Blogs are abuzz with the news that African American women’s magazine, Essence, recently hired a non-black fashion director.
Essence editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray told Black Voices in a written statement that Ellianna Placas, a former fashion editor at O: Home and Us Weekly, is just part of Essence’s growing fashion team.
“I understand that this issue has struck an emotional chord with our audience,” said Burt-Murray, “however I selected Ellianna, who has been contributing to the magazine on a freelance basis for the last six months, because of her creativity, vision, the positive reader response to her work and her enthusiasm and respect for the audience and our brand. We remain committed to celebrating the unique beauty and style of African-American women in Essence magazine and online at Essence.com.”
In an opinion piece that appeared on the Grio, Burt-Murray expressed disappointment that hiring a white editor creates such controversy while the magazine’s stories about serious issues in the community go unnoticed.
‘When we run pieces on how unemployment is devastating black men? Nada,” she wrote. “When we run story after story on how HIV is the leading cause of death for black women age 18-34? Zilch. The things that really are the end of our world apparently aren’t.”
Nevertheless, Essence’s mission is to “inspire black women to lead bold, fulfilling lives,” and several readers and former employees, including former fashion editor Michaela Angela Davis, seem to feel that Essence’s newest staffing choice goes against that mission.
Michaela revealed on her Facebook wall, “It’s with a heavy heart I’ve learned Essence Magazine has engaged a white Fashion Director. I love Essence and I love fashion. I hate this news and this feeling. It hurts, literally. The fashion industry has historically been so hostile to black people — especially women. The 1 seat reserved for black women once held by Susan Taylor, Ionia Dunn-Lee, Harriette Cole(+ me) is now-I can’t. It’s a dark day for me. ”
I wonder did Susan Taylor’s hairline recede further after this shocking news?
Anyway, I’m really trying to care, seriously I am. Ok no I’m lying.
She’s a fashion editor, she’s not telling you how to be black. I mean I could understand a little if she was the Hair Editor I mean come on how much can Susie know about blue magic grease vs. sulfur 8.
But on the real, folks are getting bent over this and I just don’t get it. Just like the Editor in Chief said we have more important issues to be vocal about. Like HIV and the black woman, poverty, unemployment and things of that nature. Why waste your time talking/writing about a white FASHION editor at a black magazine.
Has anyone stopped ranting long enough to think hold tight we got us a token white girl. Maybe she will be “the connect” needed for the magazine to get better access to the “racist” fashion world. Anyone ever think of that?
Probably not.
And one more thing this woman Ellianna Placas has been a contributing editor for Essence for several months Esence did what any smart business would do and that is to promote from within. If she’s allowed to contribute to the fashion sections in Essence then why can’t she be editor of those sections?
So what say you OHellNawlians should the black community be all up in arms about this?
Speak on it!
{ 61 comments }
If hookers really give that much of a f--g about this, I’ve got at least 53 other issues a bytch needs to be paying attention to that mean much more than this shyt…
The folks who are screaming about this betta check their African American status card because “most” black folks in America got a little Caucasian swimming in their genes from some ancestor getting a little slave girl love on.
…….relevance, your Honor?
honestly, i don’t get it. she’s a fashion editor. unless a bytch is tryna be draped in fubu, applebottoms & baby phat all day everyday, white fashion and black fashion is generally pretty much the same for women from what i can tell. we’re tryna wear prada & loubatins & shyt just like they’re tryna wear prada and loubatins. so what’s it matter if it’s a white bytch tellin u about the hot new marc jacob clutch or a sista? plus, if this were a predom. white magazine like vogue or cosmo and they refused to allow a black woman to head their fashion dept, we’d be ready to insert foots (yeah, i said foots) into asscheeks. i think the real question is why do we want the rest of the world to integrate, but we want to segregate when it comes to something predom. black? we can’t have it both ways. it’s just not fair.
Hova, can you name any Black women fashion editors of these predominantly white magazines you mentioned?
Don’t worry, I’ll wait…
sunnie, truth be told, i can’t name any black women fashion editors of predom. BLACK magazines. hell, i can’t name any fashion editors PERIOD. my jibby just wont allow me to care about and/or retain that knowledge.
but that don’t mean that what i said wasn’t true ass true. let it bradass87 that the reason these predom. white magazines dont have a black fashion editor is because they refuse to hire a black editor. foots in asscheeks. when nyggas started complainin there were no black women on their covers, next thing you know you see naomi cambell, tyra, beyonce & rhianna all over cosmo & vogue. now maybe we’ll set our goals a little higher and
ask fordemand a black fashion editorI totally agree with you, there SHOULD be black editors at ANY fashion magazine… but they shouldn’t be hired because they are black, and you can’t sit there and complain about what the other magazines are doing if you are not willing to allow a white girl to work for a black magazine… it’s a two way street… If anything you should be proud that she WANTED to work for this magazine because it means she DOES care about what black women think and took the time and effort it took to get where she is at now.
becca, i never thought about being proud that a white woman would want to work for a black magazine until you just said it, but i am now. blacks are doin to her what whites did to jackie robinson. dude just wanted to play baseball. but white people hated him and spit on him at games & threatened his life and shyt. this poor girl just wants to write about fashion. and im sure a lot of yall have a regular 9-5 like i do, so you know you gotta work twice as hard as your white coworkers (and for women, male coworkers in general) to get the same recognition. so to be the only white woman in a black company, i bet ellianna worked her lil pancake booty off! and i for one refuse to spit on her for just wanting to persue her passion. instead i’d be proud that she wanted to put forth the time and effort just to be seen as equal in our eyes. cuz that shyt aint happenin too many other places, and that shows definite progress in america.
but let me see ellianna in an interview and this bytch got on a headrag, long colorful ass nails and is poppin gum & workin her neck throughout the interview. i’ll be the FIRST nygga to holla STOOOOONEEEE HEEEERRRR!
Exactly Hova, I work in an industry that is 90% male. I work my behind off and NEVER get any recognition. No promotions… just bare minimum raises and while all the guys go chill at bbqs I have never been invited. I work my behind off because I actually like the stuff I work with. I am passionate about it, maybe someday I will get the pat on the back I deserve, but until then I will keep dealing with the people who tell me “I’m sorry I would rather speak to a man because you can’t possibly help me with my questions”.
let it bradass87 that the reason these predom. white magazines dont have a black fashion editor is because they refuse to hire a black editor.
But that IS the case…they’re just not stupid enough to admit that…
I agree that it is wrong for those magazines to refuse to hire black fashion editors and yes you SHOULD be pissed about that… but two wrongs don’t make a right. If this was the opposite and white people got pissed off about a black woman getting a fashion editor position in Vogue or ELLE or Madamoiselle then they would be called racist correct?? Just because the shoe is on the other foot doesn’t make it no longer a shoe…
thats why i say it’s gotta be bradass87-ed. somebody hasta go in & leak emails and shyt from the ceos & editors and shyt to the press like bradass87 did with the afghan war secret documents. when proof is all up in america’s face and it can’t be denied, foots in asses. but this is america. innocent until proven guilty and shyt. til then, it’s just a conspiracy theory.
LOL! I see…
Not a black woman but Andre Leon Talley is the fashion edito for Vogue and he is very close to being a woman.
Now I know you didn’t forget the sugary greatness that is Andrè Leon Talley, did you?!?!?!
I second that!!! I love fashion, I really do. I don’t care what the color of the designer or the sex of the designer is… if their stuff looks good then that is what matters. This lady is probably really passionate about her job, I doubt she really focuses on the color of her audience.
Now… I gotta tell you a bit about myself. My dad was mixed and he looked mixed. You could look at him and tell, he had the African textured hair and he had African features. He was really light skinned though, and therefore passed off as white most of the time. If you were to look at me there is no way in hell you would ever guess that my grandpa was black. I look like the typical Italian/European white girl. Still issues that affect black people in the US affect me because this is stuff that my family has to deal with. My grandpa and dad had to deal with racism and profiling too. My dad died of aids at the age of 33 (he wasn’t married to my mom). By looking at me people would make the same judgements that they are making on this poor girl “she isn’t black enough to work here”. That right there is plain and simple racism, and it hurts me that people still live in the dark ages.
i agree with this. when i was looking at ohn archives, i came across the story of a white sorority winning over a black one at a stepping contest. a lot of black people were upset about it saying some bs about that’s not what stepping is about and all this other mess, i mean people losing their minds. this here, is the same thing. and it hurts my heart to hear black people complain time and time again about how (they think, sometimes true though) they’re being denied equality and fairness. yet on the same coin, they want to complain when white people or others want to “infiltrate” and take what’s theirs. it isn’t fair and as said, as a people we have bigger fish to fry. if they said she was taking over the magazine, that would be one thing. since she isn’t, i say stfu and quit complaining. just like you said just as much as black women are trying to find out what’s hot about…whoever it is that’s hot, why can’t a white girl be interested and do her job to tell you about it?
I’m not the biggest fan of Essence Magazine (besides the occasional story, it’s been dry content wise for years), so in a certain part of me just doesn’t care too tough. *shrugs*
However, I do see why some heads are up in arms about it on a surface level. It could seem like while the mainstream fashion arena is still keeping Black folks in limited positions, this young white lady got a job tons of heads were gunning for with a Black publication.
That argument might make some sense if she wasn’t already working for Essence for a period of time beforehand (in other words, it wasn’t Becky came off the street and bogarted her way in the mix).
Plus, it’s a fashion editorial position – if it were something that had more meat with it, then I’d be a little more up in arms about it. Quite frankly, heaux like Kat Stacks & other broads getting promotion as being on some legit s--t is more worrisome to me as a Woman of Color than this scenario.
Nope. Got nothing, there are more issues in the black community to get up in arms about.
I think I will began to care about the race of a Fashion Editor AFTER they resolve the real isssues. When they do the budget every year and the school systems in the areas that need the most money get the least, where is all this uproar? Why aren’t we pissed because they are allowing/pushing out children through school when they have not met the requirements for that school year? Who started blogging when states like Virginia decided that once a child got to old to be in school they could opt out but would never be able to go back and get there GED?
Where were these people when I had to sit at home and watch on the news about all the KIDS that were killing KIDS because they had no positive black role models? When did we start rallying and getting all pissy to save our community centers, churches and shools so that the nyggadom that is displayed (see the This Bytch here post) doesn’t contine to escalate and where they can show how they are supposed to act and not how they are EXPECTED to act.
This mess here is a waste of space in the blogg-a-sphere. Cause honestly, Becky’s pradas look the same as mine. Brown skin and all. Pshhhh get this mess outta here. I’m bout to go fight for a real cause…….after I finish gettin my dose of aintshytness for the day.
I absolutely fvcking hate equal opportunity employers. s--t makes no sense – gat damnit – what kind of dumb ass idea is “hire the most qualified” candidate? This white b---h should be fired and be replaced by a woman of color (wtf does that even mean?), regardless of her qualifications. Seriously, I mean that is what “all the other fashion magazines” are doing so why should Essence Magazine be any different?
There is a time and place to be “the bigger person”. Racism begets racism. Kindness spreads kindness. It is not that difficult of a concept. My mom taught me when I was 4 years old that when people try to get you down you “kill them with kindness”.
Watchu talkin about Becca – We got ours, you get yours.. keep this s--t separated.. that is how we will “fix” the racial divide… all that equality and s--t.. that’s nonsense.. Black folks need to build black folk s--t and do to the white man what they have been doing to them for centuries.. right?
Did you not read my above post? Wow you are being very ignorant right now… You have pretty light skin…. I bet you are mixed yourself. If black people kept to themselves and white people kept to themselves you and I would not exist. Just because your skin is lighter does that make you any less black?
Becca – I would normally take this opportunity to continue messing with you but since you are new I won’t.
My post(s) on this subject are complete and total sarcasm – almost satirical.
The reason my skin is so light is because I’m white
Sorry it’s hard to hear sarcasm over the internet… I dunno I get real defensive about this stuff. Sorry for calling you ignorant.
That’s ok, Chocl8te called me a racist once and Slaus AND wanna have both threatened to ban me at least once…. It’s often hard to get the tone in print. Most people here (regulars) know I am just bullshytin.. Welcome to OHN – check your emotions at the door though, cause it does get real here.
actually i took you serious for a second…then i read it again…lol i dunno who’s worse, you or wil.
I’m black.
And, I’m on a horse.
**DEAD**
ihatchu… LOL!!!
Backwards?
You misspelled my name man!!! After all these gatdayum years!?!!! Da f--g is wrong with your ol racist ass!!
Damn…can’t find good white boyz who can spell worth s--t these days!!!
::drops the mic…sexual Chocl8t::
I love you!!!
(that ish will NEVER NOT be funny!!!)
Shush Ms Tchoklsaythe.
We can spelle prefuktly….
Lol… you know what is hella funny??? I just googled this girl that everyone is all up in arms about… and she is LATINA!!!
gtfoh! she gotta fat azz?
lol I dunno all the pics I saw of her are hella small… she looks too skinny to have an azz but ya never know… she could be like JLo and look skinny from the front then it is like BAM in the back. I just think it is funny cause it brings a whole new level to this controversy… poor latina girl gettin called white all over the internet. I should have known with a name like Ellianna Placas…
well until proven otherwise, i’m goin with the notion that ellianna gotta phat ass. matter of fact, she got the donkiest donk ever bestowed upon a latina. but it aint all nasty lookin, it’s nice and proportionate ya know? thick and rich!
yeeeeaaaah ellianna i’m imagining in my head. you shake dat azz! drop it low for daddy! *pulls out imaginary dollar bills*
corner please!
speakin of latinas/latinos, is it just me or is reggaeton producer the easiest job EVER?
lmao @ becca fallin for ell’s trap. im 89.7% sure he’s just joking and using “in your face” sarcasm (much like boondocks). of course the other 10.3% of me wants to act a ignant ass monkey ass fool & put my foot in asscheeks, but even that ignant ass 10.3% of me realizes 89.7% is a pretty high percentage
yeeeeaaaah….i should prolly refresh my screen before i post a comment….well….uhhhh….this is kinda awwwwkwaaaard….i’ma just let myself out and go do some work….
LMAO!
I’m assuming Essence made the best business choice for their company…I just want to offer up a different perspective…
In an industry where you can count on one hand the number of successful Black female high fashion models, opportunities are just as bleak for Black female editors, photographers, artists, etc. Magizines like Essence were created out of necessity – to give Black people a voice and an opportunity to showcase their work.
This is not the case just in the fashion industry. Blacks get shut out of mainstream (read white) activites, institutions, business opportunities, you name it. So, we go out and create our own thing. Then, WE are expected to open our arms and embrace the very same ones who initially rejected us. And, we do (I’m speculating). But, there’s still an underlying sentiment of resentment – when all of this could have been avoided had we not been treated like crap in the first place.
It’s a more deep-seated issue…
I’m sorry but I don’t get how this one girl is the same one who decided not to hire a black woman for a white magazine… you are insisting on punishing her based on what other people did just because they have the same skin color…
How am I insisting on punishing her when I emphatically said I’m assuming Essence made the best business decision? I never stated whether I agreed or disagreed with Essence’s decision. I just wanted to offer up a different point of view from what had been previously said.
When you said you are expected to open your arms and embrace the same people who rejected you… no one is asking you to do that… and this girl did no such rejecting. Sorry if I am getting defensive. This stuff just bugs me.
I just know how this chick must feel with all these people getting all angry at her for just wanting to succeed at something she felt passionate about.
I agree with SunnieDeeZ. It’s easier to succeed in the fashion industry when you are paler. While I agree that Essence made a choice to promote from within, it still doesn’t ignore the glaring reality of white privilege and the fashion industry. It’s still like the fifties in a lot of publication. They barely let Black people wash the cars let alone work for their publications.
Not to change the subject here, but why is Janet Jackson wearing a sundial for a watch?
The Flintstones was a long time ago, Miss Jackson. Let it go.
get out!!!!
ok hex i peeped that too lol
I don’t even know what to say to that.
I thought you said not to change the subject……?
“In an opinion piece that appeared on the Grio, Burt-Murray expressed disappointment that hiring a white editor creates such controversy while the magazine’s stories about serious issues in the community go unnoticed.”
Straight. The last time I heard people making a fuss about Essence was when they put Reggie Bush on the cover; the fuss being that he “doesn’t date Black women” so he shouldn’t have been the cover of the Black love issue. After that, it was the lack of colour in Vanity Fair’s ‘Young Hollywood’ cover spread. Now it’s over a non-black fashion (not magazine)editor. *sigh*
Nudge me awake when people get up in arms over something serious.
now the reggie bush beef i understood. hell, i was even ridin with black women on that one. if precious walked up tellin me tips & shyt i should follow to lose weight i’ma just give that bytch the gas face. and if reggie bush tries to tell me somethin about black love, ima give that nygga the gas face. credibility all shot to hell and some shyt.
Lol @ the precious givin’ weight loss advice. I knew this huge girl that used to work for Jenny Craig. She went and got gastric bypass and was tellin people the Jenny Craig worked for her. That’s like gettin implants then sayin it was from workin out those chest muscles.
if precious walked up tellin me tips & shyt i should follow to lose weight i’ma just give that bytch the gas face.
UGH! Who in the hell left the gate open?!?! *slain*
Forget a Hell Bus…you on that Bullet Train to Hell…NONSTOP!
leo! how goes it?
Quite well, Marina! Did my final class for the summer, and that pesky stray course credit is no longer a problem.
And you?
maybe they hired her because she was good at her job? ijs
has it ever been scientifically proven that race or gender attribute to a human’s ability to function? I get that ignorant people being in a leadership position is the problem but I thought it was illegal to discriminate in the work place?
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