I’ve been a public advocate against colorism for over a decade now. In that time, I’ve had a lot of learning and growth. Several of the people I talk to these days are also engaging in advocacy work related to colorism, or they’re hoping to start. So I thought I’d share 6 lessons that have helped me start, sustain, and grow my colorism advocacy. Let me know if you find this kind of topic helpful and would like to learn more about this.
Watch, Listen, or Read below.
Have a clear and compelling motivation.
Find your “why,” as they say. What would inspire you to “get out of bed” or “get off the couch” (even though social media can be done in bed or on the couch! Lol).
One of the most important tips for motivation is that if you want to sustain your work, find a positive or constructive motivation rather than a negative or destructive one.
We can be motivated by pettiness, revenge, getting even, outing someone, sticking it to the man, etc. But these sources of motivation will deplete, and I believe destroy you and your mission in the long term.
Last year, a dark-skinned girl reached out to me in a state of distress after she started a new page to out a colorist and prove to others that a certain person was harmful. Her efforts were not resulting in anything she’d hoped for, and actually added to her pain. I advised her not to make her platform about another person. This is what we call “giving your power away.” I explained that this approach makes the colorist person more powerful and gives them energy they do not deserve.
Folks disagree, and everyone has their own approach, but I think the stronger, healthier motivation is what you love, not what you hate.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t room or purpose for anger. But as I recently advised a coaching client, try balancing, grounding, or channeling your anger in constructive ways. One way to do this mentally is to say: I am angry about _____ because I love _____.
My initial motivation was healing, in case you were wondering, lol. But yours might be joy, fun, inner peace, equality, freedom, generosity, unity, or any number of things.
In more concrete terms, my motivation was to be the resource, be the person that my younger self would have loved to see. And I believed there are lots of girls like me who also need this now. So I literally keep photographs of my little girl self. Or I see and hear stories about a dark-skinned child, or a dark-skinned inner child, and it refuels my motivation.
Identify your core values.
I learned this while freelancing for Michael C. Bush in 2012-2013. Your core values will be your moral compass and your ethical litmus test guiding every decision you make, big or small. It actually does make choices easier!
I currently have 4 core values that you can read about on my about page. I believe best practice is to keep the list as short as you can, probably no more than 5. Too many core values muddies the waters. Remember, the value of establishing core values is they help you discern what’s right for you and what’s not.
Presented with an opportunity? Hold it up against your core values and see if it’s a true match! Need to choose what content to create? Brain storm ideas and see which ones best align with one more of your espoused values! Need to check yourself? Audit your work and your actions to see how they measure up to your core values!
Pro Tip: Your values can actually help you generate content ideas and organize them. Ex. If your values are education and fun, brain storm posts that are actually teaching something as well as posts that are actually fun. Or brain storm a list of things you want to teach and a list of fun ways to deliver content, and then play mix and match across those two lists. You’ll generate a lot more content that way!
Leverage your strengths.
I was a year out of my Creative Writing MFA, teaching 9th grade English Language Arts. So blogging was a logical way for me to maintain a regular writing practice, and that’s how Colorism Healing eventually came to be.
Perhaps you have a “green thumb” for graphic design and can make lots of pretty stuff for Pinterest and Instagram. Perhaps you talk good but also like to stay in your pajamas all day, so you focus on podcasts. Or perhaps you’ve got a knack for live event planning and focus primarily on conferences or retreats.
You don’t have to do it all or be in all the places, especially when you start. But even after you’ve been at it for awhile, you’ll probably still have a home base or a hub that drives your engagement everywhere else.
My website is my virtual “central office/headquarters,” but Instagram is my major “satellite hub” at the moment. TikTok, which is actually my largest audience at the time of this writing, is second. Despite the slightly bigger following, it’s still not my biggest strength right now.
Go where the joy resides.
For maximum endurance, add to your strengths the element of joy, pleasure, or love. The more overlap you can get between what you’re good at and what you enjoy, the easier it will be to keep going and growing.
I’m lucky that I actually enjoy the creating part of content creation. I love talking and teaching. I love going live and reading your comments! But I also love the mechanics of designing my own website, shooting and editing my own videos, and crafting my own IG graphics and YouTube thumbnails on Canva.
After 8 years of doing it all on my own, I hired some help just 2 months ago. This is where growth comes in. Getting started and sustaining was fine by myself for quite some time. But as I set my sights on further expansion and growth, I knew I had to invest in reliable help.
And yet, I still do a lot of this stuff myself. The fact that I enjoy those parts of it really did contribute to me not (totally) burning out and quitting over the past several years. People underestimate how much of their time, especially early on, will be spent in the weeds and mechanics of things. So try to focus on the stuff you enjoy, or at least don’t hate. If you’re not into any of that, consider hiring help sooner or partnering with a collaborator!
Focus on who does show up.
Whether your efforts are in-person or online, don’t waste energy complaining about who’s not showing up. Show respect and appreciation for the people who do, no matter how few or how many.
A HUGE pet peeve is when I’m sitting in a sparse audience and the host or organizer says, “nobody’s here” or “nobody showed up.” I’m like, so I guess I’m nobody? I guess those of us who did bother to show up are not enough? I guess we’re invisible? It’s seriously so disrespectful and invalidating of the people who took their invaluable time and made the effort to attend, to watch, like, comment, etc.
This kind of work is mission driven, not popularity driven. Yes, we want to spread awareness about colorism as far and wide as we can, but each individual person matters along the way. A million people consists of 1 person a million times.
When you love that one audience member, they will help you spread the word. But if you ignore them or give them half effort, you’ll never reach the larger audience you want. My thought process has always been, every individual person, even if it’s just one individual person, deserves my best effort! It’s like that bible verse that says: The one who is faithful with a few shall be blessed with a lot. Or something like that, lol.
Keep learning and recalibrating.
Know that you can’t “set it and forget it,” at least not indefinitely. You do have to have regular periods of reflection, auditing, learning, training, strategizing, and planning.
Continue learning more about your subject matter as well as the skills you need to execute your mission. And continue reflecting on what’s working, what’s not, and how you can pivot according to changing needs and evolving goals.
Bonus Tip: Ebb and Flow as needed.
I have not been on a linear, steady climb these past 8 years. I would go months without posting. There were years I skipped the writing contest. But even when I was “taking a break” I was still doing my work, which in many ways is the work. Being gracious with myself and accepting my life for what it was during those times really helped me stay in the game for as long as I have. Because this is part of my overall life mission, I knew even in the lulls that we were still in it. (I also refer to myself in first-person plural quite often! Lol).