ORS Olive Oil teamed up with The Women of Bad Boy to host a series called Beauty Chronicles Women’s Empowerment Brunch in Chicago recently. It is an extension of the campaign called No Stereotypes. This women’s empowerment series is paired up with the corresponding Bad Boy Reunion tour. Faith Evans, Lauriann Gibson and Kima Raynor, Keisha Epps and Pam Long of Total were present at the Velvet Lounge to discuss their concerns and opinions regarding stereotypes.
Faith Evans shared her personal experience with stereotyping. “I realize that there are stereotypes on women of color,” Evans said. “When I came into the industry, I was a church girl. Luckily, I was raised that there was a certain way I should present myself and not offend people. I didn’t want people to mistake that for being soft. I don’t feel like the particular stereotypes affected me because I have always walked with God. No matter what I had to deal with, I knew I was going to be all right and then it was on to the next thing.”
“The desire to be someone else must be [taken away] from our communities,” said Laurieann Gibson.
Dr. Renee Matthews, who happened to win two tickets to the Bad Boy Reunion show, also talked about her experience at the brunch. “I thought that Steven Jones of The Brand Maverick Entertainment and Ariel the Mogul put on a wonderful event that gave women the space to support each other and have an open dialogue about beauty and empowerment,” she said. “I know it is important to address stereotypes so that we can help the next generation make their way in this world and become successful. If we do not teach them, then they will watch general market commercials and read magazines and fall into the trap of a lot of the stereotypes that they have created for and about us.”
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