I remember being young and seeing the way people looked and referred to me. “Aww she's so chocolate,” “she’s dark,” "she’s cute for a dark skin girl." I knew there was a blatant distinction between the way people looked at me and my sister who is of a medium brown complexion. I can easily recall how that made me feel as a young girl. It was marginalizing, and feeling unwanted in America is real. A young woman who is trying to figure herself out and, most importantly, see her beauty that no one else saw. I went to a majority black elementary school and this day still haunts me; I've never been so embarrassed in my life. There was a kid who always bothered me and my mom told me that when guys are that annoying they most likely have a crush on me but I knew that was bullshit.

This was my earliest most horrifying experience of colorism coming from black boys and girls. This little boy turns off the lights and says, "Where is Telaysia?" The walls of the room were spinning, I felt sick to my stomach. Kids were saying things all over the classroom and laughter filled the room. It was this feeling I couldn't shake.

I knew something was wrong with the way people saw darker skinned women and on a wider scope, society. Look at these makeup companies and modeling agencies, it's very rare that you see models my complexion. In music videos, there aren’t rappers who hire black women as the lead or talk about women of color in the nicest way. As a young girl, all I had was my family on my mom's side that told me I was beautiful. They themselves, brown beauties taught me beauty is from inside the way you present yourself and your work ethic. There is no mountain you can't reach with a good head on your shoulders and confidence.