fbpx
13 Apr 2020
Blogging
April 13, 2020 Guest Blogger

The Influencers of Color You Need to Follow

These last couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, my friends. ICYMI: I made a tweet a few days ago about influencers of color that went viral and vented my frustration about the lack of diversity in the influencer world. Specifically, those influencers that are hand-picked for press trips.Since then, the tweet (and this meaningful conversation!) has been shared by Yahoo, Business Insider, Metro, and PRWeek.  I’ve also done a couple of more interviews with other national news outlets and can’t wait to share those articles with you once they go live!Why We Need Better Representation of Influencers of ColorDiversity is a really important subject for me.
Growing up, I didn’t see that many dark-skinned women who looked like me on the covers of magazines; and that lack of representation made me feel inferior. I knew I didn’t fit into a western standard of beauty, and it made me feel ugly. Heck, there was even a point when I was younger that I prayed that I would wake up with lighter skin just so I could be considered beautiful. Over time, things got a little better. Once blogging became a thing, I was able to follow and connect with women of all different body types/shapes/sizes/colors. Aerie started a revolutionary campaign and stopped retouching their models. Olay invited real women to model in their NYFW show without makeup. Things were going in the right direction, and brands were becoming more inclusive. Or so I thought.Even though some brands have done a fantastic job at being inclusive, there are plenty of other companies that still choose the same type of influencer for their campaigns. Thin. Light skinned. Free of disabilities. And my friends — I am sick of it.  We need more influencers of color!

This industry is full of talented influencers of color who would be great additions to any brand campaign. And today, I wanted to share a list of some influencers of color that should be on your radar.

The Influencers of Color You Need to Follow by popular DC lifestyle blogger, Alicia Tenise: image of a group of black women standing together outside and posing for a picture.

UNDER 25K

UNDER 50K

UNDER 100K

100K AND UP

,