Heyyy!

Happy March! Happy Women’s History Month! Happy International Women’s Day!

It’s a new season, both on the podcast and IRL. Spring is hinting at its arrival up here in the Pacific Northwest and things are looking up. We have more sunshine and longer days. And for you my friends in the global south, I hope Autumn brings some cosy and warm vibes to your corner.

Why the hydrangea? We had blue hydrangeas in the front of our family home on Xorile Street in Orlando West where I grew up. So I have very fond memories associated with these flowers. They represent the best part of summer for me. That hydrangea bush served as a good hiding spot for all sorts things, including the dresses I would take off my body and run off topless in my shorts to climb trees and scale the neighbors’ fences with the boys. I now have a hydrangea bush of the very same colour in my backyard and I can’t wait to see them bloom this coming summer.

While I’m counting down the days to that time, let me tell you what you can find in this edition:

-Episode 1 of Season 6

-International Women’s Day, and

-Things I’m loving this month

Before we get into it, a quick request if this newsletter was shared with you or you stumbled on it on the internet 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

S6,E1: Hashtag McCloying

In between bouts of flu and dodging other mysterious germs doing the rounds this past winter, I’ve been in the booth recording Season 6 of the podcast. The first episode is already out and it features Maria McCloy, South Africa’s quintessential multi-hyphenate known for her eponymous fashion & accessories brand. She is also an arts & culture publicist and sometimes Deejays. She is also my former business partner at Black Rage Productions and bestie since university. I was very nervous to do this interview because I already know so much about Maria, but after hearing the interview, I hope you leave feeling that there are many ways to get to Rome. Also, I hope you’ll have a playbook on how to build your own informal advisory board, that will help you reach your goals.

Maria has been making fashion since the end of our company Black Rage Productions in 2008/9 and has become known for iconic African-inspired clothes and accessories. She became a publicist after the Soccer World Cup in 2010, drawing on her extensive experience in the media and entertainment industry to succeed in her newfound role at MTV Africa. A few years after that, she announced on social media that she wanted to learn to DJ. She took lessons and since then has been regularly filling dance floors with her selection of contemporary and vintage African tunes. I’m still to attend one of her parties….

In the first episode of the season, she shares how she does it all ….

…Speaking of many roads that lead to Rome

As you know, Shades and Layers is your roadmap to creating your own playbook of success as an entrepreneur and/or professional or just as a human being making their way through life. As black women, we don’t always have people we can emulate in the professional space and there are indeed professions that we don’t ever hear about.

Many western-style systems of education around the world encourage classroom learning as the only true way to acquire knowledge and get proof of mastery, but every self-taught professional out there knows that apprenticeship and practice are just as priceless when it comes to acquiring and mastering new skills. Besides, formal education is expensive and not always accessible.

In one of my previous episodes, I spoke to digital artist, Puleng Mongale about being self-taught and she shares her story of being laid off from an advertising agency (where she wasn’t happy anyway) to diving full-time into making digital collages that have earned her a place in the South African art world.

MARCH THOUGHTS

It’s International Women’s Day and this year’s theme is Embrace Equity - a call to know the difference between equality and equity, and to deliberately work towards a world of inclusion. It is a timely call to action, considering that DEI is more of a catchphrase than a lived practice, in other words ‘window dressing’ by another name. The achievement of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and in society in general is billions of miles away.

With this in mind, I was scrolling through the socials to see what everyone is doing to mark this day, and stumbled on a post from a friend of mine, that pointed out that in Denmark, Women’s Day is called “Kvindeners Kampdag”, which can mean women’s battle/combat/war day.

I like this better than the neutral Women’s Day. It’s a reminder that while we’ve made a lot of progress in the fight for equal rights, there is always something systemic or someone (usually a male politician) working to erode the achievements and gains we’ve made towards getting closer to attaining our human rights.

There’s still a lot of work to be done… And as I say this, I’m reminded of being in Mexico on the 8th of March a few years ago, and the hotel was handing out roses to all the women guests 🤣🤣🤣 

On a more serious note, everyday we are reminded that our status as equals is very fragile. Reading, watching or listening to the news on any given day will remind you that we are disproportionately affected by Gender Based Violence, many of us are navigating a world in which reproductive rights are non existent, period poverty is real for many young women across the world, transphobia is intensifying, mysogynoir does not raise eyebrows, the income gap is still unacceptably wide, add to that : pink tax, erasure is the norm and the list is seemingly endless.

While we navigate all the challenges of life as womyn, we should also EMBRACE EACH OTHER as womyn. We should CELEBRATE each other and recognize our own power. In recognizing that power, we give ourselves permission to CLAIM IT. Let us change our own worlds for the better, and where we can the world of another womyn.

“Women’s Rights Are Human Rights”

That’s our daily battle cry!

What’s on your mind? What are you reading? What’s inspiring you these days. Whom would you like to hear on Shades and Layers? I’m still taking guest suggestions for Season 6, any black woman owned fashion design houses that inspire you?

Shoot me an email: [email protected] 

I’m loving …

The fact that the good folks at Rebundle decided to give Shades and Layers listeners a 10% discount at checkout with the code “BETTER” when you order their plant-based Braid Better extensions. As I mentioned last time around, I really love these hair extensions because for the first time ever, I had no itching after installing braids! The extensions are made from banana fiber and are biodegradable, which means less harm done to the planet and you don’t get more exposure to toxic personal care products. Try them out and thank me later.

Live to Thrive is a podcast by fellow South African, Lizzy Koetsier, who is also based out here in Seattle. We’ve been connected on social media over the past three years and finally got it together and had a conversation about life and podcasting. She and I are on the same mission - amplifying the stories of marginalized people. Check out this link to hear our conversation.

I’m so stoked that Michelle Obama will be creating a podcast based on her book, The Light We Carry, a must read indeed. I really love how vulnerable and relatable she comes across in the audio book. If you want to learn a thing or two about self compassion, do yourself a favor and dive in. It’s definitely worthwhile.

That is all from me this time around. Remeber to share this newsletter and the podcast.

Until next time, please do take good care.

Cheers,

Kutloano (your host with the most)