The Collective Duo: Trashing the "Why me" & Rising Through Sisterhood

Through grounding one another, we can celebrate the dopeness of our community.

Courtesy of @CollectiveShades

By Amani Richardson

Finding your tribe and sustaining long-lasting friendships that evolve into authentic sisterhood is at the core of bettering our mental hygiene. As Black women, I believe the best way for us to stay grounded and connected to our roots is through loving one another. Sisterhood is at the basis of what makes life a little easier for us. Sad Girls Club caught up with both Litsey and Angie, founders of Collective Shades to discuss what true sisterhood means, collaboration over competition and how togetherness has become the light of creation to their platform.

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Where did you first meet? Give us a peek into how your sisterhood evolved.

We worked together at paige denim about 4-5 years ago, Angie was a key holder at the store and Litsey had been hired after her. Our relationship just clicked from the moment we met! We were there just a little over a year, before Litsey left to go work for Parajumpers [outerwear brand], and Angie followed, not too long after, for an internship there. Angie was there for a few months until she left to pursue a full time position at Steve Madden corp. We always talked about wanting to create something and be more involved in community, but just didn’t know what. Soon after Collective Shades was born.

Do you both have your own personal experiences that led you to the founding of Collective Shades?

Litsey: I can relate this back to just being friends with so many dope creatives. I wanted us to have a collective platform, for Women of Color within all ethnicities. Bringing us all together, in one space. Whether you’re Black, Latinx, Asian, straight, queer, so on and so on. We are so much more than what people see or assume when they first look at us.

Angie: Adding on to what Litsey said, for me along with having so many dope friends who were into creative things, We all had felt some form of discrimination or our voice being silence to an extent. So for me that was another driving for behind my personal adding to the meaning of Collective shades.

Who are the voices behind Collective Shades?

Litsey:  I grew up always thinking that I didn’t fit in, I wasn’t “Mexican or Latina” enough. As a child I was listening to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Smiths, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Bob Marley, Sister Nancy, Barrington Levy, Nas, Cam’ron, Fat Joe, Mobb Deep, Tribe, Hip-Hop, music in general, was a major part of my life. So my message and my voice is for the youth, who don’t always feel like they fit in, to what society and their peers force on you. My message is to just be yourself, never try to fit in, be loud in what you’re passionate about. It’s okay to be scared, but it’s not okay live in fear.

Angie: I was the awkward really tall girl growing up who did and didn’t fit in all at the same time. I struggled with figuring out who I was all the way into my early 20’s. The message I would tell my younger self,  that I also want to portray in our collective shades message is that it’s perfectly okay to not have your stuff together, and when the time is right things will fall into place for you the way it’s supposed to.

How has the power in sisterhood strengthened your mental health?

The power in sisterhood has definitely strengthened our mental health because it has helped us to stop feeling bad for ourselves, the mentality of “why me” or “when is it my turn” was unacceptable, everyone goes through difficulties, and some are harder than others. But it’s also the fact they were able to bond over their individual trials and tribulations that makes us see how strong as women of color we truly are, and the things that we have to go through day in and day out; there is so much power in that.

Can you speak to how you both have created a safe space for sisterhood and intimate conversations?

We’ve created Collective Shades for women’s voices to be heard and felt intimately. Our mission is not only to celebrate Women of Color and their creativity, but also encourage them to step outside of their comfort zone through conversation. Conversation holds so much power and through Collective Shades we hope to create a sisterhood of connection and support, not only for our peers, but also for the younger generation after us.

What are ways that you keep one another rooted and through your work?

We always tell each other that were better than what we’re going through and just having a partner that you can talk to and just hear you out means a lot. We are both very supportive of each other, in our strengths, our challenges, we know what areas we’re good at and where we need to ask each other for help. Communication is super key, always being clear in our objectives and also listening to each other outside of the work we are trying to do. We both talk to each other everyday if not every other day, we can honestly say if we don’t hear from each other for more than one day, somethings wrong LOL. It’s nice to have a partner to talk to about anything.

Share with us your self-care routines. Are there any parts of your routines that are non-negotiable?

Angie: I’ve been practicing taking time for myself. I’m someone who needs to just go “cold turkey and shut out whatever is bothering me for a short period of time until I get my mind right. My personal self-care routine I feel is really basic but works for me. I limited my social media and phone use. There’s so much relaxation in being able to enjoy your own company, so i’m definitely someone who is masking, watching tv, and just relaxing. I’m heavily into skincare so that definitely something I enjoy doing everyday. I truly enjoy my skin care routine so much that it’s a non-negotiable for me, I do it morning and night and consider it my 20 mins of “me time”. Doing the smallest things for yourself that you enjoy make all the difference with how you start your day.

Litsey: I’ve recently started working out with a trainer, I see him 2-3 times a week. I’m the type of person that needs major motivation to work out and have someone hold me accountable for it. When I do work out on my own, I mimic routines that he taught me, but the feeling of having someone keep their eyes on me, motivating me not to quit, and also making me do things I’ve never thought I could do, keeps me going. My training sessions are something I can’t miss, I’m very good at not rescheduling a session.

Something else that I started practicing is meditation. It’s pretty hard to do, taking 5-10 minutes out of your day to just sit still and be alone with your thoughts or no thoughts at all. It’s something that I’m working on and definitely want to get better.

How have you both risen through this notion of “collaboration over competition”?

Angie: For me I feel as though as when we began networking with different women I realized that we were all looking for the same things within society and that is the aspect of representation does matter and all of us essentially have the same goal which is to see ourselves in all facets of every industry which is also a big part in collaboration over competition. For me being able to work and meet with such amazing women of color has helped me broaden my horizons as far as the way I think and the goals that I set for myself and for Collective Shades. Also I truly believe that there is a market for everyone even if you guys are going after the same things. Everyone’s journey and destination to get to their goals is going to be different.

Litsey: This question in particular is the reason why I had this idea of starting Collective Shades. I have always been my friends biggest supporters since I can remember I was always trying to connect someone. Graduating from art school and then moving to New York, I thought to myself “wow, I have so many friends just doing dope shit, I need to let everyone know” A lot of them either already knew each other, knew of them, or didn’t know them. So through Collective Shades I wanted to create a space where we can all be linked together, and who knows what may come out of these connections.

Can you each speak to your own difficulties balancing your mental health alongside running a collective?

Angie: 2018 has definitely been the hardest year financially and career wise on top of balancing Collective Shades. I’m the first person to say i’m absolutely terrible at balancing things and I automatically freak out when I feel like i’m losing control. This was probably the first time in my life I felt real anxiety. All of these things were feeding my self doubt and really messing with me to a point where it was affecting my relationships with people. I had to fight to come to term with the saying “everything happens for a reason” and “when it’s your time you will know” Saying those two things got me through some of my darkest thoughts.

Litsey: I’ve had a pretty tough year mentally. There were a lot of emotions building up from things I kept putting off to the side or just didn’t want to let go, also while going through a few family issues. It was hard not to think about anything else, I couldn’t think about what the next step for Collective Shades was and I also couldn’t think about my 9-5. I could see it in my work, or lack of, that my mind just wasn’t there. I even stopped hanging out with some of my closest friends, because I didn’t want to be asked the “what’s new, how’s Collective, how’s work” I would much rather be alone than face conversation about myself.

What is one major issue you feel women of color in your community is facing? How is Collective Shades is diving into this issue?

Angie: One of the prominent in major issues that I feel women of color face is not having their voices be heard but also not seeing themselves represented, whether you work in accounting, fashion, corporate America etc. I truly believe that women of color are some of the most creative people on this planet solely based on the culture that we grew up in how we were raised; And more often than not even if our voices are being heard we never get the acknowledgment which is a big problem and a driving force for us at Collective Shades, because we want to give everybody that platform for their story, their ideas, and their goals to be heard.

Litsey: I’d just like to add on, to not giving credit to where credit is due. A lot if not all of these trends came from a Woman of Color. Our culture, makes us who we are, and our creativity rises from that. We are the trendsetters, we are the content creators, we are the inspiration behind a lot of work. I think through Collective Shades you can see that, and you can feel it when you read any of the women’s story.

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Connect with Litsey and Angie of Collective shades on social: @Collectiveshades