Heyyy!

Happy February! Whether you were celebrating Galantine’s or Valentine’s or not celebrating at all, I hope February 14th was splendid. It was also my birthday recently, so I have also been celebrating that with family and friends. Am celebrating all month, so it’s never too late to send me a gift 😆

An ideal gift would be sharing this newsletter, and if it was shared with you, please go ahead and hit the button below. 👇🏾

What’s with the yellow during the month of pink and red? Glad you asked. I went with yellow because I can and thought there was way too much red around anyway. Besides, yellow is happy and celebratory. And seeing as we are all about celebrating on Shades and Layers, well, then we go with yellow!

In this edition we’ve got:

-Updates from the studio

-Some thoughts and Shout outs for Black History Month, and

-Things I’m loving

UPDATES FROM THE STUDIO

When I wasn’t eating Moroccan and Senegalese food with friends OR waayyyy too much chocolate cake, I got to play a little bit in the studio and on the computer. I’m very excited about the upcoming episodes of Shades and Layers, as well as some ideas for merch you will hear about soon 🤩🤩. What do you think about the Shades and Layers Tee?

🎙️🎙️🎙️ Season 6 will mostly be about fashion, but of course we have an ongoing conversation about beauty and there are some interviews from the founder of a market place for black-owned personal care brands, as well as some new sustainable brands that I can’t wait for you to hear about.

On the fashion side, we have a lot of hand and custom-made designs making an appearance. You will hear from the founder of the athleisure and active wear brand, Lydia Endora, lounge wear maker Noite Rose and from various designers and textile makers from South Africa, Mozambique and Lesotho. As always, the conversations are a candid take on big issues like sustainability in fashion, business lessons and leadership. Be sure to hit subscribe on your favorite listening app so that you do not miss a single episode.

…In the meantime

You can revisit some of the top episodes on creativity and preserving ancient crafts

FEBRUARY THOUGHTS

So it’s Black History Month here in the USA where I’m based. This year is the second time since moving here in 2020 that someone asks me if I’ll be doing something on the podcast about Black History. And my answer this year is “yes, I am doing something”, and it is through this short piece of writing.

There are various other reasons why I’ve been quiet about Black History Month so far, but the main one is my own baggage. South Africa, my home country, has a national Heritage Day where we all dress up in our traditional attire and celebrate our cultures together with family and friends. Even before leaving the country more than a decade ago, I felt that the holiday had become commercialized and there was not enough happening to promote appreciation and knowledge of South Africa’s cultural heritage during the rest of the year. In fact, people would stare at you for wearing anything traditional on an ordinary day. I remember being called Erykah Badu for wearing headwraps 😅. Things have slowly changed since then and you can look forward to a discussion about that with my guest, quintessential multi-hyphenate, Maria McCloy in an upcoming episode. All this to say that my perspective had been, for better or worse, clouded.

Back to Black History Month. I know why it exists and why it’s necessary. But like Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown once told MTV, “we need a longer month!” and “we need Black History Year!” It may have been unfair to ask them this question considering the state they were in at the time, but that’s a story for another day. Nevertheless, as long as the American education system and its politicians stubbornly refuse to teach a holistic account of the country’s history, refuse to normalize black narratives, refuse to teach anti-racism and threaten to ban books, this is probably the best and only course. At the same time, there are many, including myself, who ask: what happens during the rest of the year? Here’s some amazing writing on The Atlantic by author Ibrahim X Kendi on Black History Month and why teaching anti-racism at American schools is so important for the entire society.

Shout out to all the teachers and schools who acknowledge black history all year long, teach anti-racism and include important works of literature from black and other marginalized authors of color in their set works.

And that is my two cents …

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?

Shoot me an email: [email protected] 

I’m loving …

Onah Ogogo’s Podcast Trapper for all of you looking to launch your own podcast or if you just want to spend time with a very nice self-confessed goof ball 😁 She knows a lot about entrepreneurship and podcasting, and is a success story on legs and hers is the kind of story we love to celebrate on Shades and Layers 🎉

Also obsessed with Rebundle plant-based hair extensions. Being someone who itches like crazy after installing braids, no matter what anti-itching solutions I try , I am loving this brand and am manifesting an interview with Founder, Ciara Imani May. She had me at ‘sustainable’ and she’s an inspiration.

Speaking of manifesting, I loved reading, The Source, by Dr. Tara Swart in January. It’s for those of us who need a practical aspect to the Law of Attraction and everything to do with manifesting.

Also, you need to reconcile all aspects of yourself if you’re going to be manifesting anything. Ancestory by Nokulinda Mkhize is a guide to all of us who are seekers in this life. “A roadmap of yesterday’s learnings for the journey into tomorrow.” Thank me later.

I’ll be guesting on a few podcasts over the next few weeks and I cannot wait to introduce you to my podcast friends, who will also be guests on Shades and Layers in the near future. Excited to exchange entrepreneurial journeys and knowledge 😎😎

That is all from me this time around.

Until next time, please do take good care.

Cheers,

Kutloano (your host with the most)