They prey on our culture,
Want the braids and the beats.
But don’t want the struggle,
because they gotta eat.

Our bodies defiled,
our histories erased.
All hail Christopher Columbus,
And put an interstate over our graves.

You say that you know,
Because you got black friends.
But that’s not the half, the whole,
Beginning nor end.

You see, you break up our families,
There is no permanence in our homes.
Can’t even eat ice cream,
On a night home alone.

Our slain children become hashtags,
Mothers outliving their kids.
Holding down the whole house,
While niggas servin’ bids.

Our black lives don’t matter
So you back the blue.
But what that color means for me,
Is not the same for you.

Y’all set this shit up,
Red lines and Jim Crow,
It may not be in the textbooks,
But we damn sure know.

We asked for justice, fuck peace.
Forty acres and a mule?
Property turned people,
Y’all made your own rules.

While we built this country,
You built your family wealth.
On the backs of black heroes,
And left us nothing else.

Greenwood, Hayti
There are so many others.
You stole communities from us
No inheritance for my brothers.

But history has shown
That resilience is in our blood
When it rains it always pours
But we dance in the mud.

We make magic with our pain,
And breed beauty with black love.
Holding on to the faintest hope,
That “the talk” will be enough.

Thank god for the Internet,
Maybe more people will see.
I can’t take off my skin,
I just want to be me.

We just want the chance to build,
From pasts layered with trauma.
Or we’ll pass down the hurt,
Through broken daddies and mamas.

Put the politics to the side,
We just wanna be whole.
To Botham and Atatiana,
We honor your souls.

Julian Addo is the founder of Adwoa Beauty, a collection of natural hair products that focuses on moisturizing and elongating all kinky-curly hair types. I had the privilege of going on a ride with Addo. As we briefly touched on the roots of her humble beginnings and smiled through the triumphs of building her legacy, I was moved by her story that I get to share with you.

Meet Julian Addo

MW: What does Adwoa represent for you, and what was your intent when you started the company?

JA: Adwoa’s my name in my tradition. My father is from Ghana, and it is a pretty common name. It’s like Lisa here. I just wanted to have a brand that kind of merged the intersection of my identity, which is I was born in West Africa, and I came to the U.S. when I was 2 years old. I grew up in America in Black culture, so I’m African American. I wanted a brand that was clean, modern, gender neutral, non-toxic, but I wanted to give it this name I understood people here wouldn’t be able to identify with right away or pronounce. But what it has done is it has started a conversation.

And for the people of West Africa, being able to give them a brand and branding that they are proud of that represents the culture was kind of like honoring being African and being American.

MW: What were some of the ins and outs of starting your brand?

JA: Beauty is in my DNA. I have been in the industry since I was 14. I started doing hair in New York City. I went to a vocational high school and took up cosmetology, so when I graduated high school, I graduated with a cosmetology degree, and then I had already worked in a salon for so many years as an apprentice in school and was able to gain credit hours for working under a licensed stylist.

I owned my own salon for a few years, and then I sold my salon and got into Corporate America by happenstance and ended up staying in the finance sector for the next 13 years. In 2012, when I discovered the natural hair industry and chopped off my own hair I created a brand called Bella Kinks, which was a small blog to document my journey and to also host events in Dallas. Through that journey, I worked with influencers, brands, did digital marketing. In 2015, I freelanced for three years with Sally Beauty. I was responsible for doing the digital for their in-house brands, and I helped them launch new lines.

I never intended on starting a beauty brand. It wasn’t a dream. Beauty is just so second nature for me. I’m always not quite sure what to say to someone that wants to start out. The only thing I can say is that if you are truly passionate about something, study the industry and know a lot about the industry that you want to go in before you go in it.

MW: What are the best and worst pieces of advice someone has given you?

JA: The Best – “Play for the long game.” With social media now, things can get so trendy. And as a brand sometimes you may want to hop on the trends, but you have to be able to determine if your brand is a trendy brand or a legacy brand. I think of Adowa as more legacy, so I want the products that we create to be around for the next 30 years.

The Worst – When I decided that I was going to start Adwoa, people kept saying the market is so saturated. It never discouraged me. Yea, it’s saturated. But it’s saturated with the same shit. Nothing is new, but if you want to start something — having an idea about what you bring to the table that makes you different and what your value proposition is going to be for the industry — it doesn’t matter how many are out there. Adwoa Beauty is more about the voice and all of the intangible things. The products are a bonus. They are going to work and be highly formulated. That’s second nature. The important part of the brand is everything else that people can’t use every day.

MW: What are some of those intangibles that empower customers and followers of the brand?

JA: As a black woman, I really wanted a brand that I could invest in, that I could trust for the long haul, that I know 100 percent had my back, that wasn’t all about profit and the bottom line. I think a lot of people start out with good intentions, but somewhere along the journey it becomes very money hungry. Yes, you need money for the brand to grow, but I just wanted to create something that would get black women to trust me. Once they trust me, I was responsible for that trust. 

Everybody — father, husbands, boyfriends, brands, companies — once we trust them and we invest them, at some point they leave us. Throughout doing events under Bella Kinks, I have seen a lot of brokenness in us, and I felt like we just needed something to trust. Everything that I do is with them in mind.

MW: Talk to me about your team. What kind of people do you surround yourself with?

JA: I go off of energy, my business is personal to me. I like people with integrity, that are hardworking, that do the right thing behind closed doors, that challenge themselves and challenge me as well. I don’t have yes men around.

MW: What does Adwoa have in the works for the future, and how do you want to empower your consumers?

JA: I hope I am inspiring someone to know that everything you want is a process and it takes time. I am taking people on a journey with me. In the future, we are going to launch into other categories. We want to be a beauty and wellness brand for all multicultural people.

MW: Tell us about your beautiful Dallas showroom and what people get to experience when they come?

JA: We are not a salon, but I realized customers still needed help in how to apply the products and their technique beyond watching YouTube videos so we wanted to provide a touchpoint, an offline experience. They can come and smell, touch, test and try. You can also purchase. Walk in to our showroom Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. We’re always there.

Follow Julian’s journey @julianraddo and keep up with all things kinky at adwoabeauty.com.

I had a few moments to chat with Matt. Check out his family’s story below, and we’ll see you Friday!

Tell us a little bit about Avery. What types of things does she enjoy, and who does she remind you of?

She loves TV and movies, especially with strong female characters who sing (Moana, Trolls). She enjoys dancing to music and also making huge messes. Her favorite is grabbing cups of water off tables. She LOVES water. Hoses, pools, sinks, dog bowls, baths/showers, and toilets. If it splashes, she’s there. She reminds me of a honey badger. Or a trash Panda, aka raccoon. She’s clever and fast. 

What does AS mean for Avery’s every day life?

Avery is a glitter bomb of joy. She rarely cries or is upset because her brain doesn’t make the chemicals it needs to express pain or sadness. If she’s crying, it’s probably bad. So we have to be with her every moment she’s awake. She doesn’t understand boundaries or danger, and since she’s constantly moving, we are too. She goes to therapy 4-5 times per week for occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and feeding therapy. Her body works against her brain much of the time so moving, eating, sleeping, etc. are difficult or ineffective for her. Avery’s everyday life means we are all exhausted by the end of the day. 

Where does your family find comfort, joy, and support in moments that are most difficult?

We have an amazing community of support with other families who have kids with AS. They “get it” in ways no one else could ever. We laugh and cry and struggle and drink and send each other’s family’s money for dinner when we or they are hospitalized. Personally, we find comfort in knowing that the Lord provides for us, and part of how He does that is through our friends and family. He has made our friends into family. 

What will the Community Beer event support, and how can people continue to follow Avery’s journey?

The event hosted by Community Brewery simply raises money for FAST, the Foundation of Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics. It is one of the non-profit organizations pushing and partnering with world renowned geneticists and researchers to advance the cure and bring it to the children and families living with AS. The coolest thing is that a cure exists, so this money goes directly into the development of gene therapies and getting ready for human clinical trials, which are expected in the next 18 months. We haven’t created any specific pages or accounts for people to keep up with Avery. Our friends mostly keep up with us on social media, because our life isn’t very conducive to getting out like typical families might. 

Visit cureangelman.org to learn more about AS and see how the AS community is pushing progress toward a cure. If you are interested in making a donation to help find a cure on behalf of Avery, please visit the Clarke’s fundraising page.

To touch hearts, hug them with my soul.

And feel. Yes, the splendors. But the sorrows, too.

The trenches of life. A reminder: presence.

Be still. Transform fear,

love your pain. I am here,

but can’t send my location.

You can’t map mystery,

but joy is on the itinerary.

Because you chose. 

Life, in color. Beyond barriers.

Chasing change and challenge.

What I saw in class was that fashion was a reflection of history. What I saw among peers was that fashion was a status symbol. In my jobs, a uniform. In the media, sex and art. The many threads of our fashion decisions were sewn into wordless statements of our convictions concerning pretty much everything in our lives.

According to the 2017 Global Fashion Agenda, apparel consumption is expected to rise by 63 percent, from 62 million tons today to 102 million tons in 2030. Not only does this upward trend implicate a threat to the health of our environment, it is a reminder that our choices no matter the size have consequences. With the ever-growing intensity of social media and its widespread influence on our consumption of goods, I am challenging us as examples for future consumers, to rethink the meaning behind our fashion projects and identities as opportunities to educate, inspire or challenge someone or something around you.

Historically, fashion has been one of the most pervasive means to peg someone’s socioeconomic status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, and even music preferences. While there are loaded stereotypes founded on baseless assumptions, what cannot be ignored is fashion’s ability to make thousands of statements while using no words.

Consider the Black Panthers of the 60s and 70s who wore all black in solidarity and berets as symbols of their military-like union. What about the drag queens of the late 80s and 90s, who were decked in audacious makeup and gender-bending costumes? And, let’s not forget about the fearless feminists over the decades who dared defy society’s boundaries on their bodies by showing (or not showing) their shoulders, knees, nipples, you name it. Since the beginning of time, we have used fashion to eschew or accept norms while exploring the possibilities of our own character.

Perhaps the most rewarding part of the work that I am privileged to do as an educator, journalist, and entrepreneur is getting to marry my creative desires with my heart for social justice. Over the last three years, I have been blessed by strangers who told me their stories and became my family. Through fashion, we have started uncomfortable conversations and questioned the traditional thinking of our peers, media, and even government. Below are a few of the projects I have had the honor of directing. From racism to religion, these are just small scenes in a larger play directed by fashion’s propensity for pushing limits while evoking emotion and change that truly matters.