Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelli Shakur.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Frogang started from a vision that God gave me to create a a safe space for Black girls to learn to love being black and seeing the blessings in their features and their natural hair . Growing up you are taught whether directly or indirectly to not like your hair … whether it’s making black hair seem like a hassle every time you have to wash it or style it To calling it derogatory names like “nappy” or saying it’s not straight enough . not seeing it represented in commercials movies even in the your own communities holds a lot of weight. The lack of positive self talk and representation on black hair confirms negative thinkings or conditioned feelings about black hair.
I remember being there hating my own hair .. perming it so it can be flat … those memories, those traumas helped create Frogang.. I knew that I needed to create the space that is needed for black girls learn to love their natural self from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet.
Frogang mission is to create and promote positive self images for black girls so that they recognize their self worth and see beauty when they look in the mirror! Frogang is a group that offers a sisterhood of acceptance and love to black girls all over the world !
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It was rough! But purposeful. Once God gives you a vision you will learn that it’s not for everybody’s to understand.. to see .. he gave it specifically to YOU!
You gotta think Frogang Foundation was created in 2017 before the natural hair love trends , CROWN act all of that so getting people to see the importance and impact that black hair has was tough. A lot of people downed me made fun of me said it was stupid but I knew I knew from my own experiences that there is a hidden agenda or truth on why black women dislike their own hair . I knew that black girls are also being subjected to that mindset and I had to stand up against that self hate . It was hard getting grants became a lot of funders didn’t see the importance not understanding how loving your naturals hair builds confidence self esteem promotes heath mentally physically negates bullying etc there’s tons of evidence that proves loving your natural hair as a black woman boosts self confidence. It was also hard staying focused and not burning out from all the push back obligations etc. those will challenge you for sure but I held tight , taking mental breaks and rest when I needed I had a lot of supportive ppl like my mother my grandmother and my supportive community Beltzhoover so . The challenges seemed more like lessons, foundational … to prepare me to build . The road is long, hard and sometimes lonely but I wouldn’t trade it for the world .
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Frogang Foundation Inc again is a safe space for black girls to thrive . We are known for our black Barbie /doll drives where we give out black dolls to black girls to promote positive representation, we are also known for our Frogang lot of love a lot that we adopted and put a food pantry and book case for the community to use. We also just came back from Uganda building a water bore whole for the residents to have access to clean water , we supplied food to a variety of orphanages etc . Frognag does a lot we also plant trees in our community to change the heat canopies. I’m proud of all that we do ! That we are never stagnant cause we always have our hand in something impactful. I want the readers to know that Frogang Foundation is an organization that offers mentoring, self esteem workshops and youth development programs. We are available for speaking engagements as well
What makes you happy?
Seeing the youth empowered and ignited ! The joys of them make me thrive and live ! I love seeing happy children
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.frogang.org
- Instagram: FrogangFoundation
- Facebook: FrogangFoundation
Image Credits
Photo credit Vernon Young (VYP )
