Amara La Negra never imagined that her role on VH1's "Love & Hip Hop: Miami" would start a global conversation around colorism. But, when the singer graced our TV screens with her deep complexion, textured 'fro, and unabashed pride for her Afro-Latino heritage, she put the spotlight on a community that's woefully underrepresented in Hollywood. At the Teen Vogue Summit on Friday, June 1, the Dominican, Miami-born singer spoke about the urgent need to offer diverse representations of Latinos in entertainment. "You don't see Afro-Latinos on magazine covers. You don't see us in movies. You don't see us in soap operas," Amara La Negra (née Diana de los Santos) told Teen Vogue backstage. "There's this misunderstanding that there aren't black people all over the world. And there are. Every single Latin country has Afro-Latinos like myself. We're just not represented enough. And that's why there's so much misunderstanding and ignorance when it comes to us. The Latinos that you do see, they're obviously light skinned." Amara is intentional about disrupting racist standards of beauty that only value proximity to whiteness. "Wherever you may be from, just feel that you are beautiful just the way that you are, that you don't have to change to satisfy society's standards of beauty," she affirmed.
Beauty brands are just waking up to the idea of inclusivity. Amara recalls shopping for foundations and only finding a few options that didn't make her look "ashy." With the success of Fenty Beauty's groundbreaking 40-shade foundation range, several brands are learning that embracing diversity can be lucrative. It begs the question: Is this industry-wide shift toward inclusivity coming from a genuine place or is it merely a marketing strategy? "Diverse shade ranges are just the latest trend," Amara opined. "Now [that Fenty's been successful], all the rest of the companies want to do the same thing. Not because you care about women like myself that can't find a shade that fits us. It's just because you want to fit in. So, do I embrace what they're doing? I think it's great. But I don't think there's a reason for us to make it a thing. You should have been had these [options]." She would much rather see lasting change across the beauty industry. "Let's see if they keep it up. That's what I really want to see."
Another change she wants to see is an end to the policing of black women's hair. On a now-infamous episode of "Love and Hip Hop: Miami," a producer told the singer that she'd have more success if she ditched her afro. "That's something that has really bothered me throughout my whole life," she recalled. "I'm always told that I need to change my hair." Despite talk of a natural hair revolution in recent years, the fact remains that certain textures are still discriminated against — in the workforce, in Hollywood, and in schools across the globe. I remember feeling pressure to straighten my hair before work interviews, knowing that my afro, and the stigma attached to it, might ultimately cost me the job. That pressure to conform is something most women of color must contend with, and Amara knows the feeling all too well. After years of getting her hair permed, burning her scalp, and even seeing her hair fall out from a relaxer, she'd finally had enough. "I thought 'I'm doing this to satisfy who? I'm not happy. I'm suffering so that they can accept me. If they don't accept me, that's their problem. The problem is not me, it's them." She was 16-years-old at the time. "I decided to stop perming my hair, and I started rocking my natural 'fro. And then my hair regrew."
Now that Amara is rocking her natural texture, she often wears afro extensions — and some critics are taking issue with her choice, questioning why she wears them. "The way that my life is set up as an artist, you don't really have time all the time to have a perfect afro 24/7," she explained. "So, I started using afro extensions and I'm OK with it even though people bash me for it." There are plenty of misconceptions about weaves and wigs: the idea that white women don't wear them, for example. "A lot of women, whether they're Caucasian, whether they're black, whether they're Asian, they wear extensions. It just so happens to be that I want to wear [textured] extensions that embrace my truth, which is my afro." Amara's decision to embrace her truth and style her hair how she chooses is empowering others to do the same. "I love the fact that I'm inspiring other people to come out of that box and be like, "You know what? I'm just gonna be me. Who cares what everybody else has to say?"
That sense of authenticity permeates Amara's music as well. Her first single, "Insecure," encourages people to trust their intuition. In the song, which she performed at the Teen Vogue Summit, she calls out an unfaithful lover who claims she's insecure for questioning their immoral behavior. Amara's excited to release more music that's true to her perspective on love and life: "I'm actually gonna be putting out another single called 'Balloons,' 'Dirty Wine,' and 'Don't Do It,'" she said. "I know that people are ready to hear more music from me." And yes, she will be returning to film the next season of "Love and Hip Hop: Miami," news which should delight fans who consider her the breakout star of the series.
Although Amara's music and TV career is taking off, she recognizes her fame has a purpose beyond ratings and album sales. "My goal is that every child that's an Afro-Latino, or every child that looks like me — doesn't matter where you're from — that you feel that you are worthy." She points to an encounter with a 5-year-old fan that moved her deeply. "After a viewing party, a little black girl came up to me with her mother. And the girl hugged me so tight and started crying. She said, 'I'm so sad because I don't think I'm beautiful. I'm sad, because the white people don't like you and they don't like me," Amara shared. "And in that moment, it wasn't just what she said; it was the fact that a 5-year-old is already feeling [the burden of] colorism and racism. Kids can feel it. They can see it. And we need to do something about it before it gets worse."
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