ZENDAYA FOR ESSENCE 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Fresh off her Emmy Win for Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in Euphoria, Zendaya covers Essence’s 50th Anniversary Digital Cover - paying homage to the amazing icon Donyale Luna.
Zendaya November/December 2020 ESSENCE cover credits:
Photography by AB+DM
Creative Direction and Fashion Styling by Law Roach
Hair by Larry Sims/Flawless/Forward Artists.
Makeup by Sheika Daley.
Manicure by Chaun Legend/opi/The Only Agency.
Set design by Ward Robinson/Wooden Ladder.
Production by Natalie Gialluca, Naydea Davis and Jordan Brewster.
Euphoria returns for two special episodes in December. Read Full Essence Interview Here.
LEAVING A JOB DURING A PANDEMIC?
8 Years. 7 Months. + Working during a pandemic.
It’s been a weird year. As much as I reflect on it, I still struggle with putting into words what brought me to this decision, especially when the beginning of the year seemed so promising, with so many opportunities on the horizon. During the start of a pandemic, everything changing and the world reacting in response to this new idea of social distancing and working from home, it would change everything for me in a major way. Add in the heightened racial tensions and the uncovering of the disparities that has always there and you come up with a very different outlook especially being affected by it directly.
On one hand you have all of the projects that is within your grasps and in the space of the direction you want to go in and then you have your actual work that is deemed “essential”. While everyone has a work from home plan, that leaves no plan for the essential work that needs to be done on site. All of the projects gets cancelled or postponed and there is no real plan for it to continue and work becomes stressful. You hear about everyone’s experience working from home and how they hate it, and how its hard being at home and its an experience you can’t understand because you’re working, in a pandemic, risking your life and facing the unknown while being tasks with everything outside of your job description. You rarely hear the experience on the opposite side from those deemed essential outside of healthcare. It definitely puts a strain on finding ways to be creative and the time set aside for creativity.
Launching ELSV in 2014 and revisiting it in 2019 with plans for 2020 was a highlight for where it seemed 2020 was going. With a planned event in March, that would kickstart the original goal that helped launch ELSV — creating a space for Black Voices often silenced; celebrating Black stories and Black Creatives and pushing the boundaries of what it looks like to be Black in the future. 2020 has been a year that has brought unexpected challenges. Months into a pandemic and having to take a concerning look at where things are and where they are heading and what is important in a time of uncertainty can be alarming. Being deemed essential but being overlooked, left out and forgotten can also be alarming. So deciding on the plan you had in mind long before Covid-19 becomes easy. Reflecting on leaving, one month later, puts things into perspective. If 2020 can teach us anything, it is the resilience we have when faced with a variety of difficulties — That we can become stronger and adapt and thrive in spite of. So for me, a new city, rebuilding a brand, taking on new opportunities becomes promising. It becomes a step that seems necessary when looking at the upside of 2020.
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YOUR DONATIONS TO THIS WILL ALLOW ELSV TO OPEN MORE SPACE FOR BLACK CREATIVES TO WORK ON ELSV PROJECTS IN CREATIVE WRITING, PHOTOGRAPHY, FILM AND MORE. PLUS IT WILL SUPPORT THE TEAM AND THE TIRELESS WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE THROUGH SELF FUNDING
UNITY IS GREAT BUT FREEDOM IS BETTER
"I think certain sides have given a lot, you know. And I think the question is, how much more do we need to give? You know, I always say this: unity is great, but freedom is better. And there's a part of this population that has sacrificed their freedom time and time again for unity, and they're tired of it. Yes, we want to have compromise. Yes, we want bipartisanship. But it shouldn't cost people [their] wages, and health care, and education. So if you're asking us to come together and that means that *my* world doesn't change, the people whose world needs to change doesn't change, I don't want that kind of unity. I want the kind of unity that leads to change for people who have waited for it. And if this pandemic hasn't showed us that we need to serve people *first*, and that needs to be a unifying message, the Republicans need to be on board with actually taking care of people, if we can unify around that then I'm all for it. But if that means we're gonna compromise and we're gonna continue to serve the one percent, the people who we have always served, that's not the kind of unity we need right now." - Yvette Simpson
As everyone responds to the news of the president elect being Joe Biden and having a democratic candidate win; It is important to see a clear transition from what we have come to see, not only in the past 4 years but for the system that has been in place for so long. It is important for us to see a clear direction of change. A Democratic Presidential win can’t be the end of a movement towards change. A female Vice President elect can’t be the final stop towards breaking barriers. This process shouldn’t stop here. The work must continue and it should be taken lightly because there is still so much that needs to get done.
As we have seen, the racial disparities when it comes to how this pandemic has affected communities and have a system in place has failed so many. This win shouldn’t take away from black lives matter movement. This win, for many, shouldn’t be the quick fix that some are taking this as. The President elect spoke about ‘uniting both sides,” after his win but this shouldn’t erase of overshadow the issues Black and minority communities have faced.
We we’re in the negative and now we are at zero -
Just as I viewed this Instagram Post, what Yvette Simpson stated embodied exactly my thoughts on how this year and this election has played out. Once again Black Women are showing up and doing the work.
BLACK LIVES MATTERS AND BLACK VOTES MATTER
Black Lives Matter.
Black Creatives Matter.
Black Art Matters.
Black Voices Matter.
Black Freedom Matters.
A Democratic win for the presidential election is just the beginning. Highlighted by both Biden and Harris in their speeches following becoming the president and vice president elect, was how Black Women have shown up again; this time to carry democracy. Biden highlighted his plans to unify a nation and what that means for America; touching on the need to come together no matter if you are Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Gay, Straight, Male, Female... And the need for America to have an administration that reflects that.
It’s important to include the most marginalized, the most misrepresented, the most under appreciated. Its important to note that without Black voices, importantly Black Women the results would have been different and this applies across a number of spaces; professionally and personally.
A country built off the backs of its Black citizens continues to thrive because of us, yet continues to ignore the systemic racism, the high incarcerations, the missed opportunities, the police brutalities, the inequities… and the energy has to remain the same that,
Black Lives Matter. Black Creatives Matter. Black Art Matters. Black Voices Matter. Black Freedom Matters and the Election Day reminded everyone that Black Votes Matter.
As we have been heavily effected by a system built against us; a virus that continues to ravish Black Communities, an economy that fails to bring support these Black Communities and Black Owned Businesses; we must push for changes, actual changes and not promises that prop up these elected officials until they make it in. The work must continue. We all have work to do and we must do our parts.
MASSIVE CELEBRATIONS ERUPTS WITH BIDEN-HARRIS WIN
From California to New York, people are celebrating President-elect Joe Biden's projected win today.
Kamala Harris becomes the first female, first Black and first South Asian Vice President-Elect
Kamala Harris, on Saturday becomes the first female, the first Black and the first South Asian Vice President-Elect. In a historic election which saw several battleground states flip for the first time in years; with mail-in-ballots pushing the Biden-Harris campaign to a projected victory taking Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Harris tweeted a video of herself on the phone with President-elect Joe Biden shortly after CNN projected their win.
"We did it, we did it, Joe. You're going to be the next president of the United States," she said with a signature laugh.
Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington. Her time at Howard shaped her political vision. She served as California Senator since elected in 2017.
Joe Biden Projected Presidential Winner
Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States, as The Associated Press, Reuters/NEP/Edison, ABC News, CNN, NBC News, CBS News, USA Today, The New York Times, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal projects, after a victory in the state where he was born put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
With Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, Biden now has a total of 273 electoral votes.
Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama. He is also Delaware's longest-serving senator.
Throughout his campaign, Biden has argued that the "soul of the nation" is at stake, and has promised that he would seek to heal a country fractured by Trump's presidency.
MAIL-IN BALLOTS SHIFT THE HISTORIC 2020 ELECTION
“Stop the count”
Trump tweeted as polls closed on Election night
"ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED," Trump added shortly after, prompting Twitter to flag the message as potentially misleading. Twitter then applied warning labels to more than a third of Trump’s tweets since the final polls closed Tuesday evening, reflecting how Trump and his allies continue to spout misinformation on social media days after Americans cast their ballots.
Many battleground states hadn’t finished counting votes making this Election Day end with no projected winner. Former Vice President and Democratic Candidate Joe Biden urged Americans to "stay calm." "Each ballot must be counted, and that's what we're going to see going through now, and that's how it should be," Biden said Thursday.
With the counting continuing, several states where Republican candidates typically won and Trump previously won, now flipped creating a projected win for Joe Biden.
NO OFFICERS CHARGED WITH BREONNA TAYLOR'S DEATH
ARE WE SURPRISED? CHANGE A FEW DETAILS AND THE STORY IS STILL THE SAME -HASHTAG BLACKLIVESMATTER. GET OUT AND PROTEST. JUST TO FACE ‘THE ALREADY SET UP’ POLICE BARRICADES - It’s like Deja vu; change a few details, the name, the location and the story is still the same. I can probably go back to an article I wrote years back and do this and it will flow the same- only difference is the dates. It reads the same. Unarmed black man / woman murdered by police who used excessive and unnecessary force. Police gets suspended, maybe fired but not arrested. Media digs up unrelated info to discredit black man or woman or paint them in a negative light. Police may be indicted but never charged. Protests about the decision just to be faced with police barricades with officers with their riot gear just to arrest peaceful protesters and the cycle continues over and over.
Enter white male civilian, who commits an act of terror- shoots at a crowd, shoots up a school, shoots up a movie theater, shoots up a church, killing a number of people; gets into a dispute with a police officer, isn’t shot at or killed but showed restraint. It doesn’t end, white male civilian fights with cops, aims a gun or weapon at a cop and doesn't get shot or killed. Media reports the story and somehow finds a way to lighten the story and use buzz words like he was a nice kid or he suffered from a mental illness or something that doesn't call out what they are, terrorists, murderers etc and the cycle continues over and over.
Black people protest peacefully in the name of justice against the system, its labeled a riot, and other harsh terms and police and military are brought out with their rubber bullets and their riot gear but in the same protests you have white people armed with rifles walking around antagonizing and shooting at peaceful protesters but it gets ignored or its allowed to continue without question, praised as if they are protecting some American way of life or showing some patriotism for this country. Even in their protests, while armed with rifles against their home team loosing a football game or against the mandated law to wear masks to protect during a pandemic, they get a pass. But it’s a story that has been repeating itself and none of this is anything new.
Reactions to the grand jury's decision in the Breonna Taylor fatal shooting
