This Is What It's Like To Go On A Road Trip With SZA & Zoë Kravitz
One of the best memories of your life would undoubtedly be the day you and your homie decided to take a road trip. No matter what shenanigans happen when you and your "day one" stop the car, the journey leading up to the destination is what counts. It is inevitable that your relationship with your friend will change, and in most cases, you and your homegirl would have built a bond through shared experiences that will be etched in your hearts and memories forever. This is what you're going to remember when you watch singer/actress Zoë Kravitz and singer SZA on their road trip!
It's pure nostalgia.
The outing, which is a part of a spot for Ford, begins with the ladies meeting up and hopping in their Focus. To break the ice, they played a word association game, and it is revealed that Zoë is a Sagittarius, and SZA is a Scorpio.
Then the serious conversations began and we learn a few life lessons from the duo:
1. Don't allow yourself to be put in a box.
Zoë chatted up how actresses and musicians of color are categorized.
Zoë: In music [and] acting, I feel like there's this, like, idea of...'Okay, how can we categorize you?' ...So if you're a black chick, you're not doing Hip Hop, you're not doing R&B, you're doing this, like, alternative thing, so you're this kind of person. You're in a category with at least four other artists.
SZA: Then it's, 'Do you look alternative enough, because you don't look alternative enough.' Zoë: It's confusing, we're not understanding which box to put you in.
2. Stay true to yourself.
This led to a conversation about being yourself, and how important it is to show people, especially in entertainment, genuine love and kindness.
Zoë: I feel like confidence is just the key to everything. Sza: People normally only mess with you if you aren't being, like, 100 percent true to yourself. When I started to figure out that people have an opinion, I thought it was super unfair. I took it really bad...but I've been trying to let that go, but in a productive way.
3. There is power in unity.
Zoë realizes that although artists like to keep to themselves sometimes, there is power in people seeing women working together and uniting.
Zoë: I feel like if younger people saw people in the entertainment industry, especially women, working together more and being kind to each other, that might help younger people understand how cool it is to be kind. I only want to show love to my friends and the people who inspire me.
What I loved about the commercial was the fact that we're watching their friendship grow stronger as we hear them talk about their experiences on their own roads less traveled. By being stand out performers with acts that can't be categorized, they've found comfort in doing what's different, and they're doing it with confidence and style.
It's a beautiful discussion that led to a friendship that blossomed right before our eyes, and who couldn't appreciate something as beautiful as that.
Zoë and SZA join several artists who have done advertisement for Ford as of late. Check out this commercial that gets to know Sevyn Streeter a little better, and the awesome thing that 80s rock band Foreigner did to keep a high school's music program alive.
Do you remember your first girlfriend's road trip? How has your friendship with your girlfriend grown since?
All images courtesy of Ford
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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Stress Awareness Month: Sneaky Workplace Triggers Affecting Black Women, And How To Cope
We all know about the major stress triggers of everyday life, from relationship woes to monthly bills to unexpected emergencies, but there are small, subtle triggers that impact Black women in a big way, especially when it comes to work. It’s good to be aware of these sneaky stressors in order to maximize your day and find ways to incorporate solutions into your self-care routines.
Since it’s Stress Awareness Month, we caught up with Keanne Owens, LCSW, founder of Journey To Harmony Therapy Center, to talk about these triggers and what Black women can do to manage and cope.
Owens is an experienced South Florida-based counselor and social worker who offers her services via Grow Therapy, a therapy and medication management platform. She has worked with Black women professionals to unpack issues related to workplace stressors. “One is the pressure to perform–having to meet deadlines and deliverables. And a lot of times, these subtle stressors from performance are put upon ourselves as Black women. We want to make sure we’re doing our best. We don’t want to be critiqued in certain ways.”
Excessive micromanagement leading to fear of overly critical bosses is another subtle trigger that can negatively impact Black women in the workplace.
“Whenever something is done wrong, or we experience some type of injustice and have to report it, it’s the fear of retaliation–[fear that] we won’t be taken seriously or [our words] will be taken out of context because of being deemed as the ‘angry Black woman,’” she said.
Black Women And Workplace Stress Triggers
Her sentiments are backed by research. A recent report by Coqual found that 28% of Black women (compared to 17% of White men) say their supervisor uses “excessive control or attention to detail” when managing them. There’s more: A survey by the National Employment Law Project found that Black workers were “more likely to have concerns (80 percent) and twice as likely as white workers (18 percent) to have unresolved concerns at work, with 39 percent reporting they were “not satisfied with the employer’s response or did not raise concerns for fear of retaliation.”
The survey also found that 14 percent of Black respondents said they “avoided raising concerns to their employer for fear of retaliation—more than twice the average rate of 6 percent for all survey respondents.”
Owens pointed to the fact that these subtle stress triggers can negatively impact our physical health and our career advancement. “A lot of time it’ll affect our productivity,” Owens added. “We start to have negative thoughts of ourselves. The stressors can also cause fatigue. We’re no longer meeting or working up to our desired potential.” Other challenges as a result include insomnia and increased insolation, withdrawal, and lack of motivation to apply for jobs or promotions even when qualified.
valentinrussanov/Getty Images
How To Manage Subtle Stress Triggers
While there are systemic issues at play for Black women at work that has less to do with us and more to do with major overhauls that must be addressed by the powers that be, there are steps we can take for the betterment of ourselves and our mental health. Owens offered the following tips:
Tap into a support system, whether it’s a coworker you trust, a family member, an organization, or an outlet like a hobby.
Create a good work-life balance before burnout even starts. “Having certain boundaries [is the goal] such as, for example, if you get off at 5, you get off at 5. If your job description is this, you don’t go above and beyond because that brings you to a lot of burnout,” Owens said.
Prioritize self-care, whatever that means for you. “If you don’t have a routine, create one. Practice mindfulness and even some meditation,” she added.
Create structure in your life outside of work. “Even if you have a family, applying some structure in your routine helps relieve stress,” she said.
Get into grounding techniques. “Do a real quick square breathing exercise, that’s literally 30 seconds, or you can do a grounding technique that’s less than two minutes, right there where you are. You don’t need any other materials. That’s something you can do with just yourself and your body.”
Ask for help. “As Black women, we don’t ask for help enough,” she said. “Find where you need to ask for help. A lot of times, people think that’s indicative of weakness, but we need to rewrite that narrative. It’s okay to ask for help where you see fit. [If] you’re a mom, [it could be] every Wednesday from 5 to 6, your children are with the dad. You have to carve out that time.”
For more information on Grow Therapy, visit their website. You can also find out more about Keanne Owens, LCSW, via BeginYourJourneyToHarmony.com.
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Featured image by Charday Penn/Getty Images