‘Never Let Anyone Bring You Down Just Because You’re Darker’- Elsa Majimbo Graces Teen Vogue Cover

From landing a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award nomination to becoming a Fenty beauty ambassador and landing her first Teen Vogue cover, Elsa Majimbo is certainly a great inspiration to Generation Z.

The 19-year-old Kenyan comedian and former chess champion made it to the 2021 Class of Teen Vogue’s ‘Young Hollywood Creators’, that shines the spotlight on ‘people that are at the front of the culture, pushing us to think, laugh, dance, and cry.’

In the magazine’s accompanying interview, Elsa opened up about her experience as a dark-skinned African woman and breaking the stereotype surrounding colorism.

“I feel like growing up there was so much BS around me. Literally, from when you’re a kid, you’re just made to feel like first of all, there is the issue of white people being more beautiful and white people being more gracious. And if you’re Black, there’s just something a bit ghetto about you and you have to make yourself this acceptable person in the world. And even though I was really small, I can’t believe they ever caught me into thinking that for some time. I got over that when I was pretty young because I thought it was so dumb. Because I would look at myself and I’d be like, “You are flawless.” So I got over that pretty quickly. And then after that, I realized there was so much colorism. Lighter-skinned people would always be treated better and they would just … in school they would always be given more opportunities.

I feel like it’s so important to me to show, especially women, either dark skin, that there’s nothing wrong with being dark-skinned. Just because people want to make you feel like it, doesn’t mean there is. And you’re just as deserving as everyone else. And you need to go for everything, just like everyone else. Never let anyone bring you down just because you’re darker. It’s not it. I always say that just to remind people, “Yeah, that’s not a weakness. Don’t let anyone make you feel like it’s a weakness. It’s a strength.” So yeah, that’s how I always say it.”

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