16-Year-Old Fashion Designer Wants To Encourage Black Girls And Boys To ‘Shine Bright’ With Her Children’s Book

16-Year-Old Fashion Designer Kheris Rogers Wants To Encourage Black Girls And Boys To ‘Shine Bright’ With Her Children’s Book

By Samantha Dorisca AfroTech

KHERIS ROGERS MADE her presence known across the globe when she made history as New York Fashion Week’s youngest designer to showcase a fashion line.

She was just 10 years old.

Inspiration for the brand: Flexin’ In My Complexion was created during her historymaking year. Rogers’ inspiration for the line stemmed from her experiences with colorism and hair discrimination while attending school.

“Growing up I was always teased about my dark skin complexion, so I had no confi dence in myself,” Rogers told AfroTech exclusively. “I didn’t love myself whatsoever. I hated the way I looked and I just thought l looked so diff erent than everyone because when I was younger I went to a predominantly white school. That’s where I experienced racism with a lot of the kids. Then, my mom switched me to a more diverse school where I experienced colorism. So, growing up I went through a lot. I never had any self-esteem in myself.”

The young star’s confi dence took a turn for the better when she performed in a fashion show through a program at Amazing Grace Conservatory, thanks to a nudge from her mother. While Rogers strutted down the runway, her sister, Taylor Pollard, took a snapshot and shared it proudly on Twitter.

The praise heard from around the world: The photo went viral and Rogers soon realized the very features that people in school bullied her for were being affi rmed and adored by many users across social media.

As the momentum was building, Rogers saw a window of opportunity to turn her passion for fashion into a platform that could help instill confi dence in other dark-skinned girls.

“The picture just went viral on Twitter in minutes,” Rogers explained.

“It was going crazy. Then after that, I ▲ Kheris Rogersconstantly started going viral. Everyone was telling me how they loved my dark skin complexion and they loved everything that I was being teased about growing up. And I feel like that gave me a boost of confi dence in myself. Then, I started my clothing line, Flexin’ In My Complexion, and it blew up literally.”

Rogers offi cially became a kid entrepreneur thanks to her apparel. The line features shirts, hoodies, and accessories sporting messages like “Black Women Matter,” Flexin’ In My Complexion,” and “Representation Matters,” among others.

Challenges as a kid entrepreneur: Getting her business off the ground did present its challenges, as she felt the need to prove herself to those who doubted her due to her age. However, she had the support of her sister, who helped co-create diff erent designs, and her mother to help her bring the brand to light.

“I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily I had the help of my mom and sister,” Rogers said. “I feel like we fi gured it out and we’re still fi guring out stuff to this day, but especially being a kid entrepreneur, a lot of people doubted me and I feel like they wouldn’t take me seriously. I feel like that was one of the main struggles I had to go through being a kid entrepreneur and being in rooms with people who are in their like thirties or forties looking at me like ‘Why is this kid here,’ but I’m doing just as well as them. We fi gured stuff out along the way.

► Lupita Nyong'o

Shine Bright

I’m super grateful that I had them with me along the journey.”

Since launching in 2017, Flexin’ In My Complexion has raked in half a million dollars in sales. It has also caught the attention of some notable names including Alicia Keys and Lupita Nyong’o.

Making a diff erence: For Rogers, catching the attention of those she looks up to is a dream come true and she resonates with their efforts to have a positive impact in their community.

“I always tell my mom and sister that I just want to pave the way for other Black and brown kids to believe in themselves and to take on and come behind me to do the same thing,” the 16-yearold expressed. “People like Storm Reid, Marsai [Martin], Lupita [Nyong’o], and Zendaya, they’ve all paved a way for young Black boys and girls, or anyone, to come right behind them and do the same thing. I feel like every day we’re putting in work trying to be the best that we can and trying to empower other people. But this is still a long ride and I hope that when the next person comes in behind me, I hope that they can do it even bigger.”

Children’s book: Outside of her clothing line, Rogers is finding new avenues to uplift others, whether it’s through the Kheris Rogers Foundation or more recently, her fi rst children’s book “Shine Bright.”

A post shared by Kheris Rogers (@ kherispoppin)

The title of the book was inspired by a childhood friend, who told her despite everything she was facing at the time to shine bright. The message didn’t register with Rogers until the passing of her friend.

Set to empower Black children: Now, Rogers wants other young Black girls and boys to reach that epiphany for themselves and she believes her children’s book will plant that seed.

“The book is really about myself. A little girl that’s trying to overcome bullying and love herself, going through all these obstacles. Her sister is trying to empower her, letting her know she’s beautiful no matter what. That you are magic and you can shine bright no matter what other people are saying about you. This book shows other young kids that you can be anything that you want to be and to stop letting what other people say about you get into your head because you are enough,” Rogers declared. https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestylebuzz/16-year-old-fashion-designer-kherisrogers-wants-to-encourage-black-girls-andboys-to-shine-bright-with-her-children-s-book/ ar-AA133W4W Image credit: lilianpacce.com.br

Beyoncé's “Break My Soul” has become a rally cry for workers. Photographer: Mason Poole/

AMPAS/Getty Images

The Gr

Why Bey

By Julia Ho

THE PHRASE HAS REVERBERATED around boardrooms for decades, even though it’s a misquote of the late great management guru Peter Drucker, who in fact said “culture, no matter how defined, is singularly persistent.”

Indeed, it is.

This is a problem because the culture of dissatisfaction around work is all too evident.

One manifestation is the dip in well-being. Data from Deloitte shows that about one-third of employees and executives struggle with fatigue and mental health issues. Citing Gallup’s latest workplace data, the World Economic Forum noted that “workplace well-being and satisfaction have plateaued after almost a decade of improvements.”

But this can’t all be blamed on the pandemic. In May of 2019, before Covid-19 was sweeping throughout the world, the World Health Organization declared burnout “an occupational phenomenon.” In fact, concern about work and well-being goes back centuries and was always linked to culture: it was Aristotle, after all, who worried about what it would take to create a sense of flourishing or eudaemonia.

Now that CEOs around the globe are trying to maintain or reinvent both corporate culture and future strategy in the wake of a pandemic that rewrote the rules of work, it’s popular culture that leaders should consider to win the hearts and minds of their workers—specifically pop music.

Take this year’s zeitgeist tune Break My Soul by Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, known to her fans simply as “Queen Bey.” It’s a dance-based rallying cry for workers rejecting old constraints in new times from an album entitled Renaissance. And it’s rich in cultural data.

The song is an anthem not so much for The Great Resignation as The Great Resentment. The chorus energetically exhorts listeners to release “ya anger,” “ya mind,” “ya job,” “the time”—in that