When I decided to relaunch EmilycottonTop I knew I would write about all the women I stalked on the regular basis because there is no better therapy for “stalkism” than acceptance!
So with that said “hi my name is Emily, and I stalk Nikia Phoenix”! Nikia is a model and if you are in the natural hair community or just a creative you should have come across her face at least one time on social media.
As part of my quest to solidify her as friend in my head I have also featured her an uncomfortable number of times on Naturals And Coffee because she takes amazing pictures with coffee or tea and I felt obligated.
Recently she did an interview with XoNecole which was a score in my book, and I was inspired by some of the things she shared especially when it came to self-love and self-acceptance.
The thing about Nikia which anyone would notice right off the bat is that she has freckles and for many women having a ‘freckled face’ can be something they are quite conscious about because it isn’t considered a standard of beauty from a close minded perspective.
As a matter of fact, she has been described by many in the industry as exotic or edgy as a means to count her out of certain opportunities.
In the exclusive interview with XoNecole, she shared her journey to self-acceptance through self-love check it out below:
There are moments when I don’t feel beautiful – there are moments when we all don’t feel beautiful. We’re so critical of ourselves and we nitpick everything. We stand in front of the mirror and find the tiniest little blemish and fixate on it.
And I have a lot of them (laughs). I was in a coffee shop the other day and this lady comes up, she’s standing beside me, and she has her baby with her.
This little boy was staring at me – not looking at all – just staring, like, what in the world? I am assuming he never sees black people with freckles (laughs).
When that used to happen, I used to get offended. In the same moment that there was a kid staring at me like I’m from another planet, this woman comes up to me asking if she can take my picture and information because she has a friend that might be interested in using me for a campaign. There’s God saying stop looking at things negatively, let me throw you a bone really quick.
That made me smile! Check her out here on her new website and watch the below video on her definition of beauty.
