… my mother again would say to me, “You can’t eat beauty. It doesn’t feed you.” And these words plagued and bothered me; I didn’t really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.
And what my mother meant when she said you can’t eat beauty was that you can’t rely on how you look to sustain you. What does sustain us… what is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul.
And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty.
Such inspiring words from the dark and beautiful Lupita Nyong’o, who won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Oscars 2014 for her performance in the critically acclaimed 12 Years a Slave. This was part of her acceptance speech for the Best Breakthrough Performance Award at the 7th annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon. She also gave special mention to dark-skinned supermodel and celebrity Alek Wek, “A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was.” Seeing Alek was such an encouragement and inspiration for Lupita. “When I saw Alek I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny.”
Read the full text and video of her speech here. Every young girl (and even matured women) should read it to gain a deeper insight about beauty, and why they need not shop for whitening creams anymore but instead celebrate whatever skin complexion they’re blessed with.