As a black woman in America, the skin I am in is a free ticket to harassment, violence + outright disrespect. This is the ugly but very obvious truth. I say this with my whole entire chest even being a woman of a lighter skin complexion.
We have been continuously shown over the past several months.. no, just kidding we have been shown over the last 400 years how much Black Life is valued by the systems in place. The vile act of violence committed against Breonna Taylor and the lack of accountability towards the Police officers who pulled the trigger is yet another snide reminder of how little we are valued by the U.S. 's judicial system.
With so much death, violence + sickness plaguing our society it is imperative that we have an outlet to move the emotions of grief and rage to move through us. It is in this act that we can reintegrate wholeness and charge ourselves up to not only imagine better futures but to unite our dreams of true justice with compelling action.
So, with the catastrophically wild year 2020 has been, we have all been called to reevaluate our values, purpose + where we are placing our energy. For me this has partially looked like me revising how and what digital content I share with you, my community.
A resurgence of For Us By Us ethos was brought about when bleak black tiles in ' solidarity ' with Black Lives Matter filled our Instagram feeds from companies across many industries. Those of us engulfed in the beauty world witnessed industry heavy hitter Sharon Chuter of UOMA Beauty spearhead Pull Up For Change, which called for beauty brands to share their internal numbers of black employees. Seeing just how many of these beauty companies were virtually 0- 5% black staff was a second layer of icing on an already heavily iced cake for me. How could this be when these same people have diversity ads running all up and through our Instragam feeds + Youtube? LOL???
Supporting black woman owned, handcrafted + bespoke brands has always been a core value of mine and I am extremely glad this is becoming the standard for of us.
Over the Summer I joined the #HanaHanaTribe as a global ambassador for Hanahana Beauty. If you are familiar with my beauty content online, I'm sure you have seen me raving about their Black + Brown scrub. Pictured above is there Shea Balm, which paired with a brown lip liner is one of my holy grail everyday looks. I love it because it has the slightest brown tint to it from the cocoa ingredient.
Hanahana ' Ultra sustainable, Hella Clean ' Beauty was founded by Ghanaian-American Abena Boamah and has, " a holistic bottom-up approach to ensure and improve economic, environmental, and self sustainability for the women within the shea trade. " Of countries I've travelled to Ghana just might.. maybe take the cake of my favorite places. The people, the culture, the hospitality.. the food omg.. I could go on, but I love to see 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation West African 's making sustainable changes for the future of West Africa. While I do not have immediate familial ties to my countries of origin, all my closest friends know I want to build a house in the Aburi mountains of Ghana.. actually planning a trip as we speak but y'all did not hear that from me.
THIS is one example of a beauty company that should be getting ALL the coin. I've seen them make massive scales upward in growing their business and honestly, it is some serious black girl inspiration. Based in Chicago, their new warehouse is an actual dream. They also recently won Glossier 's 50K Beauty Business grant. Teniola if you see this sis, throw me some grant writing tips.
Use my code HBMIAXO when shopping to receive 10% off of your order!
And if there are two things you get out of this, let them be the following:
1. Consider your money an extension of your energy. Put it in places that will give back to you and the Black community at large.
2. Winter is coming... Don't Be Ashy.
Now, if you love me.. comment on this post and talk to ya girl!
- XX, Mia