Baby, I'm Back (Sort Of)
When life happens and Sade and classic Black sitcoms inspire a comeback.
Nobody disappears and makes a comeback like Helen Folasade Adu. Since I don’t have a melodious voice or a crazy cult following epitomizing cool, I am going to slip into your inboxes like a scene from a classic Black sitcom… Scooter showing up with flowers for Khadijah at the Flava offices, I need to say “Baby I’m back!”
But what I want to reference is the short-lived 1978 comedy of the same name starring Demond Wilson (Sanford & Son), Denise Nichols (Room 222), and baby girl Kim Fields, who played one of his children. Wilson stars as a man who runs out on his wife, and his family returns after seven years and tries to win them back. Well, it hasn’t been seven years since I sent out a newsletter or published a new podcast episode, but it feels like it. So I had to bring flowers!
Something’s Gotta Give
As an entrepreneur, who is really a solopreneur, I am used to spinning plates to make things happen. But when I began a massive project that required much of my time and energy, I had to admit that writing a weekly newsletter and producing all aspects of my podcast (except editing, which I can do but had started to outsource) was not going to last. And the truth is podcast production takes both time and money. Because I knew that when the juggle got real, something will eventually break or catch fire, I hit pause.
And although the massive project is not yet completed, I am inching my way back starting with this first missive and I will begin recording the podcast next. But now that I’ve explained my prolonged absence, let me share a couple of other things as we gather around this beauty table.
The Yeleen Beauty Makerspace Puts A Focus on Manufacturing
When I interviewed social entrepreneur, Rahama Wright, last year for episode 67, she mentioned her desire to redefine what success meant. And for Rahama, the signs of success included other beauty entrepreneurs. Well, since we chatted, Rahama has taken some concrete steps to bring her vision to life in the form of the Yeleen Beauty Makerspace, a facility she is building n Washington, which will offer a myriad of services, including manufacturing and education for early stage beauty entrepreneurs to help them scale their businesses. But you don’t need to live in Washington, DC to take advantage of what the Yeleen BeautyMakerspace has to offer.
If you are an indie beauty entrepreneur, it would be awesome if you can fill out this survey so Rahama knows what you need in a space so she can build one with all the elements you need. And if you know one, please share this survey.
Tressie McMillan-Cottom & The Blonde Backlash
If you didn’t know this already, I am a Tressie McMillian Cottom stan. I believe the sociologist and author of Thick: and Other Essays brings us absolutely necessary reflections on beauty, diversity, and power in her book and now in her New York Times Opinion column/newsletter. Coincidentally, I received one such reflection yesterday just as I started writing this newsletter The Enduring Invisible Power of Blond.
In it, she details how being sick over the holidays landed her in what some would call dangerous waters on TikTok. She responded to a humorous video by a young blonde woman discussing her hair color and mentioned she was doing a project on how hair hue is used as a racial identifier. In response was swarmed by detractors and banned from the app after her video had amassed 1 million views. McMillan Cottom will be featuring discussions around this subject and more in future NY Times columns.
"Ambitions to be blonde, and sorrow for not "winning" this genetic lottery are global."
I bring up this essay, and McMillan Cottom’s essays and research on beauty because they can serve to deepen our approach to DEI conversations. Because we often leave out economic implications and the power dynamic and they are underlying factors we will discuss inclusion and belonging. Beauty standards are deeply ingrained in our global society. If you are serious about a career in the beauty industry, it is imperative to follow her work. If you still need convincing, listen to the old podcast episode of, (In) Visible Women, where we discuss what we liked about Thick: and Other Essays.
The Perfect Find is Going to Bring the Summer Heat
I interviewed the lovely and amazing Tia Williams for episode nine when most of us barely left the house during the early months of the pandemic. While we chatted about her successful career in beauty editorial and working for corporate beauty brands, we also discussed how she carved out time to become a successful fiction writer. Listen, folks, I have been reading Tia’s work since The Accidental Diva (more than twenty years ago), so I was over the moon when Gabrielle Union optioned The Perfect Find and decided to star in it along with Gina Rodriguez and Keith Powers. If you haven’t read the book yet, do it now. The film will make its debut on Netflix this summer. The only thing that could make this news better is news about an adaptation of Seven Days in June! One can only hope.
Let’s end where we began, with the pilot episode of Baby, I’m Back because Denise Nichols epitomizes beauty and Kim Coles is so adorable.