featured Herstories
Poem (written & Audio) - by Genelle Pollydore
“My story is about my journey from confidence to loss of sense of self to re-affirming who I am and who I want to be. I hope to empower the BSC community to love themselves, believe in themselves, and reach their full potential. Thanks for reading/listening. I am so very happy and grateful to share and be a part of the collective! ❤️”
Read Genelle’s story about her overcoming lack of confidence and rediscovering herself.
Blog Post - by Raquel Reid
“My whole life I have been praised because of my light-ish skin tone and my loose-ish curly hair. As a child, this made me extremely confident in my looks and growing into adolescence even more so because I learned how to actually do my own hair. When I was younger, I just thought that I was beautiful and that’s why people praised me for my looks, when I got older, I realized the implications of colourism.”
Read about Raquel’s experience with colourism and texturism while dating within the black community. She also discusses the negative impacts she’s realized of black men only dating lighter-skin black women as these "dating preferences" are typically rooted in anti-black racism.
Blog Post - by Alyssa galloway
“It never dawned on me that self-love was something that wasn't taught until I was in my early 20s. I figured that people were born with confidence and care for themselves and that ultimately something was just wrong with me. It wasn't until I began to recognize that so much comes from your childhood environment and cultural factors that I began to figure out the details.”
Read Alyssa’s story about she’s learning how to prioritize her self-care while living in a multiracial household. She discusses her experience with accepting her blackness and loving her natural features.
Blog Post - by Siera Whitaker
“I realized I needed to forgive myself. I had forgiven those I felt I needed to for my own peace. But it was my turn. I felt like I was carrying my childhood self on my ankle. As I’d take steps, I’d feel her weight on my feet. I was in need of comforting her, the little girl who would get so excited to see her dad come home from work but would arise disappointed the next day when realizing he got in late again.”
Read Siera’s story about dealing with her childhood trauma, learning and unlearning truths about herself, and discovering her worth and purpose.
Blog Post - by Tash (Founder of BSC)
“For most of my childhood, I wished for thinner and looser-curled hair. But through the self-hate, the perms, the texturizers, the frustration, the tears, my hair did not change. It’s still thick and tightly coiled. I wanted my hair to be more like the women I saw on T.V. and in magazines. I truly believed my hair was not beautiful…
There’s a lot of “tips & tricks” to achieve long, healthy hair, but the best way I think you can is by being in tune with it and giving it what it needs.”
Read Tash’s story on overcoming the struggles of self-hate and learning to love and care for her natural hair.