Taelyr C. Roberts

Creator | Small Business Advocate | Angelic Troublemaker

Rock Your Crown

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In the wake of such public and prominent examples of Black, female excellence such as Rihanna’s release of Anti; Beyonce’ dropping Lemonade or any of the other acts surrounding it’s presence; Lupita’s recent “classy clapback”; or even Tess Asplund’s viral stand – I have been experiencing a pretty hefty dose of #BlackGirlMagic (shout out to Cashawn Thompson) in my life offline as well. Because of that, I have decided to utilize my #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday) to share with you profiles of some pretty incredible women to definitely keep on your radar.

I have actually been crafting the details surrounding this post since March although it is just now coming to fruition. All of my musings below however were sparked by a woman by the name of Rena.

Rena Karefa Johnson is a Harvard law student and activist taking a very unique approach to how she spearheads the fight against systemic racism. She has published work such as “Using law to heal the wounds of racism”. I first met Rena while attending the Campus Compact 30th Anniversary Conference in Boston, MA where she sat on a panel titled “Higher Education and the Movement for Racial Justice and Equity”. As I stood listening to these incredible panelists discuss the actions that led them to this point, I recall Rena describing her experience of watching her father contend with the impending threat of colonialism and his response being “Nah” (her words, not mine). Speaking with Rena after that panel was no less awe inspiring and even further made me question why I hadn’t heard of her prior to that day.


Shortly after that experience, I was off to CGI U (Clinton Global Initiative University) which is the convening of some of the most prominent minds in the realm of social justice, entrepreneurship, innovation, and a number of other fields focused on creating a better world. Here, I met Brittany Packnett and Obiageli Ezekwesili.

Brittany Packnett is an educator and activist fighting the good fight in the classroom and in the streets. She has published amazing works for The Guardian and TIME highlighting action surrounding racial justice. Her passion and her work speak for themselves and her Twitter home is a perfect snapshot of that. My major takeaway from her time on the panel during CGI U: 

In the same vein as feeding your radical imagination lies Obiageli Ezekwesili known for her work as the co-creator of the #BringBackOurGirls movement. Her work is truly a model to live by and she was even recognized as one of TIME’s Most Influential People – Leaders Division. SHE. GAVE. ME. LIFE. (figuratively, of course) during one of CGI U’s plenary sessions where she spoke very openly about the personal, ethical connection to social justice work and its importance.

“It is now that you have to decide if your values are up for negotiation”
-Obiageli Ezekwesili of

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDtP5D2G_Re/?taken-by=taelyreddestiny

Lots of people will likely argue that their morals are not up for negotiation, but is your hairstyle?

Last, but certainly not least is someone very near and dear to me -Dr. Tina Opie who has made it her business to work through the conversations surrounding naturally coily, kinky, gravity defying hair. She is starting her own movement called Natural Hair @ Work where she is challenging the eurocentric framework that classifies the hair of women of color as unprofessional. Birthed from her written works, she is tackling the idea that kinks and coils don’t have a place in the office too.

 

These four women are just a snapshot of the amazing women of color with which I come into contact on a regular basis, but they are absolutely names to know as they are changing and shaping the landscape on how we interact with social justice and the way that our world interacts with people of color.

Can you think of women who are the epitome of #BlackGirlMagic? Tell me in the comments below!

 

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