"Dark Girls" on OWN Sunday @ 10pm EST

On Sunday, June 23 at 10:00 pm EST, Oprah is premiering "Dark Girls" on OWN. 

Dark Girls is a fascinating and controversial film that goes underneath the surface to explore the prejudices dark-skinned women face throughout the world. It explores the roots of classism, racism and the lack of self-esteem within a segment of cultures.

This is an topic that is near and dear to my heart. In my blog "She's pretty for a dark skin girl.", I spoke of my issues growing up as a "dark-skinned" girl and how long it took to embrace all of my hot chocolaty-ness in a society where lighter skin was seen as better. My hope is that people will watch this documentary and use this as a discussion piece to help us unlock some of the crap that has kept us changed for way too long.

Sweet P

I am more beautiful than I think.

I was talking to a friend and he was commenting on how pretty I am. Not just pretty, but amazingly beautiful with model-like features. After I stopped laughing I said thank you and told him that I wish I saw what he saw. Yes, I can see beauty in myself and have grown over the years to love even the flaws, but sometimes all you can focus on are the flaws. That gets in the way of your overall perception of yourself.

After our conversation he sent me this Dove video and said that I reminded him of it. Its so powerful and so very true. We can be so critical of ourselves and others don't see half of what we see. I think this holds true for men and women. I'm going to work on speaking more positively about myself AND looking more for the good in others and focus less on the bad.

I also want to be mindful that people around me feed off my energy. If I wear my happiness, it looks better than if I put on down in the dumps. Today I'm feeling so blah, but no one else needs to know that. Anyone coming in my office today would think I was on top of the world. No point in making the ugliness show on the outside.

Sweet P