The Authentic Me x Ms. Marisha

Sooo, I decided to join the #voguechallenge although I don’t typically participate in the online challenges, but this one made me think back to the little girl I used to be.

I grew up so uncomfortable in my own skin because I was muscular from running track and playing basketball and that made me feel embarrassingly masculine. The limited images of black women in the media back then were (and usually still are) portrayed as the voluptuous, “video vixen” type (thin waist, big butt and boobs).

Everyone else, usually white women with blond hair and blue eyes, were tall and “skinny” (a term that makes me cringe to this day…for me, it feels the way I’d imagine someone might feel being called fat. You may not understand, but please just respect it).

So nowhere I turned did I “see” me. And that resulted in many insecurities that played out in a number of ways…but now? Uh uh you can’t tell me nuthin’ (lol j/k)! but seriously, after clicking the #voguechallenge and seeing all of the diversity, my soul truly smiled. Beauty takes on so many forms, so here I am sharing mine with the world (in more ways than one)!