IZZIE GHAFFARI-PARKER
Yara Shahidi is without a doubt a name that you will be hearing for years to come. At 17 years old, she has already had a starring role as Zoey Johnson in the hit ABC sitcom “black-ish,” for which she won a NAACP Image Award in 2014, and is now leading the show’s spin-off, “grown-ish,” which follows Zoey as she deals with starting college and the issues that come with it. Aside from this, Shahidi is set to attend Harvard University in 2018, and received a recommendation letter from none other than former First Lady, Michelle Obama, due to her work on Obama’s Let Girls Learn initiative.
Shahidi is in the vanguard of articulate and educated young Hollywood activists, along with Amandla Stenberg and Rowan Blanchard, who encourage their fellow teenagers to become more socially and politically aware. Being of African-American and Iranian-American descent, she is certainly not afraid to talk about the issues surrounding diversity in Hollywood, and believes that actors have a responsibility to use their platform in an influential way. She was recently a guest on “The View,” where she spoke eloquently about the ongoing protests against the government in Iran, and she talked about her role in “black-ish” in an essay she wrote for i-D magazine in August:
As a TV show, Black-ish has created a national dialogue about social issues, whether it’s the episode in which we’re talking about police brutality, or when we talk about the complexity of being biracial…Black-ish has played a large role in many cultural conversations. Rather than forcing a way of thinking on somebody, our show has allowed the audience to see and feel the importance of constructive conversation.
Similarly, “grown-ish” deals with the gritty issues that most teenagers face at college, but are generally glossed over by typical ‘teen dramas.’ In only the second episode, Zoey is faced with the temptation of taking Adderall, a popular study drug that many young people today use to juggle their studying and social life. It also deals with the politics of relationships in college, such as the “u up?” text, dating culture and the stigma surrounding virginity.
Most recently, Yara has become an #AerieReal Role Model, along with fellow trailblazers Aly Raisman, Iskra Lawrence and Rachel Platten. Aerie are famous for their ‘real’ campaigns, which feature models of all different sizes who have not been photoshopped or airbrushed, and this campaign promotes authenticity and girl power as forces for changing the world. For Shahidi, she hopes that the campaign will help young girls to normalise their bodies, and set a precedent for more diverse campaigns in the fashion industry.
Follow Yara at @yarashahidi on Instagram and Twitter.
Image Source: Google Images
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