Rochelle Ballantyne
is on a full scholarship at Stanford University and is a few points
short of becoming the first African American female chess master. Becky G is a pint-sized Mexican American singer and rapper whose first single, “Shower,” peaked at 16 on the Billboard 100. Geena Rocero is a transgender high-fashion model and activist, original from a working class family in the Philippines, who founded Gender Proud to help transgender people around the world self-identify with fewer barriers. Tina Garnanez
is a Navajo Native American who suffered PTSD after serving for years
in the military, where women make up only 15% of the population.
These
four accomplished, beyond-all-odds women of color are profiled in
journalist and documentarian Soledad O’Brien’s web series for CoverGirl’s #GirlsCan
program. The girls’ empowerment movement has pledged $5 million over
the next five years to fund nonprofit organizations and individuals who
are helping women break barriers. Through the web series, O’Brien, a
former CNN anchor, is aiming to tell stories of women beyond the glossy
magazine pages and red carpets. “I think that it’s really important that
the media jumps and tells the different iterations of stories,” O’Brien
tells Yahoo Beauty. “We’d like to believe that one person is a stand-in
for every group, and if we just get to 10 people, it’d be good enough.”
Soledad O’Brien interviewing Becky G and her mother. (Photo: CoverGirl)Rocero, whose mother was the breadwinner in the family in Manila, earning money
by selling Kikkoman soy sauce to Japanese restaurants, is no stranger
to the diversity of women’s experiences. Growing up in the Philippines,
people would shout derogatory phrases at her in the streets. She knew at
a very early age that she was a girl and how to self-identify — she’d
wear a T-shirt on her head to symbolize long hair. “Mom, this is my
hair. I’m a girl,” she told her mother. Luckily, Rocero’s parents were
both supportive, and she found her confidence by entering the trans
beauty pageants in the country, which ended up helping with her future
modeling career.