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YES, AND: How SheaMoisture’s SheaFest is Transforming Identity Celebration for Young Black Women
“Hair is not just hair; it’s the crown we never take off, and every kink, coil, and curl tells a story of who we are and where we come from.”
As Toronto prepared for its annual Carnival celebration, a different kind of revolution was taking root at Stackt Market. SheaMoisture’s SheaFest returned from August 1st -4th, bringing with it more than just free hair consultations and styling services. It arrived as a bold declaration of identity, a space where young African Caribbean girls can witness the beauty of their full selves reflected back at them: no compromises, no explanations needed.
The journey to self-acceptance for many African Caribbean girls in Canada is often paved with contradictions. We are told to embrace our natural hair while navigating spaces that label it “unprofessional.” We are encouraged to be proud of our heritage while media representations rarely capture our complexity. This push-and-pull creates what psychologists call identity dissonance, a disconnect between who we are and how the world perceives us.
When I spoke with Maureen Kitheka, Marketing Lead for SheaMoisture Canada, she illuminated how their ‘YES, AND’ campaign directly confronts this reality. “Our community doesn’t fit into neat boxes,” she shared. “We are not one thing, or another. We are professionals AND creatives, traditional AND innovative, reserved AND expressive. Our hair reflects that same beautiful complexity.”
This philosophy moves beyond surface-level beauty messaging into something deeper; a recognition that identity is not monolithic. For young African Caribbean girls watching their: mothers, aunts, and sisters participate in SheaFest, they are witnessing a powerful lesson: you don’t have to choose between being African and being Canadian, between embracing your cultural roots and succeeding in mainstream spaces. You can be all of it, fully and authentically.
The community salon concept SheaMoisture has revived speaks to something profound about African Caribbean culture; our hair spaces have always been more than places to get our hair done. They are: confessional booths, therapy sessions, community centers, and universities of cultural knowledge all rolled into one. By recreating this experience, SheaFest became a living archive of community wisdom passed down through generations.
What makes this particularly meaningful for young girls is seeing their beauty standards centered rather than compromised. In a world where Eurocentric beauty norms still dominate, SheaFest creates a temporary oasis where: coils, kinks, and afros were celebrated as the pinnacle of beauty. This visual representation is transformative for developing self-image.
The ‘YES, AND’ campaign’s timing couldn’t be more critical. As social movements continue to highlight the unique challenges faced by African Caribbean women and girls, SheaMoisture is creating tangible spaces of affirmation that extend beyond hashtags. They are investing in the emotional labour of healing and identity formation that our community so desperately needs.
For the mothers and aunties who brought their daughters to SheaFest, this represented a hopeful shift from their own experiences. Many of us grew up without seeing our hair textures represented in media, or products. We navigated identity formation largely alone. Now, we can witness our daughters entering spaces that were unimaginable to us at their age, spaces where their beauty is the default, not the exception.
As I reflect on SheaMoisture’s commitment to showing up for the African Caribbean community with intention and purpose, I’m reminded that true allyship in business is about creating sustainable ecosystems of support that acknowledge both the joy and pain of our existence. It’s saying YES to our beauty AND our struggles, to our triumphs AND our ongoing fight for equity.
SheaFest stands as a testament to what’s possible when brands move beyond performative activism into genuine community building. It’s a masterclass in culturally grounded marketing that nurtures souls. For the young African Caribbean girls who walked through those doors at Stackt Market, they received an invaluable gift: the permission to be unapologetically, beautifully, complexly themselves, and in a world that constantly tries to shrink them, that permission is everything.