“Equity for Black professionals, as it relates to fair and impartial treatment, is saying ‘this person has either a resume or a body of work that allows them to successfully design a project and/or the potential to bring a new and different perspective—not only from a racial standpoint, but from an artistic standpoint.’ Of course, race often informs one’s artistic perspective, but it’s not the only thing we bring to the table. Look at the first Coming to America film. Deborah Nadoolman Landis, a Caucasian woman, designed it and it was a success. Fast forward from Ms. Landis to what Ms. Ruth Carter [frequent Spike Lee collaborator and Academy Award-winning designer, Marvel’s Black Panther] is going to do for the sequel. We all have different nuances we bring to the projects, and it’s great to showcase diversity and variety.
I just completed a project called Passing [starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga] based on the Nella Larson novel about mixed race ‘mulatto’ girls’ identities, and another Lost Girls [starring Thomasin McKenzie]. Take my race and age out of it, it’s about telling the story —it should all boil down to the artistry. It’s all about comfortability. We should go back to the pipeline programs so by the time an individual ends up in space with stakeholders, they’ve already built trust, they’re already conformable with the designer.
My mentor, Reggie Ray [Costume Designer] would always say, ‘If you’re not ready, you better be ready…’ – meaning the space we take up, you always need a foundation so that when you’re questioned you can always go back to that training and research and you have ‘receipts.’ For me, sometimes being the youngest in the room and African American, I’ve found that I’m not questioned as much as one might assume because I have credentials, I have design degrees as proof of my credibility. I’m still questioned from time to time, but not as much.”
