- 14 hours ago
We're living in the age of the CROWN Act, and still, Black girls are being told too early that something about them needs to be fixed. From box braids to to cornrows and a wealth of natural styles in between, our hair has always carried a message about who we are and where we come from. So how do we raise a generation of Black girls who know their beauty is never up for debate?
Category
🎈
FunTranscript
00:07hello there we go hello essence fest books festival stage how we feeling good i'm so
00:18excited to be here today for the braided beauties rooted in pride conversation with jaylene clark
00:26owen yeah yes yes you may know her or have heard her viral poem slash song a black girl in
00:34her braids
00:35a black girl in her braids can't tell her nothing please don't touch it you know she looks amazed
00:40okay yes you know you think we're calm over here in the book section but we're having a little bit
00:47of fun too so i love that yes but it's lovely to be with you today same here loving all
00:53the purple
00:53looking amazing thank you yes so obviously before your viral moment with this song this poem
01:03you were an actress first you've been on everything from law and order to albie's elevator which is a
01:10children's television show you've been doing incredible work but walk me back to younger you
01:16think back to your early beauty memories hair memories what was little jaylene up to thinking
01:24etc little jaylene uh would always get her hair braided by her mom um so my mother evelyn clark
01:32uh she would always braid my hair in cornrows and put barrettes and things like that in my hair
01:38and so that's what i grow up that's what i grew up having that's how i grew up having my
01:43hair styled
01:44eventually i got uh extensions you know as i got a little older um but braids have been literally a
01:50part of my life since i was very small um and i've always i've always loved doing hair as well
01:57i used to
01:58want to be a hairdresser when i was little so um i don't do hair now but now a lot
02:05of my work
02:06my artistic practice is talking about hair so it all it all came together yes absolutely and then
02:12tell us a little bit how you got into acting before we get into your wonderful book and the poem
02:19as well
02:19what about your acting journey yes i have been acting since fifth grade um it is certainly a passion of
02:26mine i went to ithaca college for uh my bfa in acting with a minor in writing and i am
02:34currently a
02:35company member at the wilma theater in philadelphia and uh yes i am i am an actress of the stage
02:44film and television and acting is truly truly my passion and i'm blessed to be able to incorporate
02:50that into my poetry because spoken word poetry is uh performance poetry so it serves me well and
02:58definitely serves me as an author because then when i i can get up and do this and it's like
03:02yeah i know i'm this is this is familiar being on a stage um so it's it's it's truly a
03:07blessing that
03:08all of these things get to come together in this way absolutely i feel like that makes a lot of
03:13sense
03:13because spoken word is such a vulnerable craft i mean all art is but really just putting your own
03:19stories and personal experiences out there so i could see how that lends well to everything else you're
03:25doing absolutely and then yes so tell me about a black girl and her braids first the poem where you
03:35were in life when you wrote that was it kind of like did it just come to you did you
03:40sit down and
03:41write it or what was the process there yes so in 2021 uh july of 2021 i was visiting one
03:49of my best
03:49friends hollis heath she was living in la at the time and as many black girls do i got my
03:55vacation
03:55braids some medium knotless braids and i went out there and we were frolicking around taking photos and
04:01i just felt really good you know many people many black girls know when you get your hair done you
04:07just
04:07it's that you you feel you feel you know you know what i'm saying with the brain yes when you
04:11get the
04:12fresh braids you feel good and so i said you know what being that i'm a poet i was like
04:16i want to
04:17capture this feeling in a poem and literally while i was sitting at her house um the the tune a
04:23black
04:23girl in her braids a black girl in her braids came to me i recorded it on my iphone and
04:29i said all right
04:30i'm when i get back home i'm gonna do a poem about this and at that time the crown act
04:34had just came
04:35out in 2019 so i said i want to incorporate information about that because a lot of my poetry
04:40is social justice forward and so i did that i created a video for it because i said people need
04:45to
04:45people need to see it and i put it online and it went viral thousands of black women began uploading
04:51videos using my audio and celebrating their braids um and that was that was amazing and so two years
04:59later in 2023 i said why don't i turn the poem into a picture book because there were so many
05:05little
05:05black girls celebrating uh their hair and i have my two babies my god daughters my niece amani and amelia
05:13i wanted to create something that spoke life into them the book is dedicated to them um and so all
05:18the things came together and i pitched a black girl in her braids and here we are i love it
05:24beautiful
05:24actually hold that book up really quickly it's so beautiful illustrated by the incredible britney
05:31bond she did an amazing job with these uh illustrations in here you have braids of all sizes and characters
05:38of
05:38all ages represented in this book absolutely i mean this is something i feel like me now gravitates
05:45towards like i would enjoy reading this but also younger me i feel like would have really loved to see
05:51something like that i'll have to grab a copy for my nieces for you to sign for sure yeah after
05:57this
05:57but yes this is incredible so tell me about why it's so important for you to talk about
06:04kind of the range when it comes to black women's beauty you know we can rock everything from cornrows
06:11to box braids to our fro whatever it is i feel like you depict that so well and that messaging
06:18for
06:19young girls why why is that so important to you to do yes i think that is important because
06:24representation for our children is always urgent and necessary and so it is very important that
06:31our our little ones see themselves reflected in literature in media and so i'm very grateful
06:36that i get to contribute to that conversation um and in a world where you do have children being told
06:43being sent home because of their hair being sent home from school telling you know teachers telling
06:48them that the way your hair naturally grows out of your head is is not part of our grooming policy
06:55like no child should ever have to go through that so this i feel like work like this is very
07:00important
07:01to consistently affirm our children um and let them know that their hair is unique and special and that
07:07is literally one of the lines in the book and that's what i always like to uh emphasize when i
07:12do my author
07:13visits and things like that yes i love that that's beautiful and is this your first children's book or
07:19first book in general this is my first children's book this is my first traditionally published book
07:24thank you thank you thank you thank you that's amazing congratulations thank you so much it has
07:31been a whirlwind this book was published on january 6th of this year so to be here now at essence
07:37a few
07:38months later this essence fest was literally on my vision board a year ago i put essence festival of
07:45culture on there so to be here is absolutely incredible yes so thank you thank you for this because it
07:52means it means it means so much to to be with amongst my people and celebrated by my people it's
07:57it's a
07:58beautiful thing always absolutely and you manifested that and we're equally as honored that you're here
08:04with us today but this being your first book tell me about maybe some hurdles you faced along the way
08:12when it came to the publishing process or any challenges as a first-time book author that you've learned for
08:19going forward i think learning on the fly can be very difficult you know you don't know what you
08:26don't know so you don't know it um and so i have had to adapt in the moment i think
08:31this industry is
08:32ever changing and you have to be ready to just uh pivot if necessary but thankfully again like i said
08:40being an actress hey we know about improvisation we know about the show must go on so um i have
08:47been
08:47able to adapt in situations where maybe it might things may be a little frazzled but uh hopefully
08:53the audience doesn't know and i just you know we work it out we work it out backstage um and
08:58and you
08:59know being a being traditionally published i think i've learned that you still have to create the
09:04opportunities yes it's a it's amazing to have a publisher at such as penguin random house behind me
09:10but that doesn't mean you just sit back and the opportunities just come for you i still have to be
09:14out
09:14there pitching my story making connections and so that's what i'm doing and i'm learning more and
09:19more each day how to do that yes absolutely the power of pivoting learning on the fly and just going
09:27with the punches absolutely and then okay so i'm seeing a theme of purple gorgeous purple which is one
09:34of my favorite colors tell me about that because i feel like you're decked out in purple the book has
09:39themes of purple is there any story there i just love purple and pink i have always loved purple and
09:46pink literally in high school me and two of my friends we called ourselves the three pink mafia
09:51um as i got older i had a podcast called papa pink with my uh friend and fellow theater maker
09:59justin jane so i just i just love it i just love pink and purple it's very girly it's very
10:04royal it's
10:05it pops on my skin so i made sure that britney incorporated lots of pink and purple into here
10:11and she did a beautiful job doing that i love it gorgeous and then you know as we know there's
10:19still
10:19places in the u.s today that are banning young girls young people in general from wearing certain
10:26natural styles to school and that's why things like the crown act exists to push pack push past
10:34against that and i know you've been an advocate for the crown act as well um tell me about that
10:40and why
10:41that organization is important to you to work with yes i'm going to the page that has it um so
10:48here
10:48our little girl is holding a sign that says support the crown act uh encouraging kids to know that hey
10:55it's never you're never too young to advocate for justice and fair practices um and the crown act
11:01is a law that protects us and allows us to wear our hair and natural styles at work in uh
11:06at school
11:07and so i just wanted to spread that message because it's still not passed in all 50 states so we
11:12still
11:12have work to do um and so i think putting that in here was important because little kids they can
11:19understand hard conversations if you just explain it to them and i have had the pleasure of initiating
11:24conversation on school visits some children didn't know like when i when i get to the page where it
11:30says you know my friend can't wear locks and braids at her school they're like why would they not want
11:36her to wear her hair you know they have questions and they at that young age they know that that's
11:41not
11:42right and so i'm happy to be able to use this work to talk about hair discrimination and hopefully
11:48prevent it from happening in young people and hopefully they'll be able to identify if they hear
11:53someone else making fun of someone because of their hair they'll have a little language to combat that
11:58yes absolutely and off of that i'm curious what's an affirmation that you would tell younger girls or
12:05even the parents with younger kids who might be facing discrimination or even bullying when it comes
12:11to their hair what's something you would say to both the kids and the parents to help them get through
12:17that period i think reminded them like i said the line in here that says my hair is unique and
12:23special
12:24um because i think it's important that kids know that you know it you may hear other things people
12:30may try to tell you um something different that your hair needs to be changed that it needs to be
12:35um you need to fit into a certain aesthetic and no your hair is unique it is special and another
12:42line
12:43here it says um i should be accepted everywhere and i always have the kids repeat that when we get
12:48there and that is that is what i want them to know you should be accepted in every room that
12:53you are in
12:53shine continue to shine your hair is unique and special and i think that is just a that's just
12:59something that kids should be reminded of always yes absolutely i love that i'm putting those into
13:05my arsenal for my morning affirmations as well so thank you but that also brings me to obviously
13:14you are just so confident or you come off that way i'm sure it's not always easy but tell me
13:20about
13:20that journey were you always confident growing up if not what helped you get to the place you are in
13:27terms of loving yourself owning your hair and all the things thankfully i was raised in a household
13:33that always affirmed my beauty um but you know being a kid sometimes you may feel a little
13:39self-conscious feel like you have to adapt to other things so i remember once i felt like i grew
13:44out of getting my hair cornrowed by my mom i felt the only other option really was getting my hair
13:51straightened literally the thought did not come to my mind like you can just wear your hair out in a
13:55fro you can do a twist out at that time the natural hair movement wasn't really popping the way it
14:00is
14:00now and so um i wish that i had books like this uh as a child because it it's important
14:09to just to to
14:10for kids to know that where there are so many styles that you can do with your hand thankfully now
14:14because
14:15of the internet kids can they see a lot of different examples and uh they can experiment they can do
14:21tutorials um but yeah growing up i i wanted to i i i if i could do it again i
14:28would i really would i
14:31would have never straightened my hair um because it wasn't that i i wanted to i wanted to straighten
14:36my hair because i felt like what the hair that i had i don't know i felt like i outgrew
14:43it and i i didn't
14:44see much many possibilities of what to do with my hair and so i'm trying to encourage kids now like
14:50your hair is beautiful there are so many things you can do you mentioned earlier about how we wear
14:54our hair in different styles one of my poems the black girl and her switch up which just talks about
14:59how like we can do many different styles we can have a fro we can have a braided we can
15:03wear a lace
15:03front all of those things are wonderful um as long as you remember that the way your hair grows out
15:08of
15:08your hair is beautiful and so if once you have that as a foundation we can switch it up however
15:14way we
15:14want okay yes i love that point having that foundation and from there you can just enjoy
15:21exploring things even more so i love that absolutely and speaking of switching it up tell me about maybe
15:30a style that you want to try next or even your go-to styles tell me a little bit about
15:37your own hair
15:38approach i mean this hairstyle the extra small uh knotless braids is one of my uh favorite hairstyles
15:45to get um because it's so versatile um but i also really love like the braided baldy i had the
15:52privilege
15:52of getting that done by tukey did it in california and i love a nice uh finger wave up do
16:01uh into a petal
16:03bun with the braids i got that done in brooklyn uh by helena who goes by slade in braids on
16:10instagram
16:11that's my braider too shout out look at that yes she's she's incredible amazing so yeah those are
16:20some of my favorite styles to do okay i love that i love that yes helena's amazing she did a
16:25lot of the
16:25ladies here for essence fest that i've spoken to so yeah that's amazing i love that she's killing it
16:31yes yes amazing and then on a similar note tell me a little bit about self-care for you as
16:39a busy
16:39entrepreneur author actress poet all the things and how are you pouring into yourself on a daily
16:49um i love a good massage i love a good massage i will need one when i get back a
16:55lot of walking in
16:56this convention center um so i love massages and i love just hanging with my friends shout
17:01out to my friends i have friends in the building right now who have been helping me uh during this
17:06weekend and so being able to spend time with them and uh it's it's truly a remarkable thing uh and
17:13we
17:13need that we need the love of our of our sisters and so that is something that i have and
17:18that's
17:18something that i like to do and then i love to dance i love to dance so any opportunity to
17:23do that
17:23that that is self-care for me oh yeah so it sounds like we're gonna be besties because love friends
17:29love to dance i love braids like what else do we need yes i love it i love it amazing
17:37and then actually
17:38i'm curious too with the background as a poet what were some of the differences when it came to writing
17:46a
17:46book that felt different from poetry or did it feel innate for you and natural it did feel innate
17:53and natural um it was just a matter of make sure this is this is something that little ones can
17:59understand so maybe make it a little simpler say it in maybe fewer words um but it it felt very
18:06natural to
18:07adapt the original poem into book form um and then you have i have an amazing editor tyana comb so
18:13she helped me make sure that it was you know it fit into the book you got to have certain
18:19word
18:19counts and the spacing and all of that but it it felt very natural to transform the original poem
18:25into this book because this is still a poem this is literally still a spoken word poem just in book
18:30form
18:31i love that it's so transferable i feel like poetry is and that's amazing so would love to hear you're
18:40from new york originally yes i am originally from harlem new york yes nixon five nixon five
18:46hey new york is in the building i love it i love it tell me about growing up there and
18:52how that has
18:52shaped your outlook when it comes to beauty and your inspirations and all that because new york is really
19:00the mecca yes i mean come on it's harlem we are home of the harlem renaissance oh okay and um
19:07there's so much
19:08culture there going every year to harlem week you see so many different styles and literally i had
19:14to make sure i put this in the book because growing up in harlem you would get your hair
19:19braided on 125th that is a staple okay so i made sure you had the representation of the african hair
19:26braiding salon in the book that was very important to me i remember sitting in there for hours okay and
19:33getting my hair braided so yeah i i think you see so many so much representation of different
19:39hairstyles in harlem and so that that certainly contributed to uh to my hair journey so yeah i
19:48love it this is amazing i'm so excited to dive in and also i'm curious what's next maybe for this
19:55book i just feel like i could see a show or something yes i would love a little animated series
20:02or
20:03something like that uh but definitely continuing to speak to children doing author visits that is
20:09very important for me um and continuing on in the series you know making this a series i this um
20:16a
20:17black girl in her braids is part of a ep that i created called a black girl in her hair
20:22it features
20:23poems for braids locks twists uh fro and switch up and so ideally um i would like to do a
20:31few more books
20:32uh inspired by that ep um so you know we might we might have something in the works so just
20:39just
20:39stay stay tuned stay tuned well i'm locked in i'm staying tuned for sure because this is incredible
20:47to close out i would love to hear you know who are you inspired by in terms of like their
20:54hair who do
20:55look up to or who do you want to give your flowers to oh goodness you know what especially since
21:02i just
21:02saw her last night i'ma shout out brandy because for many black girls that was the original black
21:08girl in her braids brandy was wearing them braids what you said yes moesha listen moesha is on in my
21:15house every day to this day um so i yes i would love to shout out brandy because she certainly
21:22provided
21:22lots of representation for black girls and their braids growing up yes absolutely that's a great
21:28one and last night she did something so different with the blonde yes yes i love to see that the
21:34girls trying different things all the things but you're amazing i could chat all day oh thank you
21:42just excited to dive in here and thank you so much for your time and sharing your story
21:47and thank you everyone here for tuning in today thank you please feel free to follow me my friends
21:54have postcards they'll be handing them out i'm online i have these shirts these are part of my brand
22:00a black girl and her braids you can get them online um and please feel free to come over and
22:05say hello to
22:05me yes i need the shirt and the earrings yes thank y'all yes thank you guys so much thank
22:12you so much
22:13thank you
22:30i'm about to tell them
Comments