There has been a lot of talk, especially last year into this year, about diversity in the influencer space. Many times you may have seen an Instagram story from me noting how I feel about the brands who do not include diverse representations in any of their campaigns and/or advertisements. Being an influencer of color, I have felt the effects of what happens when brands don’t include individuals who look like me or are a representation of the groups that I belong to. I will never say that I am disappointed in a brand because they don’t include me as one of their diverse representatives, but there is still disappointment when I don’t see people from a variety of groups represented by the brands who are still happy to take their money.
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I will start off by saying that there are brands that I have removed from my blog and stopped shopping because of their lack of inclusiveness. It starts more with the fact that if I cannot see myself wearing the product because the visual isn’t provided, then I cannot fully support the brand and keep buying things that will not work for me.
But that’s probably not why you’re fully reading this post. You’re wondering how a brand’s lack of diversity can affect me on the influencer level. Well, to be blunt, it does leave influencers of color out of brand campaigns that they probably would rock. There have been times where I have reached out with a brand, with an awesome pitch, only to hear back that my demographic or reach is too low. Then after doing some research, or seeing one of their campaigns go live, I discover that the brand ended up working with another influencer who has the same demographic and reach or a lower reach. And then looking at the hashtag and all who were involved, I begin to see that there is no inclusiveness – not even just with race/ethnicity. There is no diversity at all.
It becomes frustrating and often days I sit here and think, what can I do to change the way that this is going. And that’s when I realize I need to stop supporting those brands. If I am not sharing them then, you all as my followers and readers, are not seeing them at the forefront, and that may be starting things.
I have also been a person known for telling brands who say I don’t have the reach or following that they are looking for to contact bloggers of color or in other diverse communities to reach out to other bloggers that I would love to see in their campaign. Even if I am not eligible or not what they want, I, at least, want to see someone who I can relate to working with the brand.
Overall, being a blogger of color is hard, but I keep hustling and sharing my experience in hopes that things do change and also to keep sharing with you all fashion, beauty, and lifestyle advice because you all are who I am here for.
And with that in mind, if any other questions about my stance or how I feel about this topic come to your mind and aren’t answered, leave them in the comments or reach out to me directly.
