Ten years ago, Carlton Mackey, like much of the country’s Black population, was overwhelmed with media images of death, anger and unrest in the wake of Michael Brown’s killing. Mackey waded through the social media hashtags circulating at the time: #BlackLivesMatter, #MikeBrown, #HandsUpDontShoot, all delivering hundreds of results with images exuding sadness, pain and frustration. Then, he typed in the hashtag #BlackMenSmile, and found zero results. Mackey made it his mission to promote images of men smiling and expressing joy amid the political turmoil. It quickly grew into a mini movement. Men across the country populated the hashtag with smiling images alongside vulnerable captions about personal growth and optimism. Over the years, the small team of two — Mackey and the company’s director of narrative media, Jeremiah Griffin — has grown the empowerment company from the ground up. Today, the brand’s Instagram account has more than 100,000 followers and has expanded into apparel...