Teen entrepreneur turns passion for Black history into a growing multimedia brand

NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — When Amari Robinson was just 10 years old, she discovered a love for Black history, and a desire to share what she was learning with others. Her passion has grown into Betcha Didn’t Know (BDK), a multimedia brand designed to make learning Black history an engaging experience.

Amari Robinson talks about her Black history education platform, Betcha Didn't Know. (Photo: 8News)

Robinson, now 17, says her interest developed while being homeschooled by her mother, Mari Robinson, a former public school teacher.

“It came from my mom, who taught me slavery and the right side of American history,” Amari said.

Amari's studies primarily focused on the inventions made by Black women in history. As she learned more, Amari said she often shared new information with her father, and quickly realized many of the stories weren’t widely known.

“That was one of my motivations,” she said. “I was like, I need to do this and find this and watch my dad be blown away by this. He’s not even going to know about this, watch.”

Amari says she was inspired to share the history she'd been learning in a way that would engage others. In 2021, she launched her brand Betcha Didn’t Know, and created a podcast to highlight influential Black women.

"It gets people's attention," Amari said. "It makes it easier for people that [are] busy to learn at the same time with the podcast."

She also designed a mobile app after learning the technical skills from her father, Richard Robinson, a software engineer.

“I think one of the joys she gets is being able to inspire others through information,” Richard said.

Amari's mother said Betcha Didn’t Know reflects the passions that both of her parents have shared with her.

“It’s amazing to marry that education piece, which I’m so passionate about, with the software engineering piece that he’s so passionate about,” said Mari Robinson as she pointed to her husband.

Amari Robinson shows the interactive design of BDK's Arts and Craft book. (Photo: 8News)

Amari Robinson uses BDK's Black history education app. (Photo: 8News)

Amari Robinson shows the BDK app to her siblings. (Photo: 8News)

The mobile app has since attracted nearly 5,000 users. It features an interactive map of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country, along with a timeline showcasing the women she's highlighted on her podcast.

Robinson later expanded the platform with an arts and crafts activity book that displays a coloring page of each figure, along with their history, an activity and a QR code of the corresponding podcast.

“I just wanted people to know about the things we literally use every single day that we don’t even know were invented by a Black person, let alone a Black woman,” Amari said.

While the platform solely highlights the achievements of Black women in history, Amari says she plans to include Black men as well, and wants to grow the brand even further.

"My vision for BDK is to literally be the one stop shop, Black hub for everything," Amari said. "From cooking, to politics, to sports... everything. It's supposed to give you an idea that history is not linear."

In a space where access hasn't always been equal, Amari's dad says it brings him joy to see his daughter using the resources available to her to build something impactful.

"You're like standing on the shoulders of many, many people that came before you and you're not not letting that go by, you're using that as the springboard to go even further," Richard Robinson said.

You can find more information about the Betcha Didn't Know app, podcast, arts and craft book and merch here.