Swaay

If there's one community you'd expect to be all about the idea of beauty being a codified, standardized trait, it'd be the beauty pageant community. With so many movies and television shows mocking how allegedly similar all the pageant contestants are, one would expect most pageanteers to really focus on looks.

Some days, there is an almost tangible motivation that you can feel pulsing through your veins when you wake up in the morning. Other days…eh…not so much. With the new year here, it’s almost as if we are expected to feel some type of newness wash over us that guides us through the perfect business plan, social media strategy and works through the kinks of 2016. But things aren’t always this crystal clear. In fact, with that pressure, it can lead to a motivational struggle instead.

Rahama Wright, a first generation Ghanian, was no stranger to the difficulties that encumber women’s lives in Africa. Growing up, her mother would tell her stories of how different her childhood was versus Rahama’s in upstate New York. “She wasn’t allowed to got to school because she was a girl,” Wright reflects, “and her parents wanted her to marry very young.”

In 1994, at the age of nine, I received my first “serious” diary as a gift from my grandmother. Though I haven’t seen it in ages, I remember the look and feel of it quite well. It had a thick, puffy pink cover, canoodling teddy bears on the front, and an actual lock and key to keep my secrets safe and to myself. Admittedly, the contents were not compelling for anyone beyond grade school, as I primarily divulged current crushes, playground drama, and lunch line gossip.

Although burlesque may seem like an unexpected vehicle for making a statement on social issues, Earlecia Richelle believes the art of dance is an empowering way to convey powerful, unexpected messages to an audience.

Women’s body confidence. It’s a tough issue. There is no simple answer nor resolution to the fact that roughly every second woman in the world has self esteem issues. To counteract this stifling statistic, the U.N, working in conjunction with the Dove Self Esteem Project are hoping to reverse the effects of unrealistic body portrayals by the media, and the scrutiny women are under constantly to maintain a ‘shapely’ figure.

Breaking in like thunder, women across the globe are sending out messages that can no longer be easily dismissed. Once again we are entering a period in time where certain values and norms are being questioned, and 2016 has seen more light than ever shed on the importance of gender equality in the workforce, in order to promote gender equality in all aspects of life.

Being kind, charming and generous is easy for most of us when life is good. If time is abundant and there is plenty of money – if we’re loved, connected and have a purpose, most of us can bring our A-game. It’s not so easy when times are tough.

Whether you’re a man, woman, black, white, asian, gay, straight, transgender, disabled, unusual – you have probably experienced varying levels of discrimination throughout your life, and more specifically, in the workplace.