mikolo80:
Yup, why we need to get stuck in. cos nobody Will fix it for us. less rhetoric, more action. I think.

Amen

mikolo80:
whatchu think

I enjoyed it and theres progress but Nigeria has a long way ahead of them to reach its potential

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvK2YqxeA4o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uMAVCznTbA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOXVGKRLmE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVMjsejV7XY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOGhKQ9us40

birdman:



Mhmm

Thanks for resurrecting this thread

You welcome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv6zMPtK-cc

[b]For years, women of color have struggled with the fashion and beauty industry's lack of diversity in makeup, lingerie, and hosiery. Nowhere is this more evident than shopping for "nude." Unfortunately, my shopping excursion left me feeling like the Buzzfeed video of black women trying on "nude" makeup, lingerie, and hosiery. Frustrated, exasperated, and annoyed best describe my experience.

Enter Ade Hassan, the entrepreneur and wonder woman behind Nubian Skin. "Nubian Skin launched with a carefully edited collection of lingerie and hosiery to provide the essential underwear needs of women of colour." Not only do they offer a variety of skin tones, but this is sexy and feminine. After reading my article, Revisiting My Roots - Happy Nappy, I had a chance to speak to Ms. Hassan.

Mr. Refined: First, thank you for taking time to speak with me. I must say that I am enamored by your product. I love your motto: "Empowering Women. Embracing our Colour." What was your inspiration?

Ade Hassan (AH): Thank you for the mention in your article. We're a startup so our marketing budget is word of mouth. My inspiration was the general frustration of looking for nude pantyhose and defaulting to black because nude was not in my shade.

Mr. Refined: How did you get started?

AH: I left banking and was working as a consultant. It was 2011 and I was not particularly happy in the job. That is when I had the idea for Nubian Skin. I texted a friend and said, "I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up!" I knew that I would need to save a considerable amount of money to fund the business, so I went back to finance. However, working in the finance industry is incredibly demanding, and it's nice making a good amount of money, so that was a bit of a distraction. When you're buying designer shoes and going on fun holidays, it's hard not to lose focus.

I couldn't shake the idea even if I had wanted to. My mother was instrumental in making sure I kept my eye on the prize! She is my biggest cheerleader and helped me get back on track. She was in it for the pantyhose and never missed an opportunity to remind me that she needed them in her colour! In the summer of 2012, I spent about a month in New York and stayed with a good friend of mine. I had not told many people about the idea, but she went to Harvard Business School and I wanted to float some things by her. She thought the idea was brilliant. The following year, for my birthday, she sent me a card that said, "It's time to start living the life you've always imagined." The next day, I registered the company and trademark.

Being an entrepreneur isn't quite as glamorous as it looks. Right now it definitely doesn't pay like working in finance. It's a sacrifice and was a big adjustment - I've had to get rid of my handbag habit.

Mr. Refined: The women in your photos are various shades of brown. I especially love the photo shoot with the models in curlers in salon chairs. It's reminds me of Annie Lee's art, but with a modern take - sexy and fabulous. I immediately identified with the models.

AH: The idea came to me while I was at the Cheeky Parlour nail salon. The person doing my nails mentioned that they also did makeup and hair. I needed a makeup artist and hair stylist for the photo-shoot. I asked if they did photo-shoots. The inspiration took off from there. I did not want images that were hyper-sexualized. I wanted them to be identifiable, as you said, "That could be me." I wanted to celebrate women of color. If you watch the behind the scenes video, you will see that each of the models have such great personalities. They were inspired by what we were doing and that shows.

Mr. Refined: I love the descriptions of the skin tone varieties. They make me smile and feel beautiful. Can you explain that process?

AH: During the creative stage, I had to keep a notebook on my bedside table as so many thoughts and inspiration came to me at night. Silly little things like the well-known phrase "the darker the berry the sweeter the juice" kept repeating, so I decided that Berry had to be the name of my darkest shade. The tones took a year to develop. There was no precedent. First, I went to makeup counters to match the tone. The swatches came back wrong. We needed to make sure the red, yellow, and blue undertones came through to show the differences in tones. There was a lot of tweaking.

Mr. Refined: How can readers support Nubian Skin?

AH: Simply talking about it with friends and on social media helps get the name out. Retailers operate on a "bottom-line." If there is a demand, then they will supply it. So the next step is telling retailers, "We want this brand." Request it.

We just ask that consumers be patient with us. We're a startup and new company. We're working on bigger cup sizes for the bras. We are constantly listening to customer feedback to improve the brand.

Mr. Refined: I know you ship globally. However, where can US readers find your product or request their favorite department store stock your product?


AH: We are currently in 15 Nordstrom stores in the US. Based on consumer demand, they will expand our brand to more stores. We need consumers to use their buying power and voices to let retailers know there is demand for our product.

In the upcoming weeks, our brand will be featured at Bra*Tenders, located in Midtown Manhattan. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for details on the date, time, and location.[/b]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronda-lee/nubian-skin-embracing-col_b_8012228.html


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wt--Ap5RUo

ojeota:


"The same is true of one in five black African men, one in 10 Indian men and women and two out of five Chinese women."

But i guess the research is particular about the uk only.

Oh ok, yea the statistics is for the uk only

I know a few years ago African men and Indian men were equal but I guess that's changed.

mikolo80:
do you visit Nigeria often

Yea at least recently

olumide81:
If that will make the world a better place to live, no wahala.

lol, I know what you mean but Brazil is a Mixed race country for the most part and it is not a better place for the Black Brazilians living there

ojeota:
Quite an interesting read. But i dont agree totally with the article.

what part you don't agree with?

mikolo80:
aaah, I see, citizen yes ?

Born and raised in America and have Nigerian parents(Yoruba) = Nigerian American

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khn7fiMZ8-Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhdHp3Ti5Vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF1YhD9J-iQ

http://zikoko.com/list/dreadlock-problems/
[img]https://beebeyecrew.files./2012/06/tumblr_lsuuhdbza31r1qscao1_500.jpg[/img]
https://beebeyecrew./tag/women/

mikolo80:
oh you ma de partake of the economic refugeeism that is us immigration

lol Im not a refugee

mikolo80:
May God show us the way

Amen

pleep:
oh how small is the world of women.

what do you mean?

mikolo80:
Hope to join the struggle as soon ar I can escape this obodo oyinbo

lol, its good what you are doing. For me I want to invest in Nigeria so may God help us

Some ethnic groups 'will disappear'

[b]One in 10 children in the UK now lives in a mixed-race family, a major study reveals today, raising future hopes of a non-racist Britain.

Mixed-race relationships are now so common that some ethnic groups - starting with African-Caribbean - will virtually disappear, the research states. Young people are six times more likely to be mixed-race as adults. Experts believe the findings, which come just days after Prince Harry was rebuked for calling a fellow cadet "Paki", and Prince Charles admitted to referring to an Asian friend as "Sooty", mean that future generations "will not see race in the way we see it".

Lucinda Platt, author of the report and an academic at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Essex University, describes the shift towards a mixed-race Britain as "dramatic".

Half of all men in Britain who have Caribbean heritage and are in a relationship already have partners of a different race. The same is true of one in five black African men, one in 10 Indian men and women and two out of five Chinese women. One in five children belongs to an ethnic minority - a far higher proportion than among the adult population.

This week, a decade on from the Macpherson report into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence, Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, will "celebrate" the study's findings, but warn that there is still much to be fought for.

A spokeswoman for the commission warned against complacency. "We need to be alert to tensions within communities that may be exacerbated by economic downturn and to remain vigilant against discrimination and divisiveness - particularly across boundaries of faith."

Today's study, commissioned by the EHRC and seen exclusively by the Observer, shows that 9% of children are of "mixed or multiple heritage" - that is, they live with parents from different ethnic groups, or they are themselves of mixed ethnicity. Over the past 14 years the number of children of Caribbean heritage with one white parent has risen from 39% to 49%. Among the Indian population it has increased from 3% to 11%, for Pakistanis from 1% to 4%, and for Chinese from 15% to 35%.

Minorities also tend to be younger. While half of the white British population in Britain is aged over 40, half of the Bangladeshi community is under 21.[/b]
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jan/18/race-identity-britain-study

mikolo80:
it will change. America was like that. it took them 200 yrs to achieve what we admire today. it's a process. we Just started ours. we'll get there albeit slowly unless we're lucky to have a Lee Kwan Yew op park chun Hee who will accelerate it

I agree, Rome didn't fall and rise in a day. So America and Nigeria will go their own Evolvement into a greater society

mikolo80:
that's what I used to think
our problem not corruption

our problem is no one wants to sacrifice for the greater Good
like you pointed out we prefer apparent path of least resistance thinking grass is greener on other side even though the same commitment and effort would have produced even better results at home with attendant multiplier effect
but we choose to survive on white man's crumbs (can't blame us sha)
Just saying it as it is

BTW everyone has connections and everyone can make more connections
we simply believe ourselves inferior and will remain so until that mindset changes

we are the ones that encourage lack of accountability, praise singing thieves and rogues while laughing at upright men and women
we're simply reaping bountifully what we've sown

You are right nobody wants to sacrifice but like you said we cant blame them though they are trying to survive, its sad but the bitter reality.

True many Nigerians praise lack of accountability but many others don't praise it but accept that there complaints will not be respected, so they don't bother. Thieves get praise and upright men and women get laughed at cause of the results of their lifestyle, sad but true

mikolo80:
unfortunately we don'
you can't force child to not watch MTV
unless you refuse to buy TV
they're the ones who will be misinformed not you the parent
oyinbo know what they're doing
personally I hope to get only DVD of history, discovery and Nat Geo channels.
and no we don't look up to business men
only ibos do that (lucky them)
we Yoruba look up to doctors and lawyers etc
while northerners look up to politicians and indolent Civil servants

well true but in a society that glorifies the Kardashians, I don't see that changing anytime soon

At least igbos, Yoruba and northerners are looking up to something good but I feel yorubas look up to business people to, it isn't only a igbo thing but I guess igbo's are a little better at it.