Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stafford Braxton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Stafford, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

This one particular story highlights why we do what we do. We were doing a Santa event at a church in Charlotte, NC. Earlier in the day, we had a mother and daughter visit to see Santa. The mother posted the photos on Instagram and as a result, her mother came to visit with Santa. She was 72 years at the time and when she saw Santa for the first time, she began to cry because she had never seen a black Santa. I started crying & Santa did his best not to cry. This is a visit I will never forget and it will forever remind me how critical representation is to our community.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started this journey as a result of a negative impetus. Working as a photographer on the Santa set of a local mall, we were often asked by black families if we were going to have a Santa that represented the minority community. Being in the South, I already knew what the answer was, but I wanted to give the mall the benefit of the doubt. My attitude in life has always been that the worse they could say was no and that was the mall management’s response. This stirred in me a desire to provide people with a Santa that they wanted; one that looks like them which was the catalyst for Santas Just Like Me.

I shared this desire with my co-workers and one day a co-worker pointed out a man in the mall that looked like a black Santa. I ran up to him with a business card and said for him to call me in January if he was interested in portraying Santa the following Christmas. January came and went without a call from “Santa”. I continued my search to no avail. I was finally able to photograph a wedding, in May, in the area and there was a guest that looked liked black Santa. This was a white wedding and he was the only person on color in attendance and he looked like Santa! I contacted the groom a couple of weeks later to inquire about his guest. He had known him for over 20 years and I told him what I was trying to do. He said he would pass along my information and if his friend was interested, he would contact me. No one called, so I reached out to the groom again to verify that he was able to pass along my info and he said he had. I responded that he must not be interested since I hadn’t heard anything. He said his friend was interested. So he called his friend again and his friend called me. We met the following week and as I was sharing with him my vision of a Christian Santa – if it wasn’t for Jesus, there would be no Saint Nicholas, no Saint Nicholas no Christmas. As I continued to share, he went into his wallet and pulled out a business card and placed it in front of me. It was the same business card I had given him the previous December in the mall. It was the same guy! We have been together ever since, although other Santas have joined us.

We have seen thousands of families over the past 11 years. We have some families that have come to us for 10 of those 11 years. Small businesses will invite us to visit them to provide this opportunity for their clients or to draw attention to their services. We were the first/only black Santa at Neiman-Marcus in Northern VA. This is always a sold-out event. We are also an annual tradition at museums. We are a founding member of the Santas of Color Coalition that brings together Santas of color from across the country that share tips on how to hone our craft. We also conduct a Santa School (the School of Being Santa) to train Santas in the art of being Santa.

From the very start of providing this service, the response of the parents has been overwhelming. I have never seen so many people cry because of something I was doing. They were (are) so appreciative that we are giving them an opportunity to bring their children to a Santa that looks like them. We’ve had people drive from 3 hours away to come and visit with us. When you have been deprived of positive representation for so long, people are so ecstatic at the opportunity to expose their children to a Santa of color. Most children are very open to a Santa that looks different than what the media portrays as the “real” Santa. They see the red suit and the white beard and they are ready to give Santa their wish list and sharing that their sibling should be on the naughty list. We have families from all demographics visiting with us and it’s a blessing to see.

This is our 12th season since Santas Just Like Me began providing Santas of color! We’ve been in parades, present at tree lightings, visited infirmed children and economically challenged families, conducted home & school visits, Zoomed with families internationally and supported non-profits that service underserved families in our communities. Our Santa was also showcased on the Christmas version of the Weakest Link game show in 2023. American Santa by Avi Weider is a documentary about some of the resistance we have encountered as black Santas. As a result of an interview conducted by NPR, Santas Just Like Me, Too! was established to provide no cost Santa visits to families.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Like so many businesses, we were adversely impacted by the pandemic. Our public appearances were severely limited and so we were faced with how we were going to keep our business afloat despite the challenge. I thought that if I had a sleigh, I could visit homes & communities and we would conduct our visits outside where people felt safer about visiting with Santa. I prayed for a sleigh because I had no idea of where to obtain one. My prayers were answered when I happen to be on Facebook Marketplace and a gentleman in the next county over had a 18th century cutter sleigh available. I made the purchase, renovated and decorated the sleigh and began advertising “Sleigh-bys”. This turned out to be a hit and we still offer them even though the pandemic has passed. We also began offering virtual visits via Zoom with our Santas. As a result of this, we went national with our company. We were getting requests from across the country and even Canada. In recent years, we have even had families from Africa as well as requests from Great Britain and the Philippines. We currently have Santas in NC, VA, FL and CA.

I originally obtained a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in finance, but I always had an interest in photography. So, I started a photography company in 1991. I had been a manager for a camera store while I was in college as well as worked at a photography studio for a stint. While living in VA, I had a well established business and then in 2011 my wife and I decided to move to NC. I was hoping to duplicate the success I had in VA in NC, but where we were, there was a saturation of photographers in the area. I realized at this point that this was not going to be an easy task. This led me to answer a Craigslist ad for a photographer at the Santa set at a local mall. It was this exposure to the Santa world that led me to starting my own Santa business. If someone, as little as a year earlier, told me that I would have a Santa business, I would have laughed!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.SantasJustLikeMe.com
• Instagram: @blacksantanc
• Facebook: SantasJustLikeMe

Image Credits

Photography by Stafford