beauty bloggers who look like me aren’t a dime a dozen. for this reason, imagine my excitement when i found for brown girls, a website dedicated to celebrating dark skin and combating colorism. the site’s founder, karyn washington was a young, effervescent beauty whose compassion for eradicating harmful tropes about dark skin women was encouraging. i reached out to karyn during her #darkskinredlip campaign to submit my photo and was pleasantly surprised that not only did karyn write back, but she was personable and engaging. we promised to keep in touch and find ways to build together in the future. unfortanately, i let life get in the way of me keeping my word, and we never had the chance to collobrate.
friday i read the horrible news that karyn had committed suicide. media sources report she had been having a tough time, including dealing with the loss of her mother. i’m still stunned that such a beautiful woman, both inside and out, found her life so painful that she lost her will to live. my heart and prayers go out to her family, friends and the countless sisters who were inspired by her work. let us keep karyn’s memory alive and in her words to me “continue to work together to stand up to colorism and embrace our right to rock a red lip!”
rest well dear heart.
if you are struggling with depression please reach out to someone. you are NOT alone.
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