Know YOUR Hairitage
Celebrating Beauty Traditions of All People
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New! Zara’s
Wash Day
The new and expanded edition of the Writer’s Digest award winner includes a tutorial on creating Fulani-Inspired Afro Puffs, a foreward by Academy Award winning actor and New York Times best-selling author Lupita Nyong’o, and an expanded glossary of hairitage terms..
New! Zion’s Crown
The second book in the Know Your Hairitage series, “Zion’s Crown” features a boy protagonist who learns about how his cultural hairstyles connect his ancestry and the stories of influential leaders of the past and present. “Zion’s Crown” includes a cover blurb from Award-Winning author and anti-racist activist Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, a how-to tutorial on the cover Ethiopian-Inspired Crossover Cornrows, and Glossary of hairitage terms that empowers adults to dive deeper into the history.
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Everyone Has A Hairitage
Let us celebrate the greatness in each other through our hair and beauty traditions.
No matter what part of the world we are from, EVERYONE HAS A HAIRITAGE. In fact, examining the hair, skin, music, art, literature and political practices of our ancestors, can help us to better understand the state of the world at any given moment in time. Many of these practices are passed on through the generations and is our way of honoring our past and informing our future.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Diversity is the presence of differences in any given setting. This can include differences in race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic class and age. Equity ensures that a situation or process is impartial and fair. Everyone involved should have an opportunity for equal possible outcomes. Inclusion happens when people feel supported, included, a sense of belonging and the ability to be their authentic selves in any space. All three work together and are vital to a successful professional and personal environment. Know Your Hairitage ™ leads our DEI work through the lens of BEAUTY.
KNOW YOUR HAIRITAGE:
ZARA’S WASH DAY
Zara’s Wash Day is the first in a series of Know Your Hairitage ™ books, written to educate children ages five through nine about the the cultural significance of hairstyles of African descent. Zara’s Wash Day is written in poem form which makes it fun for both children and adults. It also includes beautiful illustrations of several traditional African inspired hairstyles and glossary of terms to provide detailed historical context.
Author: Zenda M. Walker
Illustrator: Princess Karibo
Designer: Anthony Foronda, Studio Foronda
Three Steps I took to Enhance the Hair Wash Day Experience
This makes Wash Day the best opportunity to bond with our loved-ones and speak life into each other, rather than perpetuate negative sentiments. So how can we change the narrative and continue to uphold the social and emotional health of our community? Here are the three “Ps” that changed the Wash Day routine for me and my daughter, Zara.
Five Steps I took to Grow My Author Brand
If you have been following me on social media, you will know that I have been on quite a journey since self-publishing Zara’s Wash Day in December of 2020. I will never downplay the steps it took to level up as an entrepreneur. I worked hard. I am a divorced mom, who at the time worked a demanding nine-to-five job, homeschooled my daughter during a global pandemic, worked a side hustle hair styling business, and struggled to find a glimpse of time to write my first book. However, the path to securing a multi-book deal with a top-five publisher began with with five attainable steps.
Reclaiming Our Time: Embracing Shrinkage
First, I acknowledge that the stretching, reshaping, shingling, twisting-out, braiding-out, recoiling, and fluffing is our way of experimenting and discovering all texture possibilities especially now that there are so many curl-specific products in the market. However, I can’t help but notice the lengths (pun intended) that we are going through to make highly textured hair more palatable for mainstream audiences. I believe that the over-manipulation of our hair is the manifestation of the lingering psychological effects of colonization.
EVENTS
Storytime Book SigningExpired
BELA 6th Annual Women’s SymposiumExpired
Texture Class SeriesExpired
I Love Braids Day 2023Expired
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This newsletter is distributed quarterly and highlights diversity topics around hair and fashion that helps individuals and organizations foster more inclusive environments and understand more about the cultural norms of the communities they design for.
