Yara Shahidi Gets Real With ELLE
Yara Shahidi is featured in the new digital issue of ELLE. The young actress is on the magazine’s August issue to discuss the current political and cultural climate. Highlights from her interview can be found below.
On being called an activist at a young age: “I feel like a couple of years ago, it became very popular to call everybody an activist. I remember having to clarify time and time again that there are people doing incredible work who should be supported. I choose to be as socially engaged as I possibly can. But when we push people into this activist space, we need to really interrogate what we expect from public figures. And when we’re endowing them with this voice, what is the conversation that we want them to have?”
On how to reclaim Black joy: “Mentorship. When I think of fashion, for example, I’m grateful to be in a community. My stylist, Jason Bolden, has always prioritized what it means to support Black people in the fashion industry. We’ve consistently been in conversations about how to use this space for something that’s powerful.”
You can check out even more from her interview here.