Angela Ford is the Founder and Executive Director of The Obsidian Collection Archives, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and amplifying the authentic Black narrative. With more than 35 years of entrepreneurial experience, Angela has built a career at the intersection of culture, business, and storytelling. Her work spans fashion, real estate, media, and history, all driven by one mission: to ensure Black stories are told accurately, proudly, and globally.

 

As Obsidian’s leader, Angela has built a world-class digital archive that partners with organizations like Google Arts & Culture and Newspapers.com, digitizing millions of pages of vintage Black newspapers and making them accessible worldwide. From its inception, Angela envisioned Obsidian as a global initiative. That vision became reality in 2022 when she launched Obsidian UK from a flat in London. Since then, Obsidian has expanded to Kenya and forged partnerships with AI companies to ensure Black history is represented accurately in emerging technologies.

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Angela’s efforts have earned her national acclaim, including being named to the Forbes 50 Women Over 50 Vision Cohort, a TEDx Talk with over 42,000 views, a Talk at Google and speaking engagements at universities and corporations.