A Word From Miss Rizos
My name is Carolina and I am the creator of MissRizos.com, a community and online platform that celebrates and promotes afro-textured hair! Miss Rizos’ vision is to change our societies standards of beauty through facilitating individual self-acceptance for women and girls through their hair. We’ve created this campaign to increase our social impact by creating a physical space that will not only provide hair care services, but will allow us to sustain our social impact initiatives. Your investment will help fund the opening of this one of a kind multi-purpose space.
Background
Growing up in (in the U.S.) I thought my hair was malo (bad in Spanish) because my mom, family, society said so and I did not see people that looked like me or with my afro-textured hair in the media or elsewhere. I subjected myself to painful chemical treatments that straightened my hair because it was deemed ugly, unprofessional and not beautiful.
On July 2010 (while living in the Dominican Republic) I finally cut all of my hair. It took me nearly a year afterwards to feel fully beautiful, free and comfortable in my skin. This radiated as I walked the streets of the Dominican Republic and women began to stop and ask me about how I made the decision to grow my natural hair, my hair care regimen, and how I dealt with the challenging family members, bosses, and friends who openly criticized this choice. I became an example and resource, which led to the creation of MissRizos.com. My online platform and content address these hair care questions, and simultaneously fight the ongoing and deeply rooted discrimination that many people face because of their afro-textured hair at work, schools, and other public and private spaces here in the DR.
Support: Miss Rizos: Beauty, Identity and Empowerment | Indiegogo.
Check out: Elixir Profiles: Carolina “Miss Rizos” Contreras
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