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If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late: An Insomniac’s Lament
I do my best writing at 4 a.m. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself, night after night, when I start writing after hours of tossing and turning. I remind myself that studies say that smart people are typically night owls (as well as messy and profane—don’t judge me). By that logic, I must…
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Lupita Back on the Cover of Vogue Is All the ‘New Year, New You’ We Need
In #Faves news: She’s beautiful, she’s black, and this January, she’s back on the cover of American Vogue! Lupita Nyong’o is ushering us into 2018 with Little Mermaid-after-she-made-the-trade realness (The Root staff has been lobbying for her to star in a live-action remake of the animated classic, and we won’t let it go). This marks…
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The Cover That Time Forgot: Why We’re Placing #MeToo’s Tarana Burke Front and Center
News that the #MeToo movement had been named Time magazine’s coveted 2017 Person of the Year confirmed a truly watershed moment in American history: one in which victims of sexual violence—in this case, predominantly women—refused to be shamed or intimidated into silence, while predators would (finally) be held accountable. The nonprofit and accompanying campaign, created…
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Former President Barack Obama and Recent Data Suggest That Women Make Better Leaders, and Water Is Wet
At an invitation-only event in Paris Saturday, former President Barack Obama urged attendees to consider “the importance of more focus on putting women in power, because men seem to be having some problems these days.” Umm …. ya think? Obama cited our “socialization” as the likely reason for women’s capacity to be better leaders. While…
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The Real MVPs: My #Faves From Fenty Beauty (Hint: It’s Not the Foundation)
I have a confession to make. I’m not a fan of Fenty foundation. *Ducks.* Don’t get me wrong: I’m enthralled by the range of shades, the marketing, beautiful packaging and even the specially trained Fenty specialists who color-matched me in Sephora. But after three tries, I had to accept that this foundation and I just…
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Bad and British: We Showed Up and Out at the British Fashion Awards 2017—Including The Glow Up’s Veronica Webb
Last night, our very own editor and supermodel Veronica Webb took to the stage of the British Fashion Awards 2017 to honor her mentor and friend, iconic fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, who died suddenly last month at the age of 77. Dressed in—of course—Alaïa, she was joined by both fashion-industry friends and fellow models and…
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Glow Up Goals: Carmen de Lavallade Is the Epitome of Ageless Glamour
On Sunday night, dancer, choreographer and actress Carmen de Lavallade was honored during the 40th Kennedy Center Honors—a ceremony made more notable this year by the blessed absence of the cretin in chief, Donald Trump. At a still-stunning 86 years old, legendary performer de Lavallade did not disappoint, showing us that true grace and beauty…
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Oh, Honey: The (Budget-Friendly) Beauty in the Secret Life of Bees
Yeah, we know, we know … we covered honey-based beauty just Sunday—Veronica Webb’s experience with a $725 luxury bee-venom facial, to be exact. Understandably, some of you were a bit stung by the premise and the price tag, but we want to pull back the curtain on beauty treatments that aren’t widely known to the…
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Like Father, Like Daughter: 20 Years After His Death, Biggie’s Legacy Launches a Clothing Line
T’yanna Wallace was only 3 years old when her father, Christopher—the rapper the world recognized as the Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie Smalls—was brutally killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. I was 22 and a college senior, living across the street from his mother, Voletta Wallace, on St. James Place in Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Clinton…
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Dapper: Fashioning a Queer Aesthetic of Black Womanhood
“Ain’t I a woman?” Black feminist pioneer Sojourner Truth famously asked that question of an all-white audience of abolitionists and suffragettes in 1861, to point out the erasure of black women from the social “protections” of womanhood. A century and a half later, black women, from Misty Copeland and Serena Williams to first lady Michelle…
