InColorStock
The idea for starting InColorStock first came to Claritza Jiménez, EMBA 2021 while working at The Washington Post. As a video producer and editor, Claritza often had a tough time with finding racially diverse stock photos and stock video clips to use when producing original videos on issues ranging from the student debt crisis to health care. This was frustrating for a number of reasons. One, it was time-consuming, especially while working on deadline. Two, Claritza felt that it was her responsibility to accurately depict the issues she was covering in her videos, which included showing a broad range of individuals.
Fast-forward to a couple of years later and while enrolled in Darden’s executive MBA program, Claritza pitched the idea for InColorStock in Prof. Gregory Fairchild’s Entrepreneurial Thinking course. The idea was well-received by her classmates and voted among a handful of ventures to participate in a class pitch night before a number of experienced entrepreneurs. From there, Claritza got the confidence to pitch InColorStock in UVA’s E-Cup concept competition where the venture won a spot. InColorStock caught the attention of Professor Damon DeVito who reached out to Claritza about joining his invite-only Venture Velocity course where InColorStock truly started to take shape and secured its first paying customer through Prof. DeVito’s connection to a Maryland golf course that was in need of diverse stock images for use in its marketing.
InColorStock is a stock content platform with a mission to make it easier for brands, companies and organizations to find and purchase high-quality stock photos and stock video depicting Black and other people of color in the United States. Claritza’s company is focused on providing images that feel authentic, organic and in context—without the cheesiness of traditional stock images—but commercial enough to make them appealing to a broad spectrum of customers. The company’s tag line is “Culturally intelligent stock content for the Real World.”
Additionally, as part of the InColorStock mission, Claritza aims to provide greater visibility to photographers and videographers from racially diverse backgrounds who are often overlooked in their industries. Ultimately, Claritza would like to use InColorStock as a vehicle to make it easier for brands and businesses to find and work with these content creators.
InColorStock’s e-commerce site just recently launched featuring its first collection of stock photos.
Credit: InColorStock.com
Customers can purchase commercial and editorial licenses to use the stock photos in branding, marketing, promotional campaigns and social media. Claritza is working on acquiring more stock photos for the platform, and actively seeking photographers or videographers interested in licensing their work, as well as businesses and brands in need diverse stock content.
If you know of a photographer or videographer who’d like to work with InColorStock, please refer them here: https://www.incolorstock.com/become-a-paid-contributor1
Businesses and brands interested in working with InColorStock can visit here: https://www.incolorstock.com/request-custom-stock-content
About the Founder:
Claritza Jiménez is an Emmy-nominated journalist, producer, Darden MBA graduate and founder of InColorStock, a stock content platform with a mission to make it easier for brands and companies to find and purchase high-quality stock photos and stock videos depicting people of color in the United States in an accurate and authentic manner. Claritza is Dominican-born and Miami-raised. She credits her 15 years of experience in the news business, and multicultural and multilingual upbringing as assets in building a company with InColorStock’s mission. To stay informed about the latest with InColorStock, you can sign up for its email list here: https://www.incolorstock.com/connect, or send an email to info@incolorstock.com.