Yesterday, I logged in to Sesi's Twitter to check and see if we had any notifications, and be still my heart! Skylar Johnson, the #BlackGirlMagic feature in our spring issue had tagged us in a video post (see below) and two photos. She'd just gone to her local Barnes & Noble and saw herself in the mag for the first time! Skylar is a 15-year-old seamstress, model, style influencer, and owner of Sew Fly Sky.
I cannot stop happy 😭 at this video and these pics. Like, y'all. This is why we publish Sesi. We're not ballin' out of control over here. We literally survive issue to issue, and our summer issue is at risk of only being able to be distributed digitally because of not enough funding to print it. But print is sooo important. Print is on newsstands. Print is in libraries. Print is the delivery option 97% of our teen readers choose. Just look at Skylar's face. 🥰 This type of representation matters. It mattered to me as a teen, too -- but there was nothing out there like Sesi for me.
If you're able, please buy us a few "coffees" or join one of our membership tiers (and share this with your friends/fam, too!), so my team and I can continue to publish and print the ONLY magazine for Black teen girls in the U.S.
P.S. This issue is still on newsstands for another couple weeks, so head to B&N or Books-A-Million to take a look! (📽: Skylar Johnson)
~Andréa Butler
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher, Sesi®
Covering The Black Girl's Mainstream™