Despite being a trained chemical engineer, Rudo Mazhande struggled for years to use her skills. Now her soap-making business is creating jobs and serving the needs of her community and beyond.
Beauty
Arts, Culture and Sport Hair politics: Beyond beauty, this Ivorian hair artist used her hair to address #MeToo
Ivorian hair artist, Laetitia Ky has used her hair to speak out on rape, sexual assault and harassment. She shaped her hair to speak on the #MeToo movement. Her hair portrayed a man lifting the skirt of a woman. Laetitia’s poignant expressions are when she uses her hair to highlight women rights issues.
Lifestyle Self-love – not bans – will bring an end to Africa’s bleaching syndrome
At the root of the skin bleaching phenomenon is a psychological complex.
Lifestyle Shudu: the world’s first digital supermodel is ebony perfection
Instagram supermodel Shudu was an instant sensation, lauded as one of the most beautiful models on the Internet – until the world discovered that she was man-made. This ebony-skinned supermodel is in fact the creation of photographer Cameron James-Wilson.
Lifestyle To Shave or Not to Shave
There are so many grooming options open to women today – from a landing strip to a bald Brazilian to covering your vagina in sparkles. Making the vagina look and smell ‘aesthetically pleasing’ – like ensuring it smells of guavas – is a billion-dollar industry. But women – and only women – should be in charge of what their lady parts look like.
African identities Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful
Whether we are being told that we are too fat or too thin, women are expected to want to change their bodies to meet society’s standards of beauty. But as Lineo Segoete writes, body-positivity is one way of taking a stand against discrimination, objectification, fetishisation and other attempts at patriarchal control.
Lifestyle South Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech proud of her dark skin
When it comes to the issue of skin colour, the black woman is always told she has too much melanin. Does anyone ever complain of too much non-melanin? South Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech was asked by her uber driver if she’d lighten her skin for $10,000. Find out her answer.
Lifestyle Celebrating the Beauty of Blackness: Neequaye Dreph Dsane
Celebrating the beauty of Blackness is what Ghanaian-British artist Neequaye Dreph Dsane is all about. He does oil portraits and contemporary murals. Dreph was born in Nottingham in the U.K in 1973 and raised in Windsor. He is extremely talented and has transformed city walls through beautiful art and recently into tributes to Black women with his latest series ‘You Are Enough’. With Africa Day fast approaching, it is only befitting to celebrate art that recognises the beauty of our continent.
Lifestyle Celebrating Cultural Diversity: Dialogue and Development
The 21st of May marked the day for cultural diversity for dialogue and development, a day which provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity. This celebration precedes Africa Day for our continent, and today we want to hear from you. What aspects of your culture are you proud of and what do you wish could change about your culture either politically, socially, religiously and/ or economically?