This conversation is so dear to me as a dark skin woman in kenya. I am quit comfortable in my skin but recently I was out with my little niece [she's light skin) and some old uncle bought her an apple, turned towards me and told me how I wouldn't get offered anything in life because I don't look like her "ungekuwa unakaa kama yeye hata wewe ngekuitishia yako😢😂😂" That has stuck with me .Everyday is a journey and I love my skin its beautiful it makes me ME!.The darker the Berry the sweeter the juice 😉❤

This is a much needed conversation. Great job ladies on trying to cut down on what caught your attention segment so we can get more on the actual topic. Tbh, this felt like more of Jules story than Sarah's. I understand Jules is very passionate about this topic & gets hot about it but it would be nice when guests are allowed to speak more than the hosts. Another alternative, at least have Sharon take the lead cause she'll be more objective. It's great that we are starting to speak on such matters, we are off to a good start. I would love for Sarah to come back & allow her to speak more on her experience. Rem when you invite guests over, it's more about them and less about the hosts since we are not familair with the guests like we are with Jules, Sharon & Muthoni for the OGs. Please bring Sarah back if possible. I love how soft spoken she is & her sarcastic humor is chef's kiss. Thank you ladies for all the work involved in making this podcast a success. A little side note: Anyone here using thr fingo app👀. Been waiting for feedback about how it works for Diaspora.

I have never missed a job after interview. I'm always the center of attention even without talking. That's my privilege. The downside is with dating. It feels like men want to use you to 'upgrade' themselves. Especially when a dark skinned man says that you'll give him cute children, i ask what if the child comes out his skin tone? For this reason i dont prefer dark skinned men; bc what are they bringing to my life then? I prefer light skinned men. Darker skinned women are always jealous asking whether i have bleached. My skin tone triggers dark skinned women. It's not always rosy

There is the loudly mean girl, and there is the passive aggressive mean girl.😂😂😂😂😂😂

I wish the guest was actually allowed to contribute more and share their experience... The pod is like 80% a monologue by that one host, awkward.

Any conversation that involves people giving their opinion, it is hard to have all panelists get equal time. Group dynamics. It is quite different with interviews someone is giving their story because they own their story. Cut Jules some slack.

Great conversation! Kudos to the team. It would have been even more impactful to also have a conventional lighter skinned person on the panel to share their experiences. Light skin definitely gives you privilege. However, it still is a double edged sword. I have noticed a lighter skinned people tend to be objectified, work harder to prove themselves to fight the narrative that they were only hired because of their looks etc. This is a heavily nuanced conversation.

Great conversation .I expected more from Sara..she wasn't given time to give us her story,it would have been interesting to hear how she navigated colorism to where she is now..

It's interesting that other listeners felt that Jules spoke more cause I didn't think so as such. I listen to the podcast on Spotify then come on RU-vid to like and share my comments. I find Jules really passionate about different topics and felt that she spoke just as much as she does in other episodes - equal to Sharon and other guests. I think it's moreso that Sarah Chan has such a rich background of experiences both nationally and internationally that I would've loved to listen more about her background AS A PERSON than just from the dark-skinned lens - please bring her back as a guest - I'll look for her tbh so it's manageable. In terms of my personal experience as a mid-tone black woman (I agree with Sharon's perspective on this), colourism started at home but didn't phase me much. Most of my siblings are the same shade as me except for one who is 'lighter'. We mostly saw them as pale and because we were the majority as a darker shade, we mostly saw them as sickly-looking rather than having a complexion we admired. Other than that, I don't think I've experienced colourism like that except in the UK where I now live

Sarah's eyes are gorgeous. She's beautiful

So maasai are predominantly black. That is the environment i grew up in. There are lighter ones but there never really was a point to make that distinction. Hio ndio ilikua ushago. Kuenda shule ya town nikiwa class seven is when i learnt the term black beauty. I was confused because i didn't grow up with it. Siku moja nikipeana story nikasema "na ni light skin beauty " and ny friends were confused then said only the word black beauty existed -that is when i realised being black was not synonymous to being beautifully unless the society decided you were but they must remind you that you are in fact pretty but black.

Great topic with weak talking points. Work on your points and questions before the actual conversation. Aaaaand, give the guest time.

Sarah is so beautiful ❤ and her voice is so unique! Jules thanks for sharing your experiences so vulnerably. I wish we could have more episodes on colorism in KE especially at high end places ie,restaurants & lodges. How differently people get treated if they’re dating white people or are of lighter or dark complexions. There’s alot to unpack. Thanks to Sharon for giving space to Sarah & Jules. But i hope she can also share more of her experiences next time.

Invite swirry nyar kano next, that'll be a blassttttttt 🗣️❤️

I love Jules' input as I have been a fan from over 25 days and I know how passionate she feels about this... growing up, I didn't necessarily feel the privilege but that is privilege too as I know from educating myself. When I wanted to date, I felt like a trophy, a token thing as a result of all the terms most of which felt like we were describing an object (particularly for pleasure). Rangi ya thao, yellow-yellow, made me to feel like a 'thing'. Like people never saw me as a person, I was a means to an end (Pleasure for a guy). I see dark skinned babes hating 'black beauty' but to me it seemed either as 1. we're affirming our people because of racism and colonialism or 2. the way we say 'white gold' or 'rose gold' or 'yellow/pink/black diamond', it seemed like beauty beyond beauty. I noticed that men wanted me to see "if the drapes matched the rug" (do my lips match) and that was more offensive and reductive no matter how much privilege it was to get attention. It also feels like you are one of the rungs a man climbs on the ladder to whiteness cause I am not the lightest skinned person ever. There was a light skinned guy who told me he wanted a light skinned person like me to give him light skinned kids. Note not to marry, just a bm or something. Again it seemed to me like people just see you like a skin in a game, a means to an end. Even with friendships, both boys and girls, it felt like they liked me for my exterior and were not interested in what was inside me. What I was, not who I was and I felt like a social currency more often than not, for people to access social capital. Recently I asked a guy what his type is and he said light skinned among other qualities. He himself is not and I questioned if he's ever dated someone darker than him, he said no. I told him that preference was rooted in colourism cause the qualities he mentioned could be provided by any kind of woman. There is this aspect of 'wife' as well cause men give the vibe they date light skinned people in a madona/whore dichotomy. Fuck lighter, do nasty things with them, then in the end, marry a 'madona' to have a family with. Men don't really approach you to seek a serious anything. You are just a thing to have fun with for the night and do all the worst nastiest things they could imagine. There's so much work to be done to undo all this individually as well as a society and I am still looking for my tribe who like me for who I am.

I think Jules was passionate about the subject!lets give her grace ❤❤

I love love lurrrrrv this pod 😊

As a south Sudanese, this episode was much needed 🇸🇸🇸🇸🇸🇸

Ruto 🤣🤣🤣🤣

This interview was for Jules honestly the guest didn't talk much😢

Thank you so much for this conversation. Proudly team Melanin. I use my platform, which is my classroom to empower the girls to love themselves. Infact my students know me for the slogan 'unapologetically Melanin'

Watching this having been cheated with two mzungus babes,,aah men😑

Her English is soo perfect..plus her voice 😍

This has taken me back to my first day in primary school( I never went to kindergarten so this was my first socialization away from home). I immediately earned the nickname Blackie because apparently I was the darkest shade of melanin in my class. This was a long journey of struggling with self-esteem issues.To this day, even walking in the streets I will have someone cat call...sema Blackie, unaringa na vile unakaa msudanese. It does not bother me as much as a 30-something year old, but that really did a number on me, it affected my dating life and was one of the factors that led me to make a decision to not have children. I remember being turned down for marketing work in Uni because they wanted the yellow yellow, Bonface Mwangi(when he had an office hapo karibu Java Kstreet) turned me down, when I went to have a portfolio done, as in being dark was made something to be ashamed of. Then when you go abroad, it becomes a race thing...but then they bundle all of us together it is no longer a colorism thing. This conversations are very important tbh. I hope this is one of many. Also guys, please allow the guests to speak a little more otherwise just say they are moderators for your conversations as IRiP

A name of a villain...... Ruto had me on the gloor😂😂😂😂

Let's cut Julia some kidogo slack . I'm sure she didn't mean to overpower the conversation or so . She was probably excited about the conversation which is always is but it wasnt as pronounced because the previous guest have majorly been friends , people she's comfortable with. Even from over 25 days she's always been enthusiastic, that sometimes came off as overpowering . I'm sure she's gotten the feedback and will do better in subsequent episodes❤ IRIP for life 😊

The tingle in my jingles 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 goodness

Love this. But I think jules is so full of herself, coz she's not letting the guest talk , picking up the sentence as the lady is talking

First, let me just say that this is a looooong conversation, and I’d love to see a part two, with more guests to explore this topic from all angles-both light and dark. Secondly, I applaud you, Jules and Sarah, for sharing your experiences as dark-skinned women. This isn’t an easy topic to discuss, and your openness is powerful. I’ll admit, at the beginning, I thought, "Oh my goodness, Jules keeps going on and on, not letting the guest speak!" But as the conversation went on, I realized she was sharing her own experience-rightfully so. In hindsight, I think Sharon could have been the one to take the lead as the host, with Jules and Sarah sharing their stories. I understand this is a tough conversation, and as a light-skinned woman, Sharon might have felt like she didn’t have as much insight or didn’t know how to navigate certain questions. But I think her natural curiosity, which makes her a great host, could have really worked well in this case-maybe it’s the journalist in her! But this doesn't take away from anything Jules has done here. Kudos to her, and I’m looking forward to more of these discussions. Also, shoutout to the production and editing team! I’m sure the footage and insights were long and rich, so finding a way to condense everything into an hour and a half must have been a tough job. You nailed it. Lastly, as a dark-skinned woman myself, I’ve always looooooooooved Sudanese people. When I see a dark-skinned woman, my jaw drops! I guess I didn’t write much about my own experience as a dark-skinned woman, but all I’ll say is-it’s a journey, and it’s the only one I have. So, I’m learning to love my skin, and I make it a point to walk with my head held high, no matter where I am in the journey.

I was at Dubai airport a couple of years ago and wandered into a skincare store to kill time on my layover. The security guy came up to me and was "offering me help" by directing me to the lightening creams 🙃

As a dark-skinned woman living in NY, my experience with colorism here has been quite different from what I experienced in Kenya. Back home, it was more overt, but here it feels more subtle and masked. In the corporate world, it sometimes feels like dark-skinned people are only needed for photo ops to show diversity. In dating, it’s hard to tell whether the interest is genuine or if it’s a form of fetishization. It’s a wild experience navigating these dynamics.

I wish she talked more, hosts interrupted

And talk to our leaders about creating jobs DOMESTICALLY and not making deals on sending thousands of us abroad🤝🌍

@jules_her this is a fascinating topic. You should really look into your ancestry based on what you’ve shared. Just for you but selfishly, would be thrilled to hear your findings.

Where's the third host? I've never seen her

Jules is so funny 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Just to add on to this😊James Baldwin once said “ People invent categories in order to feel safe. White people invented black people, to give white people an identity.” Beauty too, it does not exist independently, it is created by observers, including ourselves. Labels like white, brown, black or light are entirely created by human. I don’t think anyone had a hand on how he or she was going to look like or what colour he or she was going to have and the more we as Africans focus on who is lighter and who is darker, “ black is beautiful” the more we entrap ourselves in a system designed to elevate whiteness as supreme. This fixation on who is lighter or darker diverts us from recognizing the richness of our shared humanity and the beauty in our diversity. I recognise the difference between being black and white in some countries but we need to live beyond the confines of colour if we are ever to embrace our identity and diversity as human beings.

My sister was the one who made me realise that I was dark skinned. You see, my mom was that Muranga brown and my dad was dark skinned. From my sister's tone, I figured it was not good that my skin tone was leaning towards my dad's skin tone. It's taken well into my campus days to build my self esteem coz I was also a scrawny babe. Double homicide. Now... I attract who I attract and I'm good now.

love this but Jules you need to give your guests more time to talk. You interrupted her quite a bit and I feel like she has such a diverse experience. She talked about living in Sudan, Kenya and US and I think also Toronto. These are such different places and there was a bit more she wanted to say but you interrupted/over powered the conversation with your guest even dismissed certain things without giving her space to talk more. Like I would have loved for you to ask tell me more about your experience in x,y,z, and then give 2 min to talk and inquire more if she is silent, which this guest isn't. As someone who lived in Africa the abroad there is so much more to talk about if you gave her time and didn't interrupt. So going forward ask questions and keep quite for 2 min, then talk as much as you want and before you move on ask your guest to say something before you move on to the next topic of question. I am not say don't disagree or offer your own perspective. JUST GIVE OTHERS SPACE TO TALK FOR 2 MINUTES AT LEAST WHEN A NEW TOPIC IS INTRODUCED. Even ask Sharon, I know you didn't say much here but is there anything you quickly want to add. If not you move on.

I think there is a lot of fetishizing alongside Colourism.

Great conversation, though I kinda feel Sarah was not given more time to speak. Feedback: can we have the guests speak more than the hosts 🙂

The thing with lighter skin girls sometimes especially what we are seeing in the media eg cardi b they tend to also attract people who have just fetishized them In a certain way....we all know clubs and how they are notorious for being harsh to take young girls and harshly judge them inorder for them to twerk or pole dancing.Thesw creates alooot of insecurities in return leading to bleaching....These are young girls just looking for jobs and the men judging end up telling them they ain't good enough.These has led to alot of sexualization of light skin and big booties..So nowadays light skin girls some are just seen as sexual objects which are later dumbed after a certain period or age.

. Would like to say that yes colourist is real but with Africabs it's taught colourism.I have never had instances where I was told am not good enough I was in an 844 for only one year then later transitioned to IGCSE for the rest of my highschool the diversity was good and I loved my experience.I then went to usiu and had mixed race black men...Kenyans and South Sudanese Nigerians holla.so my issue wasn't men.My problem began when my friend was going through it and being her close friend I indirectly became the punching bag .She said that men didn't want her and the men she wanted were into lighter skin but I saw black men coming for her but she didn't want dark skin men.She was going through it such that she started talking so much shit hurtful forgetting that I was dark skin too.she opened a side of the world I hadn't paid attention to all my life....I am a singer so at that time a had a song called melanin but yoh I later deleted it ....she only liked mixed race...light skin ....or white men.Mostly white men since at that time she liked their look hair skin how rich they are apparently we all know not all.There are so much shit she would do even when we would walk and I compliment a certain person they would be like meeeh.she talked so bad about black men I can't say.....I don't blame her she was going through it but since I was the punching bag I absorbed everything.My self esteem went down started over thing life esp being a mom ..anxious and fear..... subconsciously wanted to deal with my hyperpigmentation to match my lighter areas I was so messed I used to be like an advocate for black people even on my insta I would talk about people bleaching and would talk about black empowerment but my spark went down...my skin was always complimented for how smooth it was....my hair was like my signature also shot for a Kenyan brand.but due to everything I began loosing my spark.I cut of contact with them I don't blame them but being with them I just feel a sense to be something am not.Its true that people can drag you down with them unwillingly.i hope I heal and find my spark again

PERFECT GUEST!!! Ms. Sarah your sense of humour and eloquency are top tier!!! Thank you guys for shedding a bit more light into the conversation. Honestly, it's made me appreciate us, people with dark beautiful skin even more. We truly are MAJESTIC and EXOTIC!!!

Loved the show. Great topic and great discussion. Feedback: Would love to hear more from Sarah Chan, maybe do a part 2

Sarah has a beautiful voice ❤

A moment for Jules and the orange pants especially 😍👏🏾 You look beautiful!

Jules I truly dont get why you say you are dark skin. Unless the studio lights lie to my eyes you are in the middle of black skin spectrum....I'm not really minimizing your experiences but, eh! That said have....please have a conversation with lighter skin women and youll quickly learn one thing, it is a mirage of privilege. Just being lighter skinned means zilch if you dont put in work.

I live in Norway, relocated here as an adult. Currently pursuing a degree in nursing. Well being an African surrounded by majority whites, it’s not easy forming friendships and in group discussions i feel excluded and mostly in the shadows! I remember in first year we had group work and in my group, my fellow students (all white)didn’t understand the difference between a bachelor thesis and a research article , and the assignment given to us was to at least include one peer reviewed article. They kept submitting bachelor thesis to our teacher, ignoring my input on the same and refusing to submit the research article i had found until when our teacher got irritated getting 5 diff submission which were thesis, that’s when my team decided to send in the article i shared with them and the teacher approved it! i’m now in third/final year but the experience of being the dark one has not been easy. said all this to ask a question, how do you guys, my fellow africans think/feel a white person would be treated in Africa if they relocated there? went to school there? would it be easy for them to be accepted by the society?

😂 my kids think the world when I was born was in sepia 1978