A year ago today, my first children’s book Little Troublemaker Makes a Mess dropped into the world and it is my favorite book of all that I’ve written. What was wild was as I was publishing the book, I was firing my whole team. This is what I’ve dedicated my newest season of the Professional Troublemaker podcast to. THIS tea. And it is cathartic to talk about because as I was going through it, I was ready to cuss everyone out. RANTYouthforia is selling black face paint in a makeup bottle. It’s atrocious. Beauty influencer and South Sudanese queen Gloria George (@golloria on Instagram and TikTok), has a regular feature where she swatches the darkest shade of foundation products offered by different beauty brands. She highlights the companies that are doing things right and calls attention to those who are not. On Monday, she posted a video of a swatch test for Youthforia’s newly released shade 600 foundation, the darkest color in the line. On one side of her face, she put on the foundation, and on the other, she applied actual black face paint to show that they basically look the same. People were in the comments saying “well there are people darker than you.” No one is the ACTUAL color BLACK. Even the darkest person on Earth is not the color of VantaBlack. TF?!?! 🤬 Creating a shade that mimics blackface doesn't just border on cultural insensitivity; it bulldozes right through it. It's a glaring example of what happens when brands substitute performative activism for genuine understanding. It's not enough to paint diversity in broad strokes (or in this case, literal strokes). It requires a palette that understands and respects the very people it claims to represent. Let's hope this serves as a wake-up call (or a slap with a wet beauty blender) to all the beauty brands out there. Get it together. We want shades for all, not shades that appall. 🙅🏾♀️ And to Youthforia and their founder (an Asian woman), do TF better. REFLECTIONWhat do we have to prove and when will it be enough? Whether we’re overworking, over-sacrificing or overgiving. As we navigate life and all that comes with it, I think we need to ask ourselves: What do we have to prove and when will it be enough? And to WHOM are we trying to prove this? 🤔💭 But for real. When will enough actually be enough? Will there come a day when we look in the mirror and say, "You know what? You did good. Let's just enjoy the ride now?” Or will we continue to chase after the next big thing, the next job, the next accolade, until we are worn out with nothing to show for it. 😩 The question I want to ask myself, on my last day, is “Did I make God proud?” If I can say yes, I’ve lived a good life. 🙏🏾 RECOMMENDATIONBuy foundation from a company that actually cares about inclusivity - Fenty Beauty. Fenty, created by Rihanna, REVOLUTIONIZED the beauty industry because when it launched, they came out the GATE with 50 shades of foundation, something that we have been begging others to do for years. Where they’d have 20 shades of beige and 5 shades that were brown. Rihanna said AHT AHT AHT. I’m not having it. And once she launched Fenty, other brands followed suit. THAT is a leadership. 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 And their deepest shade is 498, which is 12 shades darker than me. INCLUSIVITY. RANGE. I am choiceless but to STANNNN!!! 🤩
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