Update: FAMU Alumna Keta Browning credits her alma mater for “natural” passion in successful business start up

July 15, 2019, Tallahassee, Fla. — It’s 3:20 p.m. on a hot summer day and Keta Browning is cool as a cucumber while answering individual questions from students whose class ended a half hour earlier. Browning was gaining energy ftom every student as she distributed fragrant samples from her Natural Oats Co. assortment of homemade soaps, body scrubs, oils and more health and beauty goodies.

She just completed a nearly two-hour marathon of sharing her story and fielding questions from broadcast journalism students during their news conference. The weekly news briefings feature alumni who are standouts in their fields.

Here are some highlights ftom her talk. Sudents are writing news stories as partial fulfillment of their grades’ requirements;

• She started her business in August 2019 with $300.
• She credits the faculty, staff and students of the FAMU School of Journalism & Graphic Communication for teaching and encouraging her in all areas that she utilizes in Natural Oats.
• Her musician father planted the seeds for her love of radio and entrepreneurship.
• She continues to make every product in her cookware and produce all designs, labels and packaging.
• She was in business only five months when she landed a coup by being featured in an upscale magazine with a two-page spread.
• Every picture in her social media messaging is a Keta production.

“I am so grateful for what FAMU taught me … juggling,” she says.

For more on Browning, check out the variety of social media posts by journalism students. https://www.instagram/ketaleigh/ #classactssjgc2019

Earlier today: Keta Browning used to dominate the local and streaming radio waves with her show on WANM-FM. She delivered informative content in a distinctively crisp and smooth style. She earned a reputation for smartly questioning guests of the station’s sports and news shows.

Today, she is making record-setting waves on the other side of the microphone as an entrepreneur who put her passion into play and launched Natural Oats Co., an Ocala-based, upscale health and beauty products company. The young alumna of Florida A&M University will make her first official trip “home” to the School of Journalism & Graphic Communication since her company’s launch in 2017.

Browning is not coming to campus empty-handed: She will award the top two FAMU SJGC student winners in the Natural Oats’ social media contest. Last week, Browning sent the students enrolled in Dr. Ann Wead Kimbrough’s course, a social media challenge that was due at 11:59 p.m., Sunday, July 14. Browning said since she began her career as a social media analyst, it is fitting to incorporate her expertise into her presentation.

Browning is a guest of digital storytelling students as part of their summer series of weekly news conferences to build their reporting and writing skills.

Before launching Natural Oats, the FAMU student Browning was cast into the orbit of SiriusXM Radio as a host on its HBCU Channel 142. The SiriusXM show, FAMU Now!, was launched in 2015 as a student and alumni -produced, 30-minute show. As as inaugural member of the expert FAMU Now! radio team, Browning gained recognition for her reporting and delivery of feature shows. #classactssjgc2019

https://www.facebook.com/naturaloats/ https://www.instagram.com/ketaleigh/