Portfolio

Presents – The What’s Underneath Project

Honor How Style

Remove Their Clothes

It’s what Underneath

Videos

StyleLikeU

1. Caitlin Stasey, Actress
   • Being “The Pretty Girl” Isn’t Always So Pretty In Hollywood: Caitlin Stasey
     • Profile
       • Last month, we began our foray of expanding What’s Underneath to all corners of the earth by taking the project to Los Angeles.
       • The first to share their truth is 25-year-old Caitlin Stasey, an Australian actress in Hollywood who has harnessed her anger against the systematic sexism of the film and television industries into a force of uncensored activism.
       • Thank you to Daniela London, of Choose Love, for providing us with space to shoot all of our Los Angeles episodes and to Olie Biologique, a natural skincare line, for making it possible for us to share Caitlin’s story.
       • As a part of our collaboration with Olie, six strong, unapologetic individuals from the project have made their own Olie body oils based on their spirit and stories.
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2015-November-16th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
         Link
2. Reign Apriim, jewelry designer
   • Compare Yourself to Yourself: Reign Apiim
     • Profile
       • We asked jewelry designer Reign Apriim to be a part of the What’s Underneath Project because she bears witness to our belief that style
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2014-August-14th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
         Link
3. Cipriana Quann, Urban Bush Babes founder
   • A Violent Past, An Empowering Now: Urban Bush Babe’s Cipriana Quann
     • Profile
       • In this What’s Underneath episode, Urban Bush Babes founder, Cipriana Quann, bravely opens up about being raised by her physically abusive, mentally ill father, as well as her experience with the modeling industry that told her she needed to change her natural hair in order fit in. Cipriana took matters into her own hands when she quit modeling and started her own very successful blog that subverts the status quo and empowers black women.
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2014-October-13th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
         Link
4. Latasha Alcindor
   • An Unbreakable Grip On Her Truth: Latasha Alcindor
     • Profile
       • Our celebration of Black Lives Matter & Black History Month continues with a new What’s Underneath episode on Latasha Alcindor.
       • She once proved to her Wesleyan professor that she wasn’t a “quota” by giving an honorary commencement speech at her graduation, and she now proves that you don’t have to be exclusively “uber sexy” or “super covered-up” to be a sizzling rapper.
       • But what Latasha ultimately proves is that her strength to defy deeply-rooted stereotypes comes from her unbreakable self-acceptance.
       • Latasha’s video was edited by Andrea Cruz
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2016-November-30th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
         Link
5. Aina Brei’Yon
   • How Aina Brei’Yon Broke Up With Serial Cheating and Committed To Herself
     • Profile
       • Welcome to our next interview of our What’s Underneath Pride Series, in partnership with Spring Health. Today we sit down with queer artist and author Aina Brei’Yon. Growing up, Queer artist and author Aina Brei’Yon refused to dim her light as a masc presenting gay woman who was often judged for her difference. However, beneath her external strength belied a deep vulnerability from the abandonment she faced as a child that manifested in her repeatedly cheating on the partners she loved. Exhausted from being emotionally detached, seeking validation from women, and hurting herself and others along the way, by facing her childhood wounds head on, Aina has finally learned to validate herself. This, in turn, has freed her to risk being truly vulnerable and let love in.
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2021-June-24th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
         Link
     • Metadata
       • Die Empty
6. Mengly Hernandez, Stylist
   • Giving Birth at 18 to Her Greatest Teacher: Mengly Hernandez.
     • Profile
       • We asked stylist Mengly Hernandez to be a part of the What’s Underneath Project because she bears witness to our belief that style Is acceptance of yourself and others, It’s not about trends, It’s your spirit, It’s What’s Underneath.
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2014-September-5th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-18th
         Link
     • Metadata
       • Trauma
7. Kiersey Clemons, Actress
   • Actress Kiersey Clemons Accepts Her Mental Health Diagnosis and Stands Up To Racism in Hollywood
     • Profile
       • Whether it’s wearing things that represent all of the people she loves, or an acting career that has her diving headfirst into her biggest fears, striving to express her true self is how actress Kiersey Clemons has found her inner magic. Despite a successful career in Hollywood, which might appear to render her without a care in the world, Kiersey has been confronted with the embedded layers of racism in Hollywood. Being typecast as the token Black girl with big hair and being overlooked when walking onto the set as the lead because she doesn’t fit the stereotype of the “pretty girl who doesn’t know it,” has necessitated a lot of unearthing within Kiersey. In her own words, “Acting can be validating and make me feel like the bee’s knees, or it can make me feel like a trash bag full of shit.” But perhaps Kiersey’s most profound connection to her boundless courage has come about during the past year of quarantine, where she has fallen apart and come back together by accepting that she has bipolar disorder. The liberation that she has found in letting go of shame around her diagnosis and saying it out loud has Kiersey feeling into the most whole, powerful, and yes, magical, version of self!
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2021-February-11th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
         Link
     • Metadata
       • Bipolar Disorder
8. Jo Equality Lampert
   • The Walls You Put Up DON’T Protect You: Jo Equality Lampert
     • Profile
       • We asked musician and performer Jo Equality Lampert to be a part of the What’s Underneath Project because she bears witness to our belief that style
         Is acceptance of yourself and others,
         Is not about trends,
         Is your spirit.
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2014-September-8th
         Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
         Link
9. Freddie Harrel
   • Before I Am a Woman, Before I Am Black, I Am Freddie: Freddie Harrel
     • Profile
       • Before I Am a Woman, Before I Am Black, I Am Freddie: Freddie Harrel
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- StyleLikeU
         Date Published:- 2016-March-21st
         Date Added:- 2021-August-17th
         Link
10. Neema Githere
    • Neema Githere: Choosing Self-Love Over Yale And The Algorithm
      • Profile
        • Born in Kenya of Maasai and Kikuyu roots, Neema has faced the harsh realities of growing up in racist America and, at 21 is proudly living the life of her choosing. With her crown of Bantu hair knots and rainbow braids, she had the smarts to get into almost every ivy league school from a small town in Colorado, where she was feared and fetishized for her difference. She later had the bravery to drop out of Yale in favor of a life outside the systems that oppress her, upon realizing that she was unhappy in an elitist academia that is the very bastion of colonialism. Already living the happy ending, Neema is learning about radical love and transcendence from the ancient philosopher Rumi as a means of dealing with the pervasive triggers of systemic racism, traveling to every corner of the world, and is a curator at The Africa Center in NY, where she curates the portal program, ’an internet you can walk through’ that allow us to connect to people everywhere, free from digital algorithms.
        • “Not only is yale on stolen land but it is upheld by the labor of black people and by separating itself as an elite institution against the masses of people who lack access to these institutions. It became a lot for me to weigh in my head; how can I have this revolutionary heart and spirit and intention and still be so deeply entrenched in this institution that’s trying to assimilate me into a place of “upwards class mobility” at the expense of my psychological health and cultural health.”
      • Videos
        • Video #1
          Channel:- StyleLikeU
          Date Published:- 2016-December-18th
          Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
          Link
11. Tinica
    • A Quiet Outcast Steps Into Her Spiritual Power and Takes Charge of Her Life: Tinica
      • Profile
        • We traveled to London’s Southbank Centre to conduct What’s Underneath interviews as an open call in a public setting. We weren’t sure what to expect, but eager participants stepped up to share their stories as an audience accumulated. Watch six women strip down and open up in our first ever Open Call.
        • When we arrived at The Southbank Centre, a longtime fan, Tinica was there to graciously volunteer her help for the day, and hopefully have a chance to step onto the stool herself. We were racing against the clock to do as many interviews as we could that day and found ourselves possibly running out of time to do anymore. But due to her intense sincerity, enthusiasm and humble insistence, it was impossible to say no to Tinica and thank god we didn’t. Her absolutely astounding determination and resolve to overcome familial abuse and cultural marginalization in her own community, is nothing short of heroic. A spiritual visionary, Tinica is taking charge of her life.
      • Videos
        • Video #1
          Channel:- StyleLikeU
          Date Published:- 2016-December-18th
          Date Added:- 2021-August-16th
          Link

 

Transcripts

Caitlin Stasey, Actress

Being “The Pretty Girl” Isn’t Always So Pretty In Hollywood: Caitlin Stasey

1. Appease Other People
   • In this town, you have to constantly undermine yourself to appease other people

 

Aina Brei’Yon

How Aina Brei’Yon Broke Up With Serial Cheating and Committed To Herself

1. Pain
   • Spend your whole life running from that original pain
   • When you make a decision on how you want to show up in this world and you become consistent in it
   • You do not know when it naturally shifts because you become consistent in it
   • Once you choose something
   • It was easier for me to be hard, everybody thought I was strong
   • Strong is the least checked up on
   • I had nobody to lean on, I was the one everybody leaned on
   • I never showed that I go through this too
   • That, I hurt too
   • I was alone
   • Everbody used me
   • I had nobody to use
2. Journey
   • Going from how I used to be to whom I become, I wouldn’t know what I desire if I did not exist in ways that I did not desire

Mengly Hernandez, Stylist

Giving Birth at 18 to Her Greatest Teacher: Mengly Hernandez.

1. Women Style
   • They’re confusing us because they want money
2. Light
   • When people go through a lot of darkness…if they are brave enough to confront those things and work on them, they turn out to be the people with the most light
3. Spiritual Connection
   • When I feel something is wrong with my daughter
   • When I feel that is off, I am unbalanced
   • We have a very energetic exchange
   • I identify with it

 

 

Comments

Aina Brei’Yon

How Aina Brei’Yon Broke Up With Serial Cheating and Committed To Herself

1. Keçi Babani
   • I resonated with “dimming your light around others to not feel alone”. Is she a Pisces?
2. V afua8e
   • So bloody amazing! Her words totally got me. You can feel her world has had pain & she has ridden it, let it pull her open & not be broken by it. Thank you for your wisdom Aina