Kheris Rogers, a 10-year-old student, started a clothing line after she experienced bullying in school due to her dark skin.
Constant bullying by her white classmates had a negative impact on Kheris’ confidence. According to her mom, she had to transfer her daughter to a different school. However, the mocking still occurred. She experienced mistreatment even from other black kids.
“I’ve been bullied a lot, like in the first grade, I went to school with just four other black kids,” Kheris shared. “And kids used to bully me because they weren’t used to my skin tone. There was an incident with a teacher and we had to draw ourselves and she gave us a black crayon instead of a brown crayon, and I was really upset.”
Taylor Pollard, Kheris’ older sister, wanted her to feel more confident about herself. To make her feel better, she posted some photos of Kheris on Twitter with the caption:
“My sister is only 10, but already royalty #FlexInHerComplexion.”
Unexpectedly, the tweet went viral and received over 80k likes. This surprising event made Kheris feel better and also encouraged her to establish Flexin’ In My Complexion – her own clothing line.
“I feel confident in it myself because, even if I still get picked on because I’m darker, when I put on the T-shirt, it makes me feel bold,” Kheris said after launching her clothing line.
“I just hope that especially for younger kids, people start to feel more confident in their skin,” Pollard expressed. “It doesn’t matter how dark or light you are, just knowing that it’s beautiful and that your complexion doesn’t determine your beauty.”