WOMAN POWER Susan Smith inspires hope in little black girl

Publicist, television producer, author and recent mom Susan Smith was dealt many blows that sought to floor her confidence and caused her to question her existential right in this world.

Because of the colour of her skin, she was made to feel inferior and subscribe to the thinking that black is not beautiful but rather an unfortunate circumstance.

But her good sense prevailed and with the help of her mother and her own strong belief in self-worth, Smith continued to show the world what she was truly made out of.

“I am dark-skinned, and mind you I love me and everything about me, but there are a lot of people who hold information passed down from slavery to generation, to generation that black is less than and dark skin is less beautiful,”she said.

Smith, with roots in the small farming community of Windsor Forest, in Manchester, vividly remembered an encounter she had with one such person and though the negative comments no longer bear weight, she has never forgotten it.

“I can remember when I was in about grade five or six and there was the girl and she always had some issues with me and I don’t know why because I am very likeable. And she cursed me out one day and told me how black and ugly I was and how brown and pretty she was.”

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

As she aged and unkind comments from different persons continued, instead of trying to convince the naysayers of her worth with words, Smith decided to use action in the form of academic success and evidence of personal and professional development to silence those who could not see beyond her skin.

Her most recent accomplishment is a published children’s book called Little Black Girl.

“I started the book in 2019, but I had some challenges and had to delay. But my new role of being a mother to my daughter has been an awesome journey and it was one of the reasons why I pushed to get this book out.”

She continued: “The book is about self-love and instilling confidence in children of colour because I see confidence as something lacking in a lot of young girls and I want to see them grow up to be confident women.”

With affirmations noted in the book, Smith added that it is important to have her daughter know that she is worthy, so much so that the strong character in her book is named after her.

“It is sad that a lot of children don’t have the family support, they don’t have that love or get that encouragement from home and when they go to school they don’t get it but I want children to learn core values and be exposed to it in school curriculum.”

With a hope to not only impact the children of Jamaica but also children of the world, using her experiences and knowledge creatively packaged, Smith said she will continue to inspire hope, one child at a time.

“I want this book which is available on Amazon and another book I will release at the end of the year to connect with young girls right across the world. This is a passion of mine and I am so happy to be fulfilling this passion. I want every little girl to know that they are absolutely phenomenal.”