As Estee Lauder Ambassador, Adut Akech Brings Ubuntu Values to Our Needy World

As Estee Lauder Ambassador, Adut Akech Brings Ubuntu Values to Our Needy World AOC Blackness

Supermodel Adut Akech is now an Estee Lauder global ambassador, joining other famous women like Karlie Kloss, Carolyn Murphy, Anok Yai and Ana de Armas in a role that is a truly prestigious and long-lasting business and human-values relationship. Estee Lauder is known for paying ambassadors very well and this new achievement for Akech will help to cement her financial future.

Adut Akech Understands Ubuntu

At age 21, Adut has mastered the art of — or is innately gifted in — speaking to activist values with honesty and grace. Consciously or unconsciously, Adut embraces ‘ubuntu’. The Zulu concept of ‘ubuntu’ — expressed Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu — literally means that a person is a person through other people.

Condensed “ubuntu’ is a concept that believes 'I am because of who we all are’ — and that includes you, too. As members of the human family, we don’t live in silos apart from each other, but connected to and impacted by each other’s values and actions. I feel your love and it helps me thrive, and I also feel your hate or indifference which can be spiritually, psychologically and physically crushing.

Now 21 and stepping up as an Estee Lauder ambassador, Adut Akech is the representation she once sought for herself as a young woman of color. "It means a lot to me, because this is something that I never saw – it's something that I never thought I would be able to do," she says. "Even though I had wished and dreamed to do it, I didn’t see it. And now in the position I'm in, I get to be that representation – someone for others to look up to."

Gugu Mbatha-Raw by Danika Magdelena in 'Star Power' for Porter Edit

Actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw by Danika Magdelena in 'Star Power' for Porter Edit

British actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw is super pleased about landing the female role in the new Disney+ series ‘Loki’, playing opposite Tom Hiddleston.

Maya Zepinic styles the actor in ‘Star Power’, choosing crisp, modern looks from Agolde, Kassel Editions, Lanvin, Lisa Marie Fernandez, Loewe, Loulou Studio, Saint Laurent, The Row, Wardrobe NYC and more. Photographer Danika Magdelena [IG] is behind the lens for Porter Edit’s June 14, 2021 issue.

Ajesh Patalay conducts the interview.

What Elephant Crop Raids in Kenya's Masai Mara Are Telling Us About Future Conflict

What Elephant Crop Raids in Kenya's Masai Mara Are Telling Us About Future Conflict

Elephants need large amounts of space to roam in search of food and water. Because of this, they often move outside the boundaries of protected areas – such as the Masai Mara National Reserve and wildlife conservancies – into areas where people live.

These people are impacted by elephants that eat and destroy farm crops. Sometimes their lives are threatened. This often creates fear and anger towards this species and sometimes leads to elephants being killed in retaliation.

These negative interactions – termed human-elephant conflict – pose a huge threat to populations of this endangered species.

Edward Colston Museum Display: What Happens Next for the Fallen Statue

Edward Colston Museum Display: What Happens Next for the Fallen Statue

When Black Lives Matter protests broke out in the summer of 2020, attention quickly turned to perceived symbols of oppression. After years of calls to remove racist monuments, Confederate and colonial statues quickly came down all over the world. But despite this, art historian Erin Thompson has found that many or most have gone up again in new locations.

Some statues have been moved into museums; others have been moved to private locales owned by people who are most enthusiastic about preserving them. Few have been destroyed, and in many places, including the UK, new laws block removal of statues, prescribing instead that they should be retained and explained. Thompson argues that since permanent removal is rare, the question is less whether statues should be removed, and more where they should be located, and how they should be contextualized.

Malala Yousafzai's British Vogue Interview Causes Hateful Controversy in Pakistan

Malala Yousafzai has created a storm in Pakistan with her recent British Vogue cover story and interview. As much as Malala — like Obama and Oprah, she is known by her first name — is beloved by western liberals for her true grit spirit, the founding of her foundation dedicated to educating girls worldwide, and her sensitivity generally to embracing progressive issues like climate change and suffering in Syria and Pakistan.

The vast majority of people in Pakistan shed no tears and felt no horror when a Taliban insurgent shot Malala in the face and part of her brain, after boarding a school bus looking for the 15-year-old in 2012. Already — and with her parents’ permission — she was blogging about girls issues for the BBC.

The back lash against Malala’s British Vogue interview was severe, when Malala said: “I still don’t understand why people have to get married.”

"If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can't it just be a partnership?" she queries to the world towards the end of her interview.

Pakistan has a lot in common with Trump supporters these days. In the same way that significant numbers of Trump supporters do not believe the Biden won the presidential election, Pakistanis are horrified that Malala is a stooge for the global liberal elite and has brought great dishonor to her home country.

The Washington Post details the outrage sparked in Pakistan over the British Vogue interview. Reality is that the divorce rate is rising in Pakistan, along with women’s bargaining power. Both the nation and large numbers of Pakistani men are not amused.

The TED Talk above is from 2020 one, post Malala’s graduation from Oxford. I’m surprised that British Vogue has no follow up piece on all the controversy around Malala’s interview. You can read it here.

“I Know the Power A Young Girl Carries In Her Heart”: The Extraordinary Life of Malala”

World Oceans Day: We Cannot Meet Sustainable Development Goals with a Sick Ocean

World Oceans Day: We Cannot Meet Sustainable Development Goals with a Sick Ocean

Jute Rugs and Biophilic Design: Why Natural Fibers May Create Brain Bliss

Jute Rugs and Biophilic Design: Why Natural Fibers May Create Brain Bliss

6 Reasons Why Interior Designers Vouch For Jute Rugs | AOC Agrees

Almost every interior decorator is raving about jute rugs, and there must be a reason behind it. It’s as if something ancestral — almost primal — happens when we talk on jute rugs, and especially in bare feet.

Working on a recent AOC post Raffia: AOC Launches Earth-Friendly Fibers Sustainable Inquiry in Fashion and Design, we came across the same concept twice in a couple hours: “biophilic design”. Fast Company summed up the concept this way:

Biophilic design dates back to the early 1980s, when the biologist Edward O. Wilson outlined his philosophy of biophilia, hypothesizing that humans have an innate, biological affinity for the natural world. Biophilic design takes this idea one step further: Because humans today spend 90% of our time indoors, according to the 2001 National Human Activity Pattern Survey, it’s necessary to bring the outdoors in and create indoor environments that reference nature in both obvious and subtle ways.

As a reminder, modern humans may be awash in a sea of plastic, but 99% of human life has been lived in concert with nature. Biophilic design assumes that core aspects of nature have contributed to our health and wellbeing, and this connection can be scientifically measured.

Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman Lensed Spectacularly by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue May

Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman Lensed Spectacularly by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue May

America’s real-life young poet goddess Amanda Gorman covers the May 2021 issue of Vogue US. Gorman is photographed in spectacular images by one of America’s finest photographers Annie Leibovitz, with styling by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.

We are grateful that Anna Wintour sought to elevate Amanda Gorman in a way that she did not elevate US Vice President Kamala Harris. Seeing these images brought copious tears to AOC eyes.

No tears were inspired by the Vogue US Kamala Harris images — which remain unposted on AOC. To say I was personally disturbed is an understatement — but I’ve never commented until now. Gorman would want us to fix the Kamala Harris omission, and we will.

Vogue might want to consider interviewing Harris on her first anniversary as vice president of America and put Annie Leibovitz behind the lens. It gives me the opportunity to create a collage of both women hanging over my sofa.

Gabriela Hearst Joins Stella McCartney At Front of Luxury's Sustainability Pack

Gabriela Hearst Joins Stella McCartney At Front of Luxury's Sustainability Pack AOC Sustainability

“In every piece, a sense of purpose,” noted designer Gabriela Hearst, in the introduction of her first 2021 Chloé collection for fall/winter 2021. There was no live invite for what would have been the hottest ticket at Paris Fashion Week.

Hearst, who put herself forward for the Chloé job by submitting a 92-page proposal outlining a purpose-driven vision for the house, represents a significant change in mood at Chloé, which has long been a breezy, carefree sort of brand.

In her many interviews upon her arrival at Chloe, Gabriela Hearst describes her own brand as Athena, while Chloe is Aphrodite. The designer shares this view and explains the essentials of this philosophy to Good Morning Vogue.

Bottom line, what Vogue calls hearst’s “earthy puritanism” is the primary point of view in both collections, and AOC begs to differ with the suggestion that Chloé is “girlie and kickie”.

With Stella McCartney also a longtime fixture on the Paris fashion week schedule, the new Chloé places Paris fashion week in a key position to join Stella in leading the industry at a time when values are surging in importance.

To be as blunt as possible, consider that a little friendly, womanly competition might inspire Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri to pull out all the stops at Dior on the eco-friendly front, making the three women the center of the sustainability fashion world and finally putting the message “the future is female” on the map.

DAME's 'Bleed Red. Think Green' Tampon String Showing Campaign Hits London Buses

Image via DAME

Britain’s DAME eco-friendly tampons have generated plenty of holiday spirit on London buses with the message ‘Bleed Red. Think Green.’ Perfect! There’s nothing better than a Dame who knows what she’s doing. Note that this DAME ships to the US and throughout Europe.

“Tampons and period products have been hidden in the shadows for too long,” DAME co-founder Celia Pool tells Dazed. “Still today, major brands boast on their boxes about silent wrappers. Why? There's no shame in rustling a tampon wrapper in the next door cubicle. Periods are not shameful.”

Image via DAME

Even though DAME has an excellent reputation in Britain with strong sustainability and product integrity credentials, launching the campaign was not easy. Veterinary nurse, law student and vegan beauty blogger Demi Colleen photographed herself standing in her underwear with a visible tampon string hanging down. Scandalous!

“We faced many roadblocks,” explains co-founder Alec Mills who says he was told that the ad was too ‘racy’ and would encounter problems broadcasting it on breakfast shows. “Many iterations of our advert got rejected. This clearly demonstrates the vast cultural chasm between what is happening with women’s bodies and how they are portrayed in reality.”

“This tampon string on the side of the bus is momentous, in that it hasn't happened before, but it's also utterly boring and normal. No one bats an eyelid when they see a tissue on the side of the bus, and it should be the same for a tampon string,” says Pool. “If every parent and carer were this cool about periods, period shame would be eradicated in one generation.”

DAME in the News

Award-Winning Brand DAME Is Changing The Face Of The Femcare Industry - One Tampon At A Time Forbes

The Founders of Dame on How They’ve Shaken Up the Feminine Care Industry Pop Sugar UK

Elizabeth Cabral: SustainChain UN Assembly Fashion Sustainability Dialogues Sept 16-18

Elizabeth Cabral: SustainChain UN Assembly Fashion Sustainability Dialogues Sept 16-18 AOC Sustainability

Joan Smalls by Zoey Grossman for Victoria's Secret Bombshell Passion Fragrance

Joan Smalls by Zoey Grossman for Victoria's Secret Bombshell Passion Fragrance AOC Body

Top model and racial justice activist Joan Smalls returns to the Victoria’s Secret spotlight, lensed by Zoey Grosssman in this Victoria’s Secret’s Bombshell Passion campaign. AOC shares the luscious images of key ingredients creating the Bombshell Passion fragrance, including notes of queen peony, Sparkling cassis and fuchsia rose. Read more Bombshell Passion news at Victoria’s Secret.

Joan Smalls activist shared a new essay throughout the Conde Nast network, as part of Vogue’s Hope campaign. Read on at British Vogue: “Are You Ready To Be That Force For Change?” Joan Smalls On How Fashion Can Truly Become Diverse

A Racial Equity Tools Glossary for People Seeking Racial Justice

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.

Reading ‘How one woman pulled off the first consumer boycott — and helped inspire the British to abolish slavery’, on The Conversation, I became fixated on a comment that read:

thanks for the interesting article and for not using subjective racial terms. the story reads rationally and perfectly well without them, and avoids validating the mythology of race.

Thinking that I knew the meaning of his words, I Googled anyway and discovered this Racial Equity Tools Glossary. You can download a pdf version of this glossary from this link.

Words and phrases defined and discussed with the “context of racial equality” include: accountability, ally, anti-black, anti-racist, colonization, critical race theory, cultural misappropriation, cultural racism, decolonization, ethnicity, implicit bias, individual racism, institutional racism, internalized racism, intersectionality, microaggression, racial justice, racial reconciliation, racist, restorative justice.