28 Jan NICOLE

What are your experiences with colorism? What happened?

In school: I remember overhearing the boys in my history class ranking the girls in the class they though were the prettiest and overhearing one of them saying “Nicole is pretty for a black girl”

In work: While preparing for the casting of a fashion show the designer told me over the phone (not knowing my race) I want the models to be very very very pale. As a advocate of diversity this bothered me so much and while I still had Models Of all color attend his casting only 1 black model who was very fare skinned and 1 Asian model were selected for that show. This was a Asian designer and it made me realize how deep his own self hate must be to not even book more models that looked like himself.

How has colorism affected your dating experiences?

As a women who is lighter I’ve experienced a lot of men who wanted to be something more exotic. They couldn’t accept that I was just black. I would get comments like “I know you’re black, but what else”.

How do you feel about your color as it relates to your experiences?

I find darker complexions so beautiful that is makes me so upset when men and women envy any sort of racial ambiguity that I may possess. I see so much self hate in that. I love to see diversity and due to my experiences with colorism I have fought for more diversity and representation because I see how much it affects our society

Do you think the representation has an effect on you and others around you? How does it make you feel and how do you think other people view you as a result of it?

I think Media when they cast black women in ad they typically show women of light to medium complexion. Which in turn makes me a “palatable” representation for people that some how makes me seem more approachable and also less black.

How does your culture handle colorism?

Both the West Indian and American side seem to help uplift the lighter skinned men and women despite their own complexion. I think I’m America the black community is ¦ght more to change the image of beauty to include all complexions but in the Caribbean you can still ¦nd ample skin bleaching products and use

What are your I AMs?

I am black and proud