HerCampusCAU had the opportunity to attend Melanin Bar’s Melanin Babe Meet-Up with some of YouTube’s influencers, KayandKosh on February 24th. It was an intimate setting for their fans to meet them up-close and personal, through a variety of discussions and mixers. The event was well planned and executed with cute decorations, refreshments for the fans and activities used to engage with everyone throughout the meet-up.
The Meet-Up began with an introduction from Cierra (owner of Melanin Bar) and interview with KayandKosh and one of our very own writers, Ceriah Richards. Ceriah asked a series of questions about their humble beginnings of how they began their channel and the growth over several years through their impact on young girls of color. Some tips they gave to people who are interested in starting their channel were “don’t be afraid to start small. Asha and I began with filming on our phones and eventually got cameras. Start small and have fun with your channel because that’s the whole point of doing what you’re passionate about. If you are serious about making a channel and building a brand for yourself, everything will soon fall into place.”-Cala of KayandKosh
During the Meet-Up, there were games for everyone to participate in and prizes were given out at the end of event if everything was completed on the paper. The purpose of the mixer was for everyone to meet someone new and establish new connections because we may never know who we would meet. Some activities through the mix-and-mingle were henna tattoos from a henna artist who was also a Black woman; Cierra had a three-part self-affirmation table where the first part was to write down something we don’t like about ourselves and put it in a jar to be thrown away. The second part was to write an affirmation for another girl to read as self-motivation and the third part was to take a self-motivation strip with us a daily reminder of who we are as a young woman.
The rest of the meet-up was a hair and skin care panel with @designsbycashell (HairStylist) and @verified.whitney (Makeup Artist and Skin Care Specialist). The stylist was a veteran of 15+ years of experience and her niche is natural hair, growth and maintenance. Amber, an experienced hairstylist, gave her experience as a natural hair expert and the do’s and don’ts when it comes to retention, protective styling and products to use. Whitney, certified lash technician and makeup artist, discussed the importance of skin care. In today’s society, many young girls and women use makeup or, if not, have a skin care regimen and don’t know how to keep their skin moisturized and blemish-free. This section of the event was important because this allowed everyone to gain information to use in our everyday lives and received their contact information for their services.
One of my favorite parts of the Meet-Up was the Real Talk session with Cierra because this was the portion that was very personal and it allowed everyone to open up about self-love, confidence and self-worth. Cierra discuss how she began Melanin Bar and the movement behind her brand and her next steps to captivate every woman of color to own their blackness and take pride in themselves. KayandKosh also discussed the importance of how to remove negativity when it comes to relationships (friends and partners). As young individuals, we don’t realize how negative a person can impact our lives until we see the effects from their words and actions.
All in all, the Melanin Babe Meet-Up was a fun interactive event for everyone to meet others who shared similar aspects and take away knowledge from the speakers on various topics. We can’t wait to see what comes next for KayandKosh and Cierra.
Be sure to follow Cierra’s brand Melanin Bar @melaninbar_, KayandKosh @kayandkosh, Amber (stylist) @designsbycashell and Whitney @verified.whitney.
Photo Credit: KayandKosh and Yasmyne Fisher