Juanita Brown Ingram, Esq. wears many hats. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is an attorney, author, actress, philanthropist, and filmmaker. She also is the creator of the streaming platform, Purpose Streaming.
Originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Juanita and her family currently live in Singapore. Having lived as an expat for the past 10 years, she has also lived in Taiwan and London.
“We moved to London with our two children in 2011 and were there for almost five years. While there, we traveled to over 20 countries with our kids in tow. It was the start of an amazing journey as expats.”
Seven months ago, Juanita and her family moved to Singapore following her husband’s job promotion. An extremely safe and diverse country with very low incidents of criminal activity, Juanita says it feels great to be able to raise her two children, ages 11 and 14, in such an environment.
“With domestic and global concerns pertaining to child trafficking and violence that we are constantly faced with, Singapore is refreshing. I also breathed a sigh of relief in moving here because it is extremely diverse and a very inclusive society.”
Having lived in London for many years, Juanita quickly came to understand why so many people refer to Singapore as the London of Asia. The vast diversity in the population in Singapore is very similar to that of the English capital, and living there allows her the ease to simply be.
“For the first time, I walked down the street and no one cared that I was there. I went into a mall and no one followed me around. It was refreshing. There are far less race-based microaggressions here as opposed to other countries in Asia that have a more homogeneous population. It is also easy to live here as a foreigner because everything is in English and everyone speaks English. Their education system is superb, and the public transportation system makes the entire island accessible.”
To share their unique experiences as a Black family living abroad, Juanita and her family created a show titled The Expats: International Ingrams. Season 1 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime US and UK and GENRETV, as well as on Juanita’s platform, www.purposestreaming.com.
In fact, Juanita initially created the streaming platform as a way to make the show accessible to people all over the world, as many outside of certain locations were unable to view the show on the other outlets. Now, she is planning to open space on the platform for other Black travel content creators, as well. Purpose Streaming will serve as a vehicle by which they can profit fully from their work by expanding to a subscription based service and allowing content makers to get 100% of the subscription proceeds generated from their content.
“So often we create content and receive pennies per impression. In creating a platform with the ability for subscriptions and the mission to flow those funds directly to the content creators, we shift the economic paradigm and empower our own.”
Purpose Streaming was created as an arm to the nonprofit production company, Purpose Productions, a 501(c)3 media company created in 2018 to utilize the visual arts as a vehicle for challenging negative stereotypes and providing cross-cultural experiences for audiences throughout the world.
“We believe that we can create opportunities through film and visual content that will change the established systemic discriminatory paradigm and the marginalization of women and people of color worldwide that is ever-present in media. Purpose Productions is also a conduit for sharing a balanced depiction of diverse cultures and powerful under-represented narratives, while serving to foster educational and cross-cultural exposure for global audiences. We use our content to cultivate a broader and deeper perspective on pressing global issues through our past, present, and future projects. The streaming platform is a catalyst for change.”
Interested content creators can email [email protected] to learn how they can possibly get involved.
“We are expanding the platform for travel related-content, and we are thrilled with the opportunity to empower others who encourage and empower others to live and travel abroad.”
Having experienced such tremendous success and demand for Season 1 of their series, the Ingrams decided to do another season. They are currently in production and filming for Season 2, in which they will continue to share the unique obstacles of being a Black family abroad and also showcase several new families and their challenges and triumphs. This season takes viewers to Taiwan, Fiji, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and more.
“Season 2 is packed with the unexpected and continues to normalize Black people just being, thriving, and flourishing in international spaces; and continues to challenge dangerous stereotypes by setting forth a positive, informative, and entertaining depiction of the Black family and those who are electing to live abroad in this new post-COVID norm.”
Related: I Quit My Job To See The World, And Now I Have My Own Streaming Travel Show
