CAMPAIGNS (aka #receipts)

A Care Package for Ariyonna (2020)

In February 2020, when Instagrammer @lilwavedaddy posted an emotional video of herself affirming a tearful 4-year-old girl named Ariyonna after calling herself ugly, many of us cried right along with her, not just because we felt bad for her, but because many of us were her, many of us ARE her. Within days, a community of virtual Aunties and Uncles donated gifts, goodies, and money to remind Ariyonna that she is indeed beautiful.

#WeAllWeGot: Open Letter to Bethune Cookman’s Graduating Class (2017)

More than 200 Black professors signed this open letter to the courageous members of Bethune Bethune-Cookman College’s Class of 2017. The students defied the presence and rhetoric of Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, as she attempted to complete her speech. The graduates turned their backs, literally, on DeVos as she offered her remarks to the chagrin of the college’s administration gathered on the stage. Their act, their courage, in the face of assumed power is the true definition of Unapologetic. 

#ProfessionalBlackGirl (EST. 2016)

We are professional code-switchers.
We hold Ph.Ds and listen to trap music.
We twerk and we work.
We are Professional Black Girls.

#PrettyLipsPeriod (2016)

In February 2016, when MAC Cosmetics posted a photo of model Aamito Lagum's lips and within minutes, the image was attacked by hundreds of racist trolls. Annoyed by the lack of response from MAC, we - myself and Thembisa Mshaka - decided to do something about its and launched a social media campaign, #PrettyLipsPeriod, to celebrate the beauty of Black features, specifically the full lips that many others pay money to attain. 

#PrettyPeriod (EST. 2014)

For the most part, when we discuss skin color politics (colorism), we focus primarily on the sociopolitical DISadvantages that come with being dark-skinned in a society that continues to privilege and prioritize White/Western standards of beauty. Unfortunately, it seems to be the ONLY truth I have long seen discussed. 

Enter ‘Pretty. Period,’ a transmedia project created as a visual missive in reaction to the oh-so-popular, yet oh-so-offensive “compliment” - “You’re pretty for a dark-skinned girl.” Our collective response is, “No, we’re pretty. PERIOD.”

Ruby You (2014)

In February 2014, I created this lookbook after hearing about the public response to a photo of Rocquelle Porch’s posted on Essence Online’s Facebook page in which she wore red lipstick. While her photograph waw meant to highlight natural hair in Houston, the large majority of the comments focused on Rocquelle’s lip color. The long and short of it – most commenters offered their opinion that red was not her color. Whoever came up with the idea that bright colors bring attention to dark skin was right. Isn’t that the point? There’s freedom in color – FREE UP!!

For LaShawnte: Sing a Black Girl’s Song (2014)

There once was a little girl. Her name was LaShawnte. On national television, she told her mother that she thought her skin was ugly. I watched that footage several times. And each time I felt a deep sadness, one that lived somewhere way back when. I never told anyone that I hated being dark, but it wasn’t hard for me to understand why LaShawnte does did. 

I wanted her to see herself differently. I needed her to see herself in me and much as I saw myself in her. So, I called on Black women to join me in “singing a Black Girl’s song.” The call was simple – “tell a little Black girl that she is beautiful today. And every day.”

Locs of Love: A Care Package for Tiana (2013)

In 2013, when 7-year old Tiana Parker was sent home from school because administrators at her predominantly Black charter school said her hair, which she had recently loc’ed over the summer, was “unacceptable” and violated school policy, I put out a Facebook call to women and girls who wore their hair in locs. Within 12 hours I had hundreds of submissions - pictures and love notes to Tiana, from women and girls from all over the world, including a very special note from renowned writer, Alice Walker.

(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race (2011 - 2013)

Examining a particular intersection of skin color politics and Black racial identity that is often overlooked, (1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race documents the thoughts, feelings, opinions, perspectives, and experiences of a variety of people of African descent from around the world. Their shared experience? Self-identifying and seeing themselves as Black, yet having their Blackness questioned, if not challenged for any variety of reasons. “What are you?” is a question many of them have been asked repeatedly over the course of their lives. Professor and scholar of Africana Studies, Yaba Blay, and photographer Noelle Théard interview and photograph sixty (60) individuals representing 20 different countries about their views on racial identity, and their connection with Blackness. Through candid personal narratives and beautifully captured photographs, (1)ne Drop provides living testimony to the fluidity of Blackness and provokes new thinking and new conversations on race, skin color, and identity.