Presentation is Protection.
"Don't be ashy" was a warning, passed down by people who knew the world would judge me before I said a word.
They knew what the world saw.
My grandparents and my parents came up in the Jim Crow South. They knew that a Black person who looked unkempt would be read as poor, careless, or less than. So they called themselves Prince or Queen, pressed their clothes, oiled their skin, and walked out the door as a form of protection.
Your skin, your presence, is meant to shine as loud as you hollering in the church choir singing This Little Light of Mine. This is a story of resistance.
Glamorous and brilliant.
Black women are judged twice: once for our race and again for being women.
The pin-up on our jar, Willie Mae "Buttahcup" Brown, is sensual, joyful, and most importantly, FREE. Low-key, we're living vicariously through her. She gets to be every version of herself. Riding a perpetual swing through the highs and the lows, laughing the whole way.
Hold your children tight.
Put some buttah on 'em.
Read our story