Happy Women’s History Month!
I’m spending the month of March thinking about role models in my life and others who have inspired me over the years.
Of course my Mother tops the list! Hard working immigrant from the Bahamas who went on to be a Florida home owner!
Naomi Sims was the first Black model on the cover of Ladies’ Home Journal in November 1968 and the October 17, 1969 issue of Life Magazine. She wrote a beauty bible and then dove into the beauty business. I was brought on National Training Director for Naomi Sims Beauty Products! I had already traveled to Africa for Revlon, modeled in Paris for Christian Dior, Azzedine Alaia and Patrick Kelly etc., been a beauty consultant and had begun working for Harris Publications. I stopped everything to work with Naomi and traveled the country training other representatives and introducing products to major department stores. We all will remember her initiative to advocate for herself, to educate us about beauty and women’s health, and to provide quality solutions to beauty concerns of women of color.
My list of admired women is a work in progress! So far the list includes, in no particular order:
- Shirley Chisholm
- Michelle Obama
- Maxine Waters
- Serena Williams
- Angela Bassett
- Cicely Tyson
- Harriet Tubman
- Madam C.J. Walker
- Oprah Winfrey
- Iman
- Mikki Taylor
I’ve known the amazing Iman since our early modeling years. Mikki Taylor and I also go way back to when I worked for Naomi Sims. Mikki is editor-at-large for Essence magazine and wrote the book Editor–in–Chic, which gives advice on how to develop your own unique brand of beauty, inside and out. The book contains self-affirming passages like this:
Who would you put on your Women’s History Month list?