Imagine a 10-year old Southern California Black girl being traumatized by classmates because of the color of her skin. It was believed that the first elementary school she was enrolled in had only four Black girls in her class, which they believed attributed to the teasing. So much so that her family actually changed schools hoping that the teasing and bullying would stop. However, thanks to her big sister, the little girl has become a source of inspiration, and a game changer.
Meet Kheris Rogers, a young entrepreneur who turned her tears into cheers for all Black girls around the world. And when I say Black, I’m not just speaking of Black in general, I’m referring to dark skinned girls and women who have grown up in an atmosphere of racial bias brought on at times by their own race.
Older sister, 22 year old Taylor Pollard, in an interview with Buzzfeed said, “She started to notice she (Kheris) was different. She would cry a lot, and talked about how she doesn’t like her skin tone.” Pollard continued, “A couple of girls at school would tease her about being skinny and about her skin tone, but it’s weird because it came from people who are Black as well.”
In an effort to encourage her little sister to ‘love the skin she’s in,’ Taylor took photographs of her little sister and placed them on Twitter with the hashtag #FlexinInHerComplexion. The post soon went viral, getting retweeted more than 30,000 times, and the compliments began to pour in.
Kheris became a media darling and a spokesperson for every dark complexed child in America whether she be Black, Latina or of other cultures that frown on their dark skinned women.
“She really thought she was the only one going through this,” Pollard said. “She thought ‘If I’m feeling this way, then we want to help others who are feeling bad about themselves too.’”
According to the Huffington Post, the positive words not only raised the girl’s self-esteem, but they also gave her the inspiration to start her own clothing line “Flexin’ In My Complexion.”
Kheris says she hoped the fashion line would help other girls grow more confident and added, “I just hope that especially for the younger kids, people start to feel more confident in their skin.”
The line of clothing includes business stocks, t-shirts in several colors with “Flexin’ In My Complexion” on them, and Pollard says new styles like crop tops will soon be added for the summertime.
The clothing line was launched in April, but it’s already attracted a huge fan base. On social media, people have been showing off their “Flexin In My Complexion” T-shirts, which can be obtained at the cost of $15.
You can find “Flexin’ In My Complexion” on line at https://www.flexininmycomplexion.com.
