Week 1 Roundup: Modern Black Women Making History
INDYA MOORE | ACTIVIST
PHOTO: ELLE
Actor and model best known for their role in Pose, Indya is a nonbinary activist for the black and brown trans community. Their work includes increasing visibility for POC queer populations, donating to those in need in both the queer and disabled community, and working on outreach projects for queer and trans people of color.
winnie harlow | fashion
“I'm not a spokesperson for vitiligo just because I have a skin condition. And I'm also not a spokesperson for black people just because I'm black. I'm a black woman and I'm proud of that. But you don't get to label me and put me in a box because it makes you feel comfortable.”
PHOTO/QUOTE: TEEN VOGUE
Winnie Harlow was the first Black supermodel with the skin condition vitiligo. Growing up, Winnie experienced awful bullying due to her physical appearance which led to her dropping out of school. Today, Winnie Harlow is a strong woman who has learned to love herself and holds a title for one of the worlds more recognized supermodels.
PHOTO: CNBC
ROZ BREWER | LEADERSHIP
Roz Brewer is currently the only Black woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the third Black woman in history to do so. Before taking on her historic position as the CEO of Walgreens in late January of this year, she broke barriers as the first Black woman to serve as COO of Starbucks. While serving as COO of Starbucks, Forbes listed her 34th in its ranking of most powerful women. In 2019, Brewer also became the only Black woman on Amazon’s board. She is an outspoken advocate for increasing diversity in corporate leadership and is open about the difficulties she faces as a Black executive. “When you’re a Black woman, you get mistaken a lot. You get mistaken as someone who could actually not have that top job. Sometimes you’re mistaken for kitchen help,” she said in a speech she gave at Spelman College, where she attended undergrad. Brewer has become a trailblazer for Black women in business as she has confronted numerous obstacles due to her gender and race to obtain her current position in the c-suite.
CHAYA FLETCHER | CHEF
Chaya Fletcher is an entrepreneur and chef for Oklahoma City Public Schools. Chaya is passionate about creating culinary experiences while honoring the rich African American history of Oklahoma City. She is working hard to curate a space where food and art intersect, and is currently working on a partnership with the USDA to develop the first Farm to Table Agriculture/ Culinary Program. Chaya serves as an advocate for women of color and works to raise awareness on other issues surrounding education.
PHOTO: ESSENCE MAGAZINE
TIMNIT GEBRU | STEM
PHOTO: NEW YORK TIMES
Timnit Gebru, born in 1983, is a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research and a former PhD student in the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Today, she is researching the ethical and moral implications of artificial intelligence, and in 2017, she co-authored a paper entitled, “Fine-Grained Car Detection for Visual Census Estimation.” In this paper, she and her team developed a machine learning algorithm that used images of cars from Google Street View to predict census data such as income, per capita carbon emission, and crime rates. It also exposed bias and discrimination in this software, showing that facial recognition to be less accurate at identifying women and people of color. After publishing this paper, she was let go from Google, the company for which she was working at the time, and many attribute her termination to the inconvenient truths she exposed. Gebru also founded an initiative called Black in AI, which works to generate awareness and increase the number of Black people working in artificial intelligence as well as eliminate racial biases in AI systems.
NIA DENNIS | SPORTS
"It was very difficult, and especially when you have your coaches telling you that you don't look good or you're not in shape because you don't fit into those typical styles of gymnastics, which is so cookie-cutter," she shared. "Black gymnasts are kind of rare in the sport of gymnastics. And Black culture is not really recognized or known in the sport of gymnastics, so it was really important to me to bring that into the light of gymnastics — to raise awareness of Black culture."
PHOTO: NIA DENNIS | QUOTE: NBC NEWS
Nia Dennis is a 21 year old gymnast for UCLA and was a member of the US National team. Nia’s “black excellence” routine has gone viral. She was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protest and included music from black artists in her routine. "Black culture is not really recognized or known in the sport of gymnastics, so it was really important to me to bring that into the light of gymnastics," Dennis said. "It was very difficult, and especially when you have your coaches telling you that you don't look good or you're not in shape because you don't fit into those typical styles of gymnastics, which is so cookie-cutter," she shared. "Black gymnasts are kind of rare in the sport of gymnastics. And Black culture is not really recognized or known in the sport of gymnastics, so it was really important to me to bring that into the light of gymnastics — to raise awareness of Black culture.
RUTH B. | entertainment
PHOTO: Cameron Postforoosh, HIGHSNOBIETY
Ruth Berhe, known as Ruth B. in the music industry, started her singing career on the social media platform Vine when she was just a teenager. Since then, she has risen to stardom as an artist known for her emotionally vulnerable songs that strongly resonate with younger generations - especially her most popular piece, “Lost Boy.” She is best know for exploring her position as a black female artist in the industry. Recently, she used her platform to bring awareness to the Black Lives Matter movement with her song, “If I Have a Son.” Ruth B. has earned three awards for her music, and she continues to thrive as a sensational, versatile musician.
Amanda Gorman | Poet Laureate
PHOTO: Tony Luong, New York Times
The story of Amanda Gorman, America’s first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, is a modern one with deep historical roots. She is the natural outcome of a vibrant, devastatingly creative mind in a society that has finally, consciously begun to make room for the uniquely powerful contributions of black women poets.
Her 2021 Inaugural Poem, recited as President Joseph Biden was sworn in, is titled In This Place (An American Lyric). It is a testament to the spirit of the American people across racial and social lines - it is one part song, one part confrontation, and one part celebration of the potential Miss Gorman sees in the country she calls home.
As her career continues to unfold in brilliant hues of beautiful, melanin black, red, white, and blue, Amanda Gorman challenges our notions about the ways talented black women and girls can thrive in a world of challenges.
Miss Gorman will be reciting a poem at the 2021 Superbowl this year.