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It’s not unusual for our favorite celebrities to become our own personal superheroes. Following them on social media gives us an intimate glimpse into their lives. Their kids become our nieces and nephews, their wins become our motivation, and through the bits and pieces shared on social, they’ve become best friends in our heads. While some celebrities live on the pedestal that fans put them on, most restore their human elements by exposing vulnerability.
Kelendria Trene Rowland, otherwise known as Kelly, is the quintessential Black beauty. Introduced to the world during her Destiny’s Child days, the singer, songwriter, actress, author, wife, and mother has become the poster girl for Black Girl Magic. Rowland is easily every Black girl’s superhero, from her angelic voice to her glowing melanin.
I was over the moon excited when I learned I would have the opportunity to interview Rowland. She was conducting an intimate virtual chat on behalf Unilever Beauty & Personal Care Scale, to discuss the importance of embracing your unique, personal beauty. Rowland and I chopped it up like old friends catching up over a zoom call following the session.
“My biggest insecurity would probably be, one of the many, I usually challenge how smart I am,” she explained before revealing she often sends herself flowers with encouraging notes. One read, “You got this you smart motherf*cker,” she said with a giggle.
The beloved singer revealed she gets nervous when it comes to making decisions. “I counter it, immediately, by telling myself, you are capable. You make great decisions. You are very smart. You make great decisions. Look at all the decisions you’ve made in the past.
We dive into what it’s like to experience Imposter Syndrome, “a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a ‘fraud,'” as defined by Wikipedia.
“When its so big and it looks like it’s untouchable and I’m working towards it and it still looks like a mountain and I’m at the bottom of the mountain,” she explained. “If I pace myself and I say, ‘let me try this strategy,’ that usually helps me.
As for her coveted beauty secrets to maintaining her melanin. “My beauty regimen right now is self love. It’s taking time for myself.” She admits she was drowning in motherhood, work and marriage. “Working out is my me time. It makes me happy.”
She’s taking a day trip by herself to somewhere with “snow.” Though her friends are questioning her choice on basking in the cold, she says, “It may be biblical for me, but I just need to feel it for me.”
She also shares her affirmations to combat those thoughts of not being good enough. Her style icon is Bianca Jagger, “I love her. She used to rock the hell out of a suit. No one rocks a suit or fly hat the way she did.”
We even get her raw reaction to British Vogue’s recent magazine cover, which featured 9 African models. “I lost my mind and posted it immediately. I’ll never forget looking at a Vogue cover years ago and I saw three white women — all blonde — and they said this is what beauty looks like. This cover literally made my eyes well up because it’s like the moment did the complete opposite and he [Edward Enninful] has no idea what he did to my soul. It erased that memory out of my head. I want to genuinely write him a letter and thank him — it meant so much to me as a brown girl.”
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