Unbothered
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I Became My Mom’s Caregiver & Learned The Value Of Jamaican Cooking
I’d almost forgotten the first meal I hurriedly cooked for my mum on her first night home from the hospital. It was steamed basmati rice and corned beef, heated up with obligatory sautéd onions, but without the Jamaican accompaniment of sweetcorn or green cabbage (lightly spiced with black pepper, perhaps all-purpose seasoning, garlic powder, and knowing me, paprika). It had been an anxious wait all day wondering what time she’d be discharged after breaking her leg two weeks earlier. ...
After 30 Years, Essence Fest Is Still The “Black Women Super Bowl” That Unites Generations
For 30 years, the Essence Festival of Culture has connected generations of Black women from all over the world. As a third-time attendee, I was excited to attend this year’s Essence Fest on this milestone three-decade anniversary, not only because I’d get to see superstars like Victoria Monet, Usher, SWV, Janet Jackson, and a host of other household names, but also because I’d be attending the festival alongside my paternal grandmother, Sharon Yates (aka Nana). For all my 31 years on this...
GloRilla Is Over Comments About Her “Sex Appeal.” And We Are Too.
GloRilla’s “TGIF” is officially the song of the summer. It first became a trending audio sound on TikTok and has since become the hot girl summer anthem. The small snippet of the song initially shared on social media blew up as supporters recorded themselves dancing and singing along to the infectious hook. Once the full version was released on streaming platforms in June, the catchy lyrics have had music listeners in a chokehold for weeks. As “TGIF” ranks on the Billboard chart, its ...
What Netflix’s Black Superhero Drama Supacell Gets Right About Sickle Cell Disease
Minor spoilers ahead. Over the past few years, Black British TV has become renowned for its bold storytelling and nuanced portrayal of Black British lives, as seen in shows like I May Destroy You, Boarders, and more recently Queenie. Released June 27, Netflix’s Supacell, created by British rapper, film director, and screenwriter Rapman, stands out for its innovative use of the superhero fiction genre to tell a compelling and propulsive story centered around sickle cell disease, a conditi...
![“Who’s ready to admit that braids are not a ‘protective’ hairstyle?” asked TikTok creator @kennedyandkeyonce in June. “All the pulling and tension, tugging… I got butt length braids. The weight of the additional hair on my head is creating a lot of tension on my scalp. Not even including the tension that I felt when I was actually getting my hair braided,” she said in a video that now has over 130k views. “I had to ask [the braider] multiple times if she could lighten up.” Kennedy is one o...](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.pinimg.com/236x/98/4a/5d/984a5db717c269484d9b0f283fb266d9.jpg)
Are We Ready To Admit Protective Styles Aren’t Always Protective?
“Who’s ready to admit that braids are not a ‘protective’ hairstyle?” asked TikTok creator @kennedyandkeyonce in June. “All the pulling and tension, tugging… I got butt length braids. The weight of the additional hair on my head is creating a lot of tension on my scalp. Not even including the tension that I felt when I was actually getting my hair braided,” she said in a video that now has over 130k views. “I had to ask [the braider] multiple times if she could lighten up.” Kennedy is one o...
Keke Palmer Only Wants One Thing This Summer
Keke Palmer is tired. It’s been non-stop for the Emmy award-winning actress, singer/songwriter, and producer, who’s not only balancing memoir-writing (Master of Me hits shelves in November) with operating her media company KeyTV, raising her son, and starring in countless films, but she also just wrapped a tour for Pride. Her next stop: a performance at the 2024 Essence Festival in New Orleans. So, when Chelsea Sanders, VP and cofounder of Unbothered, asked the question, “What does it...
Usher’s BET Awards Tribute Was Led By Women. As It Should Have Been
All eyes were on Usher Raymond as he was honored with the 2024 BET Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The prestigious award recognizes the musical and cultural contributions of a veteran artist. With Raymond’s successful three-decade career, it was only natural for the beloved superstar to receive his flowers for gifting generations with timeless R&B hits. He was serenaded with a special musical tribute encompassing his chart-topping hits, with...
Lupita Nyong’o On Cats, Chemistry With Joseph Quinn & Her “Need” To Do A Comedy
Most post-apocalyptic movies are all about survival. How long can you stay alive? These films ask rhetorically, with the expectation that surviving is the goal — no matter what new world you are attempting to exist in. Whether their city is overrun by zombies, climate disasters, talking apes or aliens, the baseline assumption is that the main character wants to live, above anything else. It wouldn’t be a very good story if our hero doesn’t really want to survive alongside the zombies, cli...
Madame Joyce Shells Out Dating Advice That You Need To Hear
The question: Should men be the providers in relationships? The hosts of Go Off, Sis have thoughts. In this special two-part series, done in partnership with Target, Chelsea Sanders (VP and cofounder of Unbothered) and Kathleen Newman-Bremang (deputy director global at Unbothered) have gathered with guest star Madame Joyce, the UK media personality behind the beloved (and gloriously chaotic) podcast Cocktails & Takeaways, to partake in the “sprinkle sprinkle” discourse. The ge...
Sha’Carri Richardson Is Officially An Olympian, Proving The Comeback Is Better Than The Setback
Sha’Carri Richardson is officially an Olympian. After the controversy surrounding her Olympic run in 2021, the 24-year-old defied all odds and secured her spot on Team USA during the track and field team trials on Saturday, June 22. Richardson qualified for the Paris Olympics in July after sprinting to first place in the women’s 100-meter dash. In an emotional race across the finish line, Richardson achieved the fastest women’s 100-meter time in the world this year at 10.71 seconds. Her r...
White Execs Are Getting Training On Black Hair, Thanks To Black Beauty Roster & NBCU
In 2019, Refinery29 posted an article called Black Actors Are Getting Huge Roles In Hollywood, But Still Doing Their Own Hair outlining the “terrifying and high-anxiety” inducing reality of actors sitting in trailers on sets with artists unfamiliar with doing Black hair and makeup. That year, other Black actresses, including Natasha Rothwell, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Gabrielle Union, took to Twitter (now X) to discuss H&MU horror stories using the hashtag #ActingWhileBlack. A year later,...
The Devastating Reason This Black Woman Is Suing Hair Relaxer Brands
Growing up in Southern Georgia in a big household as one of seven girls, Jenny Mitchell, 34, had always dreamed of raising a family of her own. This goal was shattered one fateful day after a visit to the hospital. “I’d been going to a fertility specialist to try to have kids because it’s something that I’d always wanted. While getting a vaginal ultrasound, my doctor noticed something unusual on my uterine lining. I got tested, and three days later, I got the call saying I had adenocarcin...
Jonathan Majors’ Redemption Tour Is Nothing New In Hollywood. But We Shouldn’t Take The Bait.
Time and time again, we’ve seen the same Hollywood story play out: abusive men are protected, forgiven and redeemed in the name of talent, with little consequence for them or consideration for their victims. Jonathan Majors may be the latest example of this frustrating trend. This past weekend, Majors received the Perseverance Award (yes, you read that correctly) at the Hollywood Unlocked Impact Awards. If you’ve never heard of this award, that’s because it’s brand new. While the Impa...
I’m A Straight Black Woman Dating A Woman & Labels Are Complicated
It’s not that deep. That’s what I tell myself whenever my pen hesitates over boxes on a form, under the ‘sexual orientation’ section. It’s just a quota thing, no one even cares. I should be able just to tick a box, right? The problem is, there isn’t really a box for me anymore. I’m in my mid (see: late) thirties and I’m in a committed same-sex relationship. We’re both London-born and raised; I am West African, she’s mixed South Asian/ European. It’s the first same-sex relationsh...
From Denzel to Issa, Here’s What You Missed (& Should Be Watching) From ABFF 2024
All those years ago when I was glued to my laptop inhaling every episode of Issa Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl web series, I don’t think I could have imagined that over a decade later, I would be watching her on stage, flanked by Denzel Washington and Nicole and Jeff Friday, the co-founders of the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), acting as the creative director of the festival and casually being one of the biggest stars in the world. It’s not that I didn’t believe she ...