I was born and grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York. I loved every second of my childhood. It was nice to be a latchkey kid; I was on my own a lot. I lived with my mother and grandmother until I was 12, and then I went to live with my father. He was such a true intellectual and Islamic imam.
I was a successful child tap dancer and ran track for the Police Athletic League, but before my last year of junior high school, I decided to walk away from the High School of Performing Arts and go to George W. Wingate High School, which was predominantly white. It was only three years old and designed in such a unique way that I thought it was a calling. I started making friends very quickly; I had a sense of security and self-confidence.
Every year, each grade had to compete against the others and put on a musical, and every year I was nominated by my class to produce it. I also joined the chorus and became the school’s first Black cheerleader. Some of the best basketball players came from our high school, like Roger Brown, so we got to cheer at Madison Square Garden. For a kid to be there—it was huge.
After high school, I moved to Manhattan. It was during the civil-rights movement, and everything was happening: the Black Is Beautiful movement, the Black Panthers, all of that.
I had a job at AT&T but wanted to work in the garment district, so I found one at a custom button factory. I dressed too well to be in the factory all day, so my boss had me make the deliveries to all the design houses. It was a big coat-and-suit business at that time.
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Harper's BAZAAR - US.
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Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Harper's BAZAAR - US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tipping POINT
When the PROGRESSIVE A-LIST CLIENTELE of the fashionable workout BALLET BEAUTIFUL learned that its FOUNDER was MARRIED to an ARCHITECT of the MAGA BLUEPRINT to impose an ultraconservative social agenda, PROJECT 2025, many felt SHOCKED and even BETRAYED
SABATO's Way
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Inner DRIVE
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NECK Tech
When it comes to COSMETIC TREATMENTS, the face may get all the attention, but the NECK deserves love too. Novel TECHNOLOGIES that go beyond creams deliver LIFTED, SCULPTED necks—WITHOUT SURGERY.
PLAN de PARIS
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FREE Spirits
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Like a VIRGO
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Channel the boldness and dynamism of the city that never sleeps with the Twilight high jewelry suite by MARLI New York.
PLAYLIST
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