Jamel Stephens had a tough decision when coming up with a name. He was creative enough to conjure up a moniker that described the soft drink he was bringing to market back in 2022; the issue was choosing the perfect one that wouldn’t upset anyone out of a plethora of options.

While Stephens personally uses the term soda, he knows coke, pop and even soda pop are used in other regions to describe any brand of carbonated drinks.

The budding entrepreneur from Enid landed on “Afro Pop.” While it had a ring to it, he said the name also pays respect to the original Black-owned soda company in Oklahoma.

“When I first started Afro Pop, I didn’t know that there was another Black-owned company that used to exist in Oklahoma,” Stephens explains. “But as I did more research, I found out that there was a soda company called Afri Cola—eventually, it became Jay-Kola. But yes, there was a company like 100 years ago. I think, naturally, Afro Pop does pay homage to it.”

Afri Cola is believed to have been established in 1918 by Percy James and his wife Hattie as one of the few African American bottling companies in the Southwest.  It wasn’t listed in the Oklahoma City Directory until 1921.

Re-named Jay-Cola in 1924 and then Jay-Kola in 1935, its origin came about due to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company refusing to sell its products in Black neighborhoods, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.

“During that time Black people couldn’t go and get a Coca-Cola from a non-Black,” Stephens points out. “With them creating Afri-Cola, they were just creating an opportunity for them to be able to see themselves represented. Afro Pop is just an evolution of that.”

Stephens sees more than a passing similarity between Afro Pop and the original Afri Cola, which stayed in business until 1965. Like Percy and Hattie James, he understood the obstacles that stood in front of him when he first decided to take this entrepreneur path and he still proceeded. According to Stephens, Black-owned businesses make up less than 1% of the beverage industry.

 “I think that it was definitely scary at times. I would be traveling to Tulsa and—you see this big semi from one of the major brands on the side of you and you’re in a small car,” Stephens says. “In comparison, you’re so small to a semi. and it’s just like they’re carrying just a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what they’re doing. I think it was a little symbolic to what we do. We’re so small, but we are making an impact, even at a small scale.”

Afro Pop’s current product lineup consists of three drinks: Summer Nights (a blueberry lemonade flavor), Grandma’s House (butterscotch) and Blvcker The Berry (blackberry cream soda) are sold in vibrant 12-ounce cans whose visuals were designed by local artists.

Stephens is more than just the brains behind the growing soda empire; he is also the lead mixologist. He created each of the three flavors Afro Pop has been built on.

“I wanted my products to feel nostalgic,” he said, “feel like home, feel like an extension of themselves.”

The first location Stephens was able to place Afro Pop was Factory Obscura. He sold the OKC artists’ collective on the idea before he had even produced a product back in 2022.

“It was actually the first time that I ever pitched this idea to someone. And so to hear someone was on board, it was just comforting, as well as it reminded me this was a great idea and that what we were doing was going to work.”

Since then, Afro Pop’s reach has spread to more than 125 locations in 22 states. Stephens eclipsed more than $100,000 in revenue in two years.

But the 26-year-old wants to make sure Afro Pop is not just a flavor-of-the-month brand that will be forgotten when the next new thing hits on social media. Like Percy and Hattie James, he is looking to change the game.

“My initial thought was I wanted to see this blank canvas that people were able to tell their own stories [on] and be able to see beautiful artwork on the cans,” Stephens said. “I wanted something that was very unique and not just another cola, cream soda, root beer. We’ve seen those things a thousand times. I want to really challenge the beverage market.”

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