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Yara Shahidi Discusses the Value of Black Joy and "Handing Over the Mic" to Empower Others

Yara Shahidi's Quotes in Elle Magazine August 2020

Yara Shahidi Discusses the Value of Black Joy and "Handing Over the Mic" to Empower Others

August 3, 2020 by Brea Cubit First Published: July 15, 2020

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On the importance of Black joy and what that means to her: "Mentorship. When I think of fashion, for example, I'm grateful to be in a community. My stylist, Jason Bolden, has always prioritized what it means to support Black people in the fashion industry. We've consistently been in conversations about how to use this space for something that's powerful. Who are we bringing into these moments? Who can we open doors for? Who can we be in community with? Joy comes from being able to consistently embrace our sense of community and revel in our culture year-round. We must believe that there is something that we're fighting for in order to keep fighting."
On reconstructing the future: "Society tries to take away our ability to imagine, it takes away our ability to participate in a larger collective and nuanced Black imaginary world, because we are consistently burdened with the task of dealing with our reality. There's very little space to participate in something that is unknown, because there's so much to handle in our present. We need this imagination and creative force to completely reconstruct our reality. To not only destroy, but to completely reconstruct what the future looks like."

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