The pain of knowing this quickly kept me from sharing what I've overcome in my personal life. My story is riddled with the stereotypes that stay with Black and brown families, silencing me so much that there have been moments of shame from circumstances I couldn't control.

The color pallet of life uses brushes of perseverance and discipline to show how bright one can shine. Our “Black Is Beautiful” theme leans into the moments where we all need a little extra sparkle. Our Friday Feature is Nikki Brown, a professional freelance Makeup Artist, and Licensed Esthetician who knows how to use the world's colors to help her clients get to that sparkle.

When I hear “Black Is Beautiful,” I often think about my hair and how growing up as a child, I didn’t think my natural hair was. It all started in elementary school. My mother didn't have the patience to do my hair because it was hard to maintain. So instead, she would take me to the hair salon once a month to get cornrows with the beads on the end.