Walker & Company and Cultural Design
Yesterday Walker & Company’s Bevel released their newest product the Bevel Trimmer. Bevel upped the ante in their goal to become the preeminent company creating beauty and health products for people of color. The Bevel Trimmer allows the company to enter a new market currently dominated by other players while staying true to their original goal. I was immediately impressed with the direction not strictly from a business product perspective but from a cultural one.
Tristan Walker, the founder of Walker & Company has long advocated for a more diverse perspective within the world of technology. That critique has often encompassed the importance of culture playing a role in finding new sources of talent and opportunity in a crowded market. In a Pando article Mr. Walker states
“Most culture in this country is driven by Black culture, whether that’s food, music, dance, or anything else. And more recently Latino and Asian culture have driven global culture. Here I live in the most early adopting region in the world, and we know very little about the most early adopting culture. Therein lies the opportunity.”
This philosophy is what makes the Bevel Trimmer so interesting. Beyond the call to action in the urban grooming space the design, look, feel and marketing of the Bevel Trimmer is instantaneously culturally relevant. Queensbridge rapper, Nas, is an ambassador for the product and is featured in the new promotional video. Upon watching the video a few things leap out for those who know what to look for. The Bevel Trimmer mirrors the look and feel of an MC’s microphone. This is a homage to the power of the microphone as a tool to express one’s creativity. The barber’s trimmer holds the same power. Linking one of the greatest MCs to the neighborhood barber connects the power of skills, proficiency of your trade, high mastery and self expression all in one fell swoop. Nas is not just the usual celebrity endorsement. His involvement is more cultural currency as he instantly adds validity and ties the product together in authentic iconography. Hip-hop and barbershops go hand in hand. In the early days of hip hop aspiring rappers shared their mixtapes in barbershops to build an audience. The barbershop experience is communal one where the haircut is only part of the process. Sharing stories, jokes and arguing (usually about sports and hip hop) go hand in hand with a trip the barber. Jay-Z famously cites this in a line from Where I’m From “I’m from where n****s pull your car, and argue all day about who’s the best MC’s, Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas”
Nas and Jay-Z continue to be at the center of these barbershop debates, a fact not loss on the Walker & Company team and in turn a seamless shout out to their audience.
To keep it simple, the Walker & Company team created a product, and a message that speaks in verbal and visual language of its target audience. By understanding the culture in which they move they were able to craft a message that permeates beyond product and speaks to their entire vision. Understanding culture at a deep level and how it plays in your messaging is mandatory when communicating with people who have more choices than ever. The bullshit meter is extremely high and those brands that think they can get over with communication that merely panders rather than empowers will face a steep uphill battle to win hearts, minds and wallets.
The Deep Dive
- Episode 256: The Great Resistance w/ Carrie Gibson April 22, 2026Philip welcomes Carrie Gibson, author of The Great Resistance: The 400 Year Fight to End Slavery in the Americas. In their conversation they trace how the history of resistance has been purposely obscured and how the lessons from those ancestorial responses to slavery and oppression are relevant today. The Drop – The segment of the […]
- Episode 255: The Business of Meaning w/ Peter Spear April 16, 2026Philip welcomes. Peter Spear, host and curator of the newsletter and podcast That Business of Meaning to the show. In their conversation, they discuss all things culture and how the current marketing and media landscape make sense of the world around it. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest […]
- Episode 254: Bernie Goetz, Reagan and the Rebirth of White Rage w/ Heather Ann Thompson April 2, 2026Philip welcomes Heather Ann Thompson author of Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, The Bernie Goetz Shootings and the Rebirth of White Rage to the show. In their conversation they discuss how the pivotal Bernie Goetz shooting of four innocent Black teens alongside the conservative austerity and race baiting of the Reagan Presidency set the […]
- Episode 253: Crafting Stories of The Future w/ Betty Sue Flowers March 26, 2026Philip welcomes Betty Sue Flowers, author of Scenarios: Crafting and Using Stories of the Future to Change the Present to the show. In their conversation they discuss the power of stories and narrative to influence the stories we tell to shape our future. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his […]
- Episode 252: When Trees Testify w/ Dr. Beronda Montgomery March 19, 2026Philip welcomes plant biologist Dr. Beronda Montgomery, author of Lessons From Plans and When Trees Testity: Science, Wisdom, History and America’s Black Botanical Legacy to the show. In their conversation, they trace the intimate relationship between Black people and the natural world and our historical legacy as told through America’s trees. The Drop – The […]
- Episode 251: No One Leaves Clean w/ Yaw Ofosu-Asare March 12, 2026Philip welcomes designer Yaw Ofosu-Asare, author of No One Leaves Clean: Living, Breathing and Surviving the Post-Colonial Economy to the show. In their episode they discuss how Africa is reshaping itself in a post-colonial reality, how we navigate identity and the power of culture to understand our past and future. The Drop – The segment […]
- Episode 250: Getting Lost with Lost Maps w/ James Cheshire March 5, 2026Philip welcomes cartographer James Cheshire, author of The Library of Lost Maps to the show. In their episode they discuss the history of lost maps, the cultural relevance of maps and whether they still can help us navigate the worlds we inhabit. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest […]
- Episode 249: Culture & The Rules That Make Us w/ Oliver Sweet February 26, 2026Philip welcomes Oliver Sweet, author of The Rules That Make Us: How Culture Shapes the Way We Act, Think, Believe and Buy. In their conversation they discuss the complexity of culture and how it impacts our thinking across a variety of criteria. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest […]
- Episode 248: True Human w/ Samantha Sweetwater February 5, 2026Philip welcomes Samantha Sweetwater, author of True Human: Reimagining Ourselves at the End of the World. In their conversation, they explore the meaning of what it is to human, how we navigate death and what future(s) can we build. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels […]
- Episode 247: Artificial Humanities w/ Nina Begus January 29, 2026Philip welcome Nina Begus, author of Artificial Humanities: A Fictional Perspectives on Language in AI to the show. In their conversation, they discuss the important role that humanities can play in how AI is positioned in the world. The Drop – The segment of the show where Philip and his guest share tasty morsels of […]