Carmin Black The Brand

Directions Website

Carmin Black The Brand Founder-led. Story-first. Slow fashion, and life in motion. Exclusively:
New:
Store: 1607 Queen St 28401

We believe giving is living. For every HALF UNITED product you purchase you fight hunger and empower lives. Learn more at halfunited.com

10/09/2026

Ok, I said the last post was it, but let’s finish on a high note. This was funny! Watch to the end ❤️ Love Does

My last post about Uganda. ❤️🇺🇬I’ve spent the last few days home sick in bed, resting and reflecting. And one thing I kn...
10/09/2026

My last post about Uganda. ❤️🇺🇬

I’ve spent the last few days home sick in bed, resting and reflecting. And one thing I know for sure is that Uganda changed me forever.

I came home realizing that so many things we chase, worry about, and spend our time on aren’t nearly as valuable as we think.

No matter where we live or what our circumstances are, we all want the same things. Love. Joy. Friendship. Peace. Purpose. To feel seen, valued, and successful.

So here’s what I’m taking away from this trip:

❤️ Love people well. It’s the most valuable thing we can give.

❤️ Make your work matter. Use your gifts to help others achieve their dreams.

❤️ Choose togetherness. Relationships are worth more than things.

❤️ Redefine a rich life. More meaning, not necessarily more money or possessions.

❤️ Eliminate what doesn’t matter. Make room for the things that actually bring joy, peace, and purpose.

I’m realizing that living a beautiful life and living a meaningful life aren’t two different goals. They’re supposed to be the same one.

And I think that’s what I’ll spend this next chapter figuring out.

Thank you for following along on this journey! I’d love to answer any questions you have about Uganda or my experience there.

And I hope something I’ve shared inspires you to take a closer look at what makes your own life truly rich. ❤️

When I worked for ABC News on exactly one million years ago, I would go to the House Chamber, sit in the gallery and j...
10/07/2026

When I worked for ABC News on exactly one million years ago, I would go to the House Chamber, sit in the gallery and just watch in amazement.

I’d watch congressional leaders debate. I’d watch votes happen. I’d look around that room, knowing history had unfolded there, and tell myself, “One day I’ll be back here on that very floor!”

Now that I’m one million years older, and politics feel SO drastically different than they did when I was, well, younger 😂, I don’t know if that’s still my dream.

But I do know I still look at many (some, certainly not all 🤨) political leaders with the same starry eyes I had then. Not because I’m particularly impressed by a title, but because I’m fascinated by people who get to leave a stamp on history.

My favorite movie is Lincoln, and I’d be lying if I said I don’t put it on routinely to fall asleep. The acting! The script! Daniel Day-Lewis! The debates! Haha, I digress.

So imagine my delight when, while in Uganda with the coolest and smartest Bob Goff who happens to serve as an Honorary Consul for Uganda (how cool is THAT?!), I learned we would be meeting Ugandan Supreme Court justices AND Irene T. Kauma who serves alongside Uganda’s First Lady, Janet Museveni.

I am a BIIIIG Irene fan.

First of all, Irene was my grandmother’s name, so she walked in with a completely unfair advantage :) But her résumé will make you faint, and then you meet her in real life and almost do.

She is faith, purpose and action in human form. She is brilliant and accomplished, but what struck me most was the way she carries all of it: with warmth, conviction, humility and a genuine desire to serve people. She’s amazing!

I think that’s the kind of leadership I’m most starry-eyed about these days. Bob lives and leads this way too. Both of these superhumans are very special.

It’s not their titles. It’s not their proximity to great leaders. It’s what they’ve chosen to do with the place they’ve been given that leaves you a little speechless.

Purpose isn’t passive.

I can’t believe that, even in some small way, I get to live and learn alongside people like this. And I’m very excited to try to mimic their example in my own life. ❤️

10/06/2026

Uganda Day 2 ✨

This lesson is a simple one: take the trip.

Will it cost you something to go? For sure.

But will it cost you something not to go? I think so.

So maybe our job is simply to decide which is the riskier investment.

Take the journey. Go with an open heart.

The challenge, the confusion, the schedule disruption. The new friends, the laughs, the shocks, the surprises, even the tricky situations. They all serve a purpose.

Every bit of it adds something to you.

And if you let it, you’ll come home a little different than you left.

I’m so excited for you.

It’s your turn. Take the trip. ✨

I didn’t go to Uganda looking for healing. Truthfully, I didn’t know I needed it.Before I left, life had become a lot of...
10/05/2026

I didn’t go to Uganda looking for healing. Truthfully, I didn’t know I needed it.

Before I left, life had become a lot of putting one foot in front of the other. I’m building a new company. Another round of IVF is ahead. Family is changing. Seasons are changing. And underneath it all were questions I wasn’t particularly interested in answering.

So I did what any highly evolved person would do: stuffed it all down and kept moving. 😂

Then I went to Uganda.

A few days before our Love Does trip began, I heard from Amy Brewer She runs Elizabeth's Voice , an organization that once made beautiful straw bags for HALF UNITED, the company I started at 24 and closed nearly 15 years later.

I thought I was going to see old friends and beautiful things being made.

Then I walked through the door.

There were the women whose hands had made products for a company I had poured so much of my life into. I sat with them, heard their stories, laughed, talked business and looked around that workshop thousands of miles from home.

And one thought hit me: It’s gone. But I’m still here.

HALF UNITED wasn’t some old chapter I had neatly closed. Suddenly I remembered the 24-year-old girl who started it, what we built, and how painful it was to close it. Not sell it. Just stop.

And standing there, I could feel all that careful stuffing start to come undone.

My first lesson from Uganda came before the Love Does trip had technically even begun:

Restoration is always possible.

Things that have been broken can be rebuilt. Things that hurt can become beautiful. Sometimes it takes years to understand what God was doing all along.

Maybe He doesn’t bring us back to old places because we’re supposed to live there again. Maybe He brings us back so we can finally see them differently.

And every once in a while, He might even bring us all the way back to the beginning and ask:

Are you ready for what’s to come? ❤️

Uganda, Day 1.
Excited to share more soon!

Last week I was in Africa, specifically and it changed my life. I’ve been too jet-lagged to talk about it (or anything...
10/03/2026

Last week I was in Africa, specifically and it changed my life.

I’ve been too jet-lagged to talk about it (or anything else, really), but the things I learned must be shared, and never forgotten.

Do you want the good news, or the bad news?

The good news is, the things I learned are very simple to apply, because the core of what I learned so much about is simplicity.

The bad news? As an culture we’ve gotten so complex, so over-exposed, so busy, implementing the simplicity will actually mean a lot of undoing.

But I believe it’s really, really important that we do.

This sounds really ominous, so let me give us this silver lining- we see it happening all over. People returning to paper newspapers, limiting screen time, planting gardens, cooking much more at home…combine this with more time together and we’re well on our way to focusing on what truly matters.

I recently heard a friend say if by the time you are six if you’re not playing on a specialized soccer league that’s hyper-competitive you’re not going to play a college sport. Well, as a D1 track and field walk-on, I’m not sure that’s true, but it feels true. And it’s just the sort of extreme that may be serving us, and our kids least…in the long run .

I spent an afternoon playing soccer with a group of about 150 little boys. Yes, boys. What I learned while on their school pitch (at the school seen here in this photo) is some have natural talent, others not so much, but what’s really needed? Coaching.

So, somewhere between the six year old recruit, and the kick the ball made of used grocery bags, is where I believe we need to land. The sweet-spot is balance. Simplicity. Togetherness. At its most intrinsic core: Love.

This week it’s on! Let’s chat.
What do you think about this all?

PLEASE share below. Let’s chat ❤️❤️❤️

09/15/2026

And then you hop in the shower, wipe your tears (she didn’t know you shed), and throw on the eye cream SHE INVENTED to greet her, hair in towel, at the door.

Some friends can feel when you need a hug, or to talk it out, and today Lorin Van Zandt showed up at just the right time.

Later today I’ll share with you what we discussed! Hint- I’m traveling wide and far this week and needed to chat it out! 🐘🐘🐘

09/13/2026

The bungalow is getting a (never-ending) refresh, and I need your help making some big design decisions. 😂

Over the next few days, I’m sharing updates on the curtains, office, guest bedroom, vintage awnings, front door, landscaping, lighting, repairs, and the ADU we’re planning.

Follow along and help me choose what comes next. 🙏🏽💓

Address

1607 Queen Street Suite 101
Wilmington, NC
28401

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Carmin Black The Brand posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share