Hailing from New York City, Manuel Godoy is a 36-year-old US Army veteran. He served his home country for six years before enrolling in college to pursue his Bachelor’s degree in Economics. After college, he began his creative journey and pursued a career in video game development. After that, however, without the financial means to see his first project to fruition, he pivoted to a more sustainable career in comic book writing. It was here his career took off when Black Sands, the Seven Kingdom, was created. “Little did I know that it would turn out so well,” he shared.
Married to Gieszel Godoy and blessed with two kids, ages 6 and 7, Manuel works remotely with an international team to create comic books with black superheroes. For years, the Black Sands Universe only had about four core members who worked tirelessly to create captivating comic book visuals, the characters and their various stories. Moving to the next growth phase, raising capital proved to be a daunting task for the small startup. Still, Manuel and his incredible team of four preserved believing in their common dreams and work to move Black Sands to the next level of the corporate hierarchy.
The Black Sands universe has dozens of team members working as a unit to fulfill the same purpose. This rapid growth in scaling a small company to success is due to Manuel Godey’s determination to act professionally. The company focuses heavily on controlling costs, acquiring customers at reasonable rates, and hiring great talent at affordable prices.
“I believe my military experience has allowed me to do a sound business with strategic partnerships that allow us to scale. Most CEOs want absolute control, but that limits the ability of the whole. While most people focus on the creative, I tend to focus on the next corporate milestone,” he explained.
Manuel and his team’s creations focus exclusively on black history before slavery with a target audience of Black parents, middle and high school students, which is an extremely overlooked genre. This unique approach to telling the black history has carved a proper niche for the Black Sand Universe allowing them to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Additionally, the company’s creations have received several accolades in the black community, evident in the substantial organic following across all social media platforms as several black parents and their kids are happy to have heroes that look like them with the same skin tone and culturally connect them to a more extraordinary legacy.
In the coming years, Manuel Godoy and his creatives want to continue narrating black history with new twists and turns. They also want to finish the first season of Black Sands, the anime to the tune of an annual income of 10 million. Once that milestone is achieved, licensing could break 100 million, catapulting the company up the creative ladder.
To learn more about Manuel Godoy, his company, the Black Sands Universe and their incredible work of telling the black history, visit their Instagram page. You can also connect with them on TikTok.