Independent R&B artist and school teacher, Lovely Hoffman, releases a music video entitled My Black is Beautiful to celebrate the diversity of beauty as a way to boost the self-esteem of her students. The music video features Lovely Hoffman and twelve of her 7th and 8th grade students displaying their natural features while she encourages self-love through song and lyrics that affirms their beauty.
As an educator with over 10 years of classroom experience, Lovely would often become aware of students feeling self-conscious about their appearance because they were not fair-skinned, did not have long straight hair or other physical characteristics that are often promoted as a beauty standard. Being cognizant of this condition, Lovely felt compelled to write a song to help improve the self-confidence of young girls of color. Lovely says, “There is a strong correlation between self-esteem and student achievement; and as an educator, I believe it is my duty to not only ensure students are excelling academically, but are also comfortable and confident in their own skin. It’s about educating the whole child.”
In addition to releasing My Black Is Beautiful, Lovely has also made available a self esteem curriculum she developed and used in the classroom. The curriculum contains 7 guided lessons designed to help teachers facilitate discussions and activities about “loving yourself” and the true meaning of beauty. Some of the essential questions within the curriculum include: What has influenced our ideals about beauty? What makes us uniquely beautiful? and Why is it important to define beauty for ourselves? Lovely says the curriculum addresses the “critical questions young girls of color must explore in order to truly embrace their beauty.”