We’re big fans of Shonda Rhimes in the NaturallyCurly office. We read her book, Year of Yes, as part of our NaturallyCurly book club in January and many of us have been yes-ing our way through 2017. We’re also lifelong proponents of women defining their own beauty standards, so this new partnership between Rhimes and Dove is an exciting one. Together, they are launching Real Beauty Productions, “a new collaborative studio that will create stories based on real women’s lives and experiences.” Rhimes is serving as the Creative Director of the production house.
It’s been over 10 years since the first Dove Real Beauty video “Evolution” went viral with an eye opening reveal of the extreme retouching and reshaping that happens to models’ faces and bodies in the media. Since then the brand has continued to ignite conversation with campaigns like Sketches, Selfie and Love Your Curls. Your story could be next.
Starting March 30, if you submit your story by sharing your story with Dove you could be in a mini movie series produced by Shonda herself. The submission page says “Share a story about you or someone you love that expands the definition of beauty. We want to hear from women everywhere, from every background. Throughout the year, Shonda and Dove will work with you to tell your stories and inspire us all to celebrate #RealBeauty.”
Personally, I would love, love, love to see a NaturallyCurly community member win this. I know for a fact that you all are a fount of deeply moving, empowering, inspiring stories about the way beauty standards have affected you. I feel confident that many of you could star in a Shonda Rhimes-produced series about your hair stories. I also feel confident that Shonda (yes, I’ve switched to addressing her in first person”> will be intentional about representation with this initiative, because she has been working to bring diversity and strong female roles to traditionally male-dominated fields throughout her career.
To submit your story, you have to share a story about yourself or someone you love. Explain how your story expands the definition of beauty.
If you win, please tell Shonda I said hi!