There are moments in culture when personal destiny and collective history collide, and for Alexis Onestas, that moment unfolded live on stage at Black Ambition.
In front of a packed audience of Black and Hispanic innovators at Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition event, Onestas made an announcement that stunned the room: Steve Stoute’s seminal book, The Tanning of America, is officially being translated into French, opening access to more than 300 million Francophone readers worldwide.
What made the moment extraordinary wasn’t just the business milestone. It was the story behind it. “The Tanning of America was the first English book I ever read,” Onestas shared. “And it changed my life.”
Years ago, as a young French entrepreneur searching for direction, Onestas consumed books by global business icons, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates, but none of them felt personal. Their stories were impressive, yet distant. Something was missing.
“I needed to read about people who looked like me,” he explained. “People with the same struggles, the same starting point. I needed a mirror.”
That mirror arrived in Stoute’s work. As a former music executive turned cultural strategist, Stoute articulated something few had named so clearly: how hip-hop and Black culture didn’t just influence America, they rewrote its economic and cultural rules. For Onestas, the book unlocked an entirely new framework for understanding power, culture, and possibility.
That single read became the seed for OmaxBooks, the Paris-based publishing house that Onestas would later found to translate and elevate Afro-American voices for the global Francophone world. Today, OmaxBooks has translated works from cultural icons including 50 Cent, Issa Rae, Rick Ross, Taraji P. Henson, Common, and Kanye West, but this translation, he says, is different.
“This book is the beginning of everything for me,” Onestas said. “OmaxBooks is my new life. And this book is where that life began.” When Onestas revealed the news on stage, Stoute’s reaction was genuine and emotional. Yet the most powerful moment came when Stoute recognized Onestas instantly—remembering a brief conversation they’d shared two years earlier at Cannes.
“That’s what made me emotional,” Onestas admitted. “Not the announcement, but the fact that he remembered me.”
In that recognition, a full cultural circle closed: the book that inspired a young reader, the reader who built a publishing company, and the publisher now working directly with the author who changed his life.
For Francophone readers across France, Africa, the Caribbean, and Canada, the French edition of The Tanning of America offers more than translation; it offers access. In many parts of the world, Black culture is lived daily but rarely analyzed, validated, or framed as an economic force.
“Steve’s book gives language, data, and value to what Black people bring to culture and to the global economy,” Onestas said. “That knowledge is essential for the next generation.” Looking ahead, Onestas’ vision expands beyond books. Inspired by gatherings like AfroTech and Black Ambition, he’s focused on creating global bridges, bringing major Black cultural convenings to Paris, and eventually to cities across Africa and the Caribbean.
“We don’t need to grow vertically, we already have the biggest artists, athletes, and creators,” he said. “Now it’s time to grow horizontally. Worldwide.” From a first English book to a historic stage announcement, Alexis Onestas isn’t just translating words; he’s translating power, culture, and possibility for a global Black future.
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