THE ARCHIVE
To Be Young, Gifted
& Black
Right now, I’m going to try something.
I’m just going to write what comes to mind and just let it flow.
This isn’t part of some content plan. No strategy. No briefs. No performance. Just my thoughts...
Let us reflect on the BBR Beauty Show I attended a month ago.
The only way I can really explain it, is to start with that morning. Whenever I'm getting ready I have me a little internal dialogue in the mirror so I know it's real. You know, like the scenes from Insecure? It's when your inner-self orbs into your head to put you on game and keep you on track.
She always shows up when I need her to. I imagine her to have pink zig zag cornrows. She would be wearing The Jean Paul Gaultier ensemble Chris Tucker wore in the movie Fifth Element with some vintage Casadei boots.
I definately had the jitters. "Should I wear black or go all out? Is my afro professional?" I thought
And then it hit me. No like the ancestors actually hit me. Before I could even question my choice to wear my fro, to a Black beauty convention, I grabbed my pick and started combing my hair out.
“This is a the Black Beauty show”. There's nothing more black and beautiful than an afro.
I stood up a little taller, looked myself in the eyes. And for a moment, I could see the flames. The flames I needed to stand firm in who I am. The same fire that Angela Bassett used to purify her cheating husbands most prized possessions in "Waiting to Exhale". *clock that.
I stepped out of the house in all black from head to toe, my dress had long sleeves. About to walk almost two miles just to get to the bus. Not only was my head high, but my ass was HOT. I was sweating before I even made it to the city.
I had a free ticket to some big conference in the big city, I practically ran to the bus stop. It didn’t matter that I had only $20 to my name. I didn’t care, I had just started my job, the money was going to come. I was going to make it to that conference, no matter what. That’s the stuff people don’t talk about, the insecurities, the sacrifices you made to get to where you need to go.
Like, that part of The Alchemist when he finally gets enough to make it to the Pyramids and find his "Personal Legend".
It wasn’t until I stepped into the BBR Show that I realized:
It was the place I saw in an old dream but the magic didn’t stop there. Somehow, in a room of over 500 people, Lupita Nyong’o’s hairstylist tells me to get up and show everybody my afro.
“Who, me?”
“Girl, yes. You’re gorgeous. Stand up.” it was something like that lol.
I got up, shook my hair and when I tell y’all I was LIVING.
Some people are going to lie to you and tell you they’re 100% confident, 100% of the time. I’m going to be real and tell you sometimes my levels are more like 80, 85.
The magic didn’t stop there. I heard cultured wisdoms from Anok Yai, met some cool creators, and I got to hear one of my favorite entrepreneurs speak: the owner of Camille Rose. Now I want to tell y’all something, Camille Rose is the TRUTH. If you have eczema then you know what I'm talking about.
Don’t ask me to try nothing else because I’m not doing that. Listening to her talk about what it took to build her business made me think about the Black Women who came before us. Some of my favorite things are a manifestation of a Black Woman said: “Fuck it. I’ll do it.”
Madame C.J. Walker.
Sojourner Truth.
Zora Neale Hurston.
Harriet Tubman.
Tina Turner.
Eartha Kitt.
bell hooks.
Toni Morrison.
Cleopatra.
"To be young, gifted and black..."I thought to myself.
Everybody in the room was doing the damn thing. Following their dreams, building businesses, and creating opportunities. The energy was so high it gave me the battery pack I needed to go up on stage and allow myself to be perceived.
Aniyah: 3.
My fears: 0.
I’ll always remember the feeling I left with. I left with a new perspective, a reminder that there is power in being seen, power in taking up space.
I came back ready to take some of the things I learned and do something about it. What’s the point of doing something new if you come back the same person?
What's next for me?
Brb.
It’s time to go do the things I said I was going to do. <3