NYX Professional Makeup speaks to this grassroots group about why inclusivity is so vital to building community
ADVERTORIAL, BY DIVA STAFF
For LGBTQIA+ people, community is everything. They’re our home, our chosen family and a space to feel heard in this increasingly troubling political climate. It was this desire to foster these safe spaces that is at the heart of Black Queers Connect, a UK-based community group which aims to bring queer joy to Black LGBTQIA+ adults.
Black Queers Connect is one of the trailblazing community groups that are being spotlighted this year by NYX Professional Makeup’s Proudly Pro-You brand initiative. Created in 2019 and launched in 2022, NYX Professional Makeup’s initiative aims to help uplift and platform the LGBTQIA+ and the LGBTQIA+ people of colour, alongside support organisations that are creating queer-safe spaces and places for our community.
Black Queers Connect started when Adjoa-Sinead, founder of Black Queers Connect, came back from university to London and immediately felt a sense of loneliness. “It felt like starting again,” Adjoa-Sinead told NYX Professional Makeup. It became clear that creating community was essential for queer Black people to not only feel seen, but also to have fun. Now, Black Queers Connect hosts regular events for people to come together, play games and discuss topics that matter to them.
With the support that NYX Professional Makeup’s Proudly Pro-You brand initiative has provided this year, Black Queers Connect are able to continue hosting events for the Black queer community, now on a larger scale. “One thing NYX Professional Makeup and Black Queers Connect have in common is the fact that we believe wholly in inclusivity and connection,” Hazi discussed with NYX Professional Makeup, one of Black Queers Connects members.
By creating this space, Black Queers Connect are hoping to set a precedent about how community groups can make real change in the lives of those who attend. “I want Black Queers Connect to be the thing that shifts the landscape,” Nic, Director at Black Queers Connect told NYX Professional Makeup. “Shift the way Black queer individuals do community. We are actively changing the way we do things. We are actively pulling in resources to make sure the community is strong and solid. I don’t want community to just be a noun. I want community to be an action.”
The incredible work of Black Queers Connect shows the power of queer-led initiatives. The group hope that it educates allies about how to best support the Black queer community.
“When it comes to support, the first thing every ally should do is just listen,” Hazi said to NYX Professional Makeup. “A lot of the time, people have their own ideas of what they think that groups and communities need, when really the easiest way to find the answer is to ask.”
Learn more about Black Queers Connect, as well as more of the great work that NYX Professional Makeup’s Proudly Pro-You brand initiative is been doing at https://www.nyxcosmetics.co.uk/proudly-pro-you
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