EBONY Mag Gets Glossy

THEN & NOW. All Photos Courtesy Ebony.

I was just so delighted this w/e to revel in an absolutely freshened and re-spritzed for modern living EBONY Magazine. I grew up thumbing my way through the riots and struggles that connected my people to african-americans' collective experience. But that was some time ago...during apartheid! As we moved past that decade and trauma, it got harder to pick up a copy of EBONY and see my daily experience reflected in its pages. So you can imagine my pleasure being unable to put a copy of the magazine down at the store this w/e and of finding myself curled up at home with a revamped EBONY and glass of wine in hand. (Confession: like any good nerd I was tipped off about the hopeful comeback giant Johnson Publishing, by a great NPR story).

The Very Bold Black Beauty posing for EBONY, March 2011. Photographed by Ruven Afanador. Courtesy Ebony

BRAVO to the beautiful and brave Bellas broadening EBONY's definition and celebration of self--including Former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, now CEO of the publishing house and editorial powerhouse Amy DuBois Barnett. Amy sums it best, "It was (IS) time for EBONY to be the voice of the new black America: an empowered, informed and optimistic legion of folks ready to get things done". I love seeing women like me in any publication, but ultimately, I love a magazine that delivers on the reason I pick up a glossy in the first place--for a sting of gloss, glamour and today's culture! Thank goodness these power divas are injecting style and glamour back into a household black bible!