How and when did you two
meet?
A little over 2.5 years ago, via
instagram! Mutual admiration
and shared interests turned into a
friendship and eventually (Tori)
moved to NYC and TCG was
founded shortly after.
At what point, did you decide to
partner on The Coloured Girl
project?
The Colored Girl is not a “project”,
it’s a movement that has become a
lifestyle beauty & fashion brand.
We conceptualized our idea of the
company and initial campaign in
February of 2016, during a blizzard
in NYC at one of our houses. We
were snowed in for days and con-
versations turned into ideas, which
then sprang the idea of TCG. We
began working on the initial debut
campaign in May of 2016, however
we didn’t’ launch it until June 21.
WE gave Essence magazine the
exclusive and everyone thought
they had hired us to do a campaign.
Not realizing this was OUR work
for OUR company.
Tell us more about ‘The Colour-
ed Girl’ Movement?
TCG is a love & power movement,
WOC by WOC. But it’s also more
than that… It’s a womanist move-
ment. It’s a humanist movement.
We are all about inclusion, self-
love, diversity, being disruptive to
bring awareness and deliver our
messages using beauty and fash-
ion as tools of change to empower
and represent WOC worldwide.
We took something that is usually
mis- or underrepresented and/or
commodified and created our own
disruptive, beautiful, noteworthy
version of it to send powerful mes-
sages. WE are redefining beauty
standards and rewriting the nar-
rative of black beauty in the mass
media and beyond.
What inspired this? Did this em-
anate from personal experiences
and need to change a perception?
We started by having a conversa-
tion during that snow storm the
night TCG was conceived, and the
question, “Who am I? Who are
we?” was what sparked it. Once we
started talking about all the amaz-
ing things we take for granted (like
our skin) or the things that are used
to pit us against one another (col-
orism), we began discussing what
it means to be “colored” in this
world. It definitely was informed
by both our personal experiences as
WOC, and a need to represent and
celebrate US, in innovative ways
for everyone to see.
What is the long-term goal; what
do you aim to achieve?
We want to continue to repre-
sent and empower WOC and all
women! To create opportunities
for people to have conversations
(which hopefully lead to actions)
about being more inclusive. To
build our movement & brand to
be positioned as the go-to for all
things diversity and inclusion when
it comes to women (of color) in
marketing and mainstream media.
How are you two able to work
together;
What influence does your friend-
ship have on the work that you
do together?
We have a very yin/yang relation-
ship, and our synergy carries over
into our work, and the vibe on set
when we are creating. There really
isn’t much overlap, other than we
both spearhead creative direction.
Duties are split according to each
of our strengths. For example, Tori
is the Wardrobe Stylist and Victory
37 I Blanck Lite I April 2017 I www.blanckdigital.com
writes all the creative copy. The
division of labour flows naturally
and is complimentary, much like
out personalities. Although we do
disagree at times, but it’s always
very sisterly.
What does it mean to be a
‘Coloured Girl’ in today’s Amer-
ica?
It means we should be proud of our
skin, our heritage, our history, our
culture. It means as WOC at the
end of the day there is only ONE
race: the human race! Everything
else is just decoration. And once
people start realizing that and treat-
ing each other and themselves with
more love and respect, lots will
change!