuisine was a way to connect through the senses. You can taste history, joy and home in every bite.”

In deciding which countries to feature on the series, Walden’s first criteria includes places that are African, majority Black or have a strong Afro-descendant or Black expat community. That’s the “Black Beyond Borders” part. “I tend to go where the diaspora has deep roots or vibrant creative energy,” she says. “Places where Black culture is alive in complex and beautiful ways and places I’ve been to before.”

Walden’s intent is to educate, inspire and promote narrative change and transformation by getting people, especially Black people, to see themselves reflected in global spaces and to know they belong. “My hope is that the series encourages people to travel not just for escape, but for expansion, to see travel as both an outer adventure and an inner journey of discovery, and connection with yourself, history and others,” Walden says. “I want to inspire folks to travel and connect across cultures, to change the narrative about what it means to be Black, that it’s not rooted in burden or lack or deficiency, but beauty, joy, creativity and dynamism.”

Creating the series has not been without its challenges. Walden is, after all, the host, producer, videographer, and although she hired an editor, she had to take 3,000 pictures and videos during her six weeks in Dakar and turn them into a cohesive narrative. “At this point, travel is pretty easy for me, so the challenge is balancing fun and work, as this past year has been the first time that I’ve been expressly remote working as well as touring,” she says. “So, the time difference and balancing life, exploring and work.”

One thing the series proves is that anyone can have a more authentic, less tourist-like experience while traveling if they so choose. Walden advises walking a lot, going on off the beaten path tours, and finding food and market tours to better know the culture through the food. She also suggests finding groups online who are purposeful about connecting with Black expats, travelers and with residents. Going to local art events and festivals can also help.

The list goes on. Stay longer. Slow down. Talk to people. Eat where locals eat, ride public transportation, attend community events. Learn a few phrases in the local language.

“And most importantly, listen to the place with all your senses. Don’t just take photos of culture, participate in it,” Walden says. “When you approach a place with humility and openness, people invite you into their world.”

The “Black Beyond Borders” web series launches Nov. 5 on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@ebony.aroundtheworld. You can also follow Ebony on Instagram and TikTok @ebony.aroundtheworld and substack: https://substack.com/@ebonywalden80