When Better Late is Best!

Better late than never, but never late is better… until better late is best.

Happy Friday Loves ❤

Hope you had a productive week:) Mine was pretty fantab!

Those who follow me on social media have probably seen a peek of my shoot for With + Passion. With + Passion is the capsule collection of T’s and sweats by stylist Ty Hunter. Ty, known as @tytryone on Twitter and Instagram, partnered with ServedFresh, the clothing brand known for its timely yet timeless statement fashions.

Love the fact that we look like some hard, too cool for school rebel couple. lol

In brief, Ty called me one day and asked if I’d be interested in modeling for the brand. Ummmmm, like, of course?! A bajillion nerves and one photoshoot later, here we are: my lanky, never-modeled-before 27 yr. old being all over the www, modeling only one of the most noted fashion director’s brand! The irony is, as a tall and lean girl before all of this, people always advised me, “You need to model!”; my biggest media inspiration, next to Oprah, is and has always been Tyra Banks; and I can sit and flip through spreads in awe of The Naomi Campbell for endless hours. I entertained the thought of it as a career in my teens and early 20s, and then I gradually lost interest for conflicting reasons.

I’ve always been the girl whose untamed imagination fueled off layers of thought after thought. Being on the billboard, like Tyra, or talking on TV, like O, was never about the top layer of glam, fame, and all that jazz–a realization I came to with a little age. It was about the platform… and the voice the platform granted… and the impact of the voice because of the platform. I wanted to be a voice of inspiration and advocacy for beauty. One that said beauty has no sell by or expiration date. It’s whole and perfect as is, without our meddling. It doesn’t need to be lightened or darkened, starved or force fed, or aged or anti-aged. It just needs to be, and be confidently. So to circle back to those conflicting reasons I mentioned earlier, I figured that at the time when I was still young and completely new to the industry, I didn’t yet have the power, OR GUTS, to enter into that particular arena and stay true to my convictions. I would have been placed in situations of compromise; and the lesser, more desperate part of me would have caved.

Now, a little later, I have a newfound wisdom, fearlessness and impact. I have no issues rocking my kinky hair on Dr. Oz, and kindly removing the bobby pins the very sweet but unintentionally offensive non-Black hairstylist placed atop it to “push it down.” Should a photographer try to strip my cocoa pigment in the name of  “camera lighting,” I’m unafraid to instruct, “No, no. Keep the cocoa.” When I tell a middle-aged mom of three, “Beauty is NOT fleeting,” it feels more genuine because I didn’t buy into the notion of model years. Later allowed me to stand up for women and our beauty–in honesty. A way that I wouldn’t have been able to before.

So maybe your situation isn’t mine verbatim, but you can still link the threads. Whatever it is you want to do, don’t ever feel as if it’s too late. We’ve heard, “The early bird gets the worm,” “You snooze you lose,” and in the words of Drake, “Better late than never, but never late is better.” But sometimes being early is overrated, and better late was reeeally better. Late may grant you more wisdom, or strike up more courage, or take you through some extra experiences that make your life’s work more meaningful to those it’s intended to serve. Or all three, as in my case. In this moment, I’m confident that all of this grind and hustle will eventually become a voice. Now, whether that voice be heard in a spread, on TV, in a book, or as a media mogul juggling it all is beyond my knowing. But I do know, whenever that time comes, waiting later will have been what was best.

“Better late than never, but never late is better… until better late is best.”- yours truly, always.

❤ you,

Essy

P.S. No real reason for the eye pic up top. Just took it yesterday and liked it, so I posted 😉

2nd Photo Credits

source: FashionBombDaily.com

photography: Andrew Fennell

models: Luciano Acuna Jr, me

makeup: Artistry by Nicky

hair: Tunicia Morain