“I am optimistic about the future, especially about the future of black women. Gotta be honest and say I fluctuate in different situations though. Sometimes I think, ‘Yeah, we’ll get there’. In others, I even think there has been progress but very slow. So, some of the things that make me optimistic is that we’ve been talking a lot about race and what I like to call ‘restorative justice,” She says.

“In the continent of Africa, in the black diaspora is important how much women hold up in the society…I worry that that then the only story we tell about black women is the story of their oppression.” She tells Marie Claire.

She looks striking in her signature braids, a hat and a white blouse. In another picture, she wears a regal beaded jacket. The pictures were taken in Dior Gallery, Paris.