Incredible. Especially the natural hair movement. When the products were still Black owned so the formulas were fantastic

It was Awkward Black Girl (2011) > Insecure 🥰

I will embarrassing myself cuz why not 🤣🤣🤣 This was me in 2012-13 when I was 17-18 and posted this in my Tumblr account 😭

https://preview.redd.it/16vetbjar49g1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7875dcb0858461534355909457795579f75f191

Lord.... What was I thinking....? 🤣😭

https://preview.redd.it/7a557mcuw49g1.jpeg?width=832&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50a11d9170010adb60c3fc7cb1cb425dd83df63f

Man it was lovely this was 2012 I stopped relaxing my hair & embraced my fro.

I was in high school and then college during this time. It was amazing 🥲 I went natural during the early 2010s. I’m forever grateful for the natural hair pioneers during that era 😂 I also feel like there was more appreciation for Black girls and women of various styles, personalities etc. You had the boho girls, the retro girls, the alt girls, the girly girls and on and on and on. Now it feels like we’ve regressed

I think the rise of social media (especially in the last 5-7 years) changed a lot of things, but as far as natural hair I think what has changed is that now it’s become ‘normal’. Back then it felt like a hard ‘push’ in the direction of loving our natural hair and we all took a leap that way. Where we are now is being happily in that space of loving it without it having to be fanfare. I don’t know if I’m explaining it right. Just think of potty training a kid. You make excitement to get them to want to go on the potty but after a while it just becomes something that’s a normal part of their life.

I graduated high school in 2010, it was a very exciting time! Obama was in the White House and we all thought racism was over 😂. The modern day natural hair movement was emerging. People had their own style and bloggers were the influencers of the time.

I'm not sure if people were really optimistic, because we were recovering from the 2008 bank crash and I remember my family had to downsize, but we still hold onto the illusion that all you needed to be successful was a degree and your settled for life. People also still believed in the whole get married and have children and you will be happy concept. This illusion slowly shattered towards 2019/2020

I graduated highschool mid 2010s. I think people have rose colored glasses on because of the times we're living in.

At least in my area, wearing natural hair wasn't popular or encouraged until the natural hair movement gained more traction post-2015. Before then, most girls had their hair straightened or relaxed. But when it was gaining traction, it was great. People were doing big chops, had TWAs, stopped relaxing their hair, wore their hair out, and wanted long hair in its natural form not just when it was straight. This was when I learned how to truly take care of my hair. There were also so many routines coming out to maintain and style 4c hair, with women being more open to experimenting. Now I think people are fatigued and just want to do what's easiest, not necessarily what will grow their hair.

Black beauty and makeup was also becoming way more popular in our community. We started seeing more representation online of dark skin women doing makeup tutorials and having shade ranges that expanded way above brown and dark brown. Fenty really answered that call to action immediately and set the standard.

Also, the racism during this time was something else. The early 2010s was when Black women were some of the first to get on youtube and call out racist YouTubers and racism in general. (Anyone remember when Jackie Aina started calling it out in beauty?) They got A LOT of hate for it and called social justice warriors until the late 2010s when people learned they were right and more anti-racism movements began.

Ironically, a lot of people in the early 2010s were also like "racism is gone because Obama is president" and thought we were in some post-racial society. Yet, I vividly remember White people burning, hanging, and shooting figurines of Obama. Then towards the end of his presidency, he was blamed for America being more racist/worsening race relations. This was the time where you really saw where your non-Black friends stood.

What I find really interesting is that whenever there's a racism scandal where there's evidence of someone being racist during this time period, there's no shortage of non-Black people saying everyone was racist during that time and "no one" cared. The same things were said about the 2000s when we were in the 2010s.

I was 18 in 2010 and going to college. This was arguably the best time of my life. I experimented so much with my hair. Youtube was a thing but I didn’t use it for hair care, we were all doing each others hair in our dorm room. 

I know this is supposed to be positive but looking back at how we got to grow up (it was not all perfect but compared to NOW??), I can’t help but be sad and angry that people who are in their late teens and early to mid twenties don’t get to experience a life with the optimism, community, hope, and stability that was present during the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Edit: I also want to point out that I lived in NYC and a lot of this reminiscing is location specific. Yes racism existed because pretending it didn’t is silly and I don’t think any of us would claim that.

Also, what Gen Z is romanticizing is probably related specifically to what was going on at college campuses and major diverse cities, because that’s what’s highlighted in media. People after us never have the full story, just like we didn’t have the full story of what happened during our grandparents and parents coming of ages.

I don't remember feeling optimistic during that era. Definitely caught flak for my natural hair.

What optimism? 😂

At the beginning of 2010s, my friends and I were in SK escaping the bad job market in the US. We couldn't get jobs in the US and the ones who did were low paying so most of us had left for SK to find teaching jobs with disposable income and wait out America's bad job market.

I left for law school in 2011. Graduated in 2014. Couldn't find a legal job. Got a teaching job to give some money. Hated it. American school system is just awful. Lol.

Anyway I left after a semester. Unemployed for 6 months I think. Finally got something. A state govt job that was with the pension system. HATED IT EVEN MORE. I'm talking stress and crying. I got really sick during this time like almost hospitalized.

Finally quit that job. Spent another 8 months job searching.

Finally got a new job in 2017 and I've been in the career field since.

Again I ask what optimism??

But upside I could wear my hair natural. A lot of the comments here have been about hair and social media. Not about the actual state of living in the US at the time. I'll be honest, it wasn't great.

I was just graduating high school and in college. I went natural, rocked the boho and alt clothing styles similar to the ladies in the pictures, I wore fun mohawks with my newly natural hair. J Cole released Born Sinner.. Kendrick Lamar, Section 80 😍

I don't know. I was miserable and hated my life back then for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with my Blackness and everything to do with personal drama and BS that was overriding any joy I could've experienced.

I didn't even know this was called the "Millennial Black girl optimism era." So I initially read the title like, "Huh? Where?" 😂

Because I for sure had nothing to be "optimistic" about at the time. Again. For personal reasons. Props to everyone else who enjoyed their early 20s. Because whew...no.

Truly it’s only viewed as optimistic in hindsight. We were out there miserable and HUSTLING. But the partying kept our spirits up!

I graduated from high school in 2010. I'd gone to predominantly white schools and wanted a fresh start. I started college, did the big chop, and embraced my natural hair. Also embraced other parts of myself☺️

It’s a romanticized era: 2010 high school senior at a PWI in a PW state.

I have never heard of millennial optimism. It was good times but IDK about optimistic. I graduated college in 2013, and there were no jobs, NONE. I struggled just to get a job in retail. Most of us grinded unpaid internships or minimum wage despite our degrees. However we partied hard! Shift to club back to shift. The world also felt less crowded, I could do fun activities without all of tiktok in my way.

What a time to be a millennial! It felt like we were finding truth inside and out, breaking social & propagandist norms & educating ourselves- as a collective. We found real freedom (woke founders). Those seeds are still flourishing tuh this day! Also, Obama made recreational weed use legal in 2008, we was outsiiiide! 😂

While I am definitely nostalgic for my teen years on the 2010s, there was also just as much economic tension as well. It really depends on which aspect of the early 2010s you wanna unpack.

Upside: We were young kids in our teens and early 20’s who could have fun for WAY less money than kids today, not to mention, there was far less surveillance on us (and honestly, I feel so bad for y’all in this respect). We had a lot of common public spaces to just kinda exist in without HAVING to spend money. The natural hair movement was starting to take swing. I remember this was when I started stretching my relaxers and getting used to my natural hair texture and feeling confident about it.

Downside: A lot of us were broke as hell when it came to actually maintaining survival (a lot of us were actively seeking employment on the heels of the Great Recession, a lot of our parents were divorcing because of it (finances is one of the leading factors in divorce, btw) AND if we were old enough to start actual careers, the job market would literally tell you to go fuck yourself. I couldn’t even get a damn job at the mall until I was 18 (and trust me, I was doing shit the old fashioned way, pounding the pavement, shaking hands, all that shit.)

So, yeah, it depends. We were young. It was fun. It was sad. It was up, it was down.

I'm gonna be one of the Debbie downers as a slightly older millennial. I graduated from college in 2012 and could not find a job for the longest time in my field. I was married to an abusive person, my family and I had a falling out, then I started the worst job I have ever had.

But, all that isolation and moving around led me to Reddit and this subreddit in particular. For me, the optimism was here on the internet because irl I wasn't seeing it. I would say my most fun years were in college, so 2008-12 for me.

It was the best of times for me, no wonder I'm so nostalgic it truly was a blast. Tv shows like the Originals , pretty little liars, hit the floor, high school musical, VD etc.

I graduated in 2010...went into the Navy. My optimism died quickly 😂 I went natural in ranks too (2012)...you would've thought I killed someone the way people were offended by my natural texture smh. I will say the hair products back then were top notch, and my hair thrived. * My optimism though? That shit died by the time I got off the bus at boot camp lol.

With that being said, the club culture was still intact, and I definitely had my share of nights dancing the night away while looking like a receptionist 😅

Older millennial here. I did my big chop in 2010, but I was living in the south so it was far from easy. Also, while the good products were better than they are now, we only had like 4 brands of products to choose from. We all were trying to use Miss Jackie’s curl cream, Shea moisture dropped that coconut hibiscus, and carols daughter had us addicted to black vanilla. Gorilla snot existed but we didn’t know anything except Eco styler gel.

I remember how being natural was almost as intense as going vegan at one point. You couldn’t use any chemicals including hair products in some groups if you were “really natural”. We were making flax seed gel and using castor oil and coconut oil for everything. The hair texture “chart” was highly debated. Oh and shampoo vs cowashing was also huge.

We were discovering ourselves and pushing back on the status quo. We still had plenty of coworkers and family members commenting on how they liked us better when our hair was straight and we were constantly measuring our hair. We also had to fight corporations who said natural hair was unprofessional and even schools forcing kids not to wear their natural hair out.

We just started to push the idea that black people were more than what was depicted in hip hop. We also started to question why we were risking our health for European beauty standards. We started reading ingredients and hair science was big. I think a lot of it was because of the YouTube channels at the time (Francesca, Naptural, Evelyn, Hey Fran Hey, Shameless Maya, Issa, even Jackie Aina) that were saying what we were all thinking: “our beauty is valid, and valuable, we shouldn’t be killing ourselves to look like something we’re not”

But it wasn’t easy, and I didn’t feel optimistic I felt like I had enough. That I was going to figure out what was beautiful about blackness no matter what. And our awakening shifted the beauty industry that used to only give us 3 shades of brown for foundation with terrible undertones and flashback. We called it all out.

It was a mini revolution. Which in comparison to begging to be seen as worthy of life now is so small. I remember feeling like we did it, we officially can take up space and it’s wild to see that go so far left so fast.

I’m sorry the what??? When did that era happen and did anyone ask the millennials?

If we did have a period of optimism it was before the internet and 9/11.

it was the first time in my life i felt i could take up space and i gorged on it. i also spent my young adulthood in nyc and employee diversity was one of the most important goals at my last job of 12 years. it was also silently obvious that HR prioritized keeping out the "wrong" type of white people out lol thank god. so those environments were a huge part of it (grew up in a white suburb). i was much more confident and felt a lot safer and free to be me.

eta: my Pinkberry order was a medium green tea with yogurt chips, almond slices and blackberries. sometimes mochi instead of almonds. i miss it!

I partied A LOT. I was fresh out of high school so it felt like the world was my oyster; I was in NYC also so it was fun x1000. I don’t regret anything from that time. Nothing will match that era.

I remember this time I was in middle school and I remembered seeing all the alt/boho/eccentric Black girls and they inspired me so much. They even influenced my style/makeup till this day. We were so fortunate to experience that time period of Black Girl Magic. I remembered the music like Santigold, Rye M.I.A. Before you became crazy loll 😭😭

The 2010s was when black men made it mainstream and cool to make fun of black women online lmao. Being a black girl on the internet was hell at that time, you would randomly see celebrities retweeting things about black girls being bitter or ugly. It's like everyone at that time had it out for us. It only started getting better around 2016.

Yall I'm tearing up at this post. The clubs, the hair. We had abolished the low rise jeans a decade ago. We were embracing our hair and each other. Black girl magic. Sigh...I need a hug.

In the suburbs we didn’t feel the reverberation of this movement till like 2014 imo. Does anyone else agree?

That was the era of me hitting the clubs/frat houses, dancing the night away, having the after party at my place, getting my ho on, and just having a great time. I wish now that I had focused more education and career wise, that I had traveled more and had moved to NYC, but I was making up for lost time.  Growing up I was in and out of the hospital from spinal cord surgeries due to having Spina bifida.  I did not have a normal child hood, also had feel depression and face abuse from my mom.  My 20s in the 2000s was a chance for me to find my independence and let loose.  I'm glad I did and I do not regret doing that.  I often think back about those times now in my 40s when I'm bored at home with my kids or a song comes on that used to play in the clubs.  I'm instantly transformed back there, living it up!

Also think back to when Obama was in the White House and I just felt so alive and full of hope for the future.  It truly was our era and time to shine!

This post is super helpful! I graduated high school, college, and grad school during this era and had a great time. I’m 32 and when I talk to college students today, it seems like they’re not really having as much fun. They don’t really have hobbies, large social circles, or even making new friends. It seems like all they do is spend time on social media and they’re not even really enjoying it.

Hopefully things will turn around, but with the 24/7 access culture we have now, it really feels like we had the last good era (I know every generation thought this).

What a time to be alive

I  miss the community part we were swapping tips, playlists and confidence like group projects. I don’t miss the “racism is over” delusion however I do miss how hopeful it felt to try anyway.

Does anyone remember watching Black Girls Rock on BET? That Four Women rendition was elite

I think I did the big chop in 2010! Been natural ever since. Fun times

What a time to be alive! Even living in Korea at that time as a Millennial was magical. I was having the time of my life! Korea is less magical for me now. Lol. I don't know what it was, but life was amazing back then. I just thought it was different after I met my now ex-husband but...there has to be more to that. Interesting...

It was amazing tbh. I was in my 20s for the 2010’s and it honestly felt like the prime of my life.

I had just graduated high school and then started university. We all did the big chop and rocked our natural hair. The marley twists, box braids, the senegalese twists, big afros, overall boho aesthetic, products weren't like $20 and we lived our best lives outside.

Solange had released her album around this time. Obama was in office. Take me back.

Girlll I thought that first pic was me and my friends! I turned 18 on 2010 within a few weeks of starting college… and being able to mature during that era of self discovery and love was so important. I grew up in a predominantly white area, but did a big chop Nov 2010 after seeing all of the girlies in college living their best natural lives. There was so much black girlhood and community. Of course there was still struggle and adversity, but it was so different then than it is now. I felt like I lived in a world I could learn to understand with real people I could hug, hold, connect with. Now as I look at my younger cousins in the same age group and see them struggling to find the same… it breaks my heart.

Wow, I'm an outlier! I graduated grad school in 2011 and couldn't get a real job to save my life. I did live in NYC in the first part of the 2010s though and it was lovely. Relatively affordable imo and the safest it had been in decades. 

About hair: I went natural in 2007 and did find a good stylist close to me for pretty cheap as well. 

Very fun!! I feel that the "Black Girl Magic" era was a significant cultural shift and definitely needs to be brought back in full force.

I’ve never heard of this “millennial blk girl optimism,” but I was in college for most of this time and it was interesting to say the least. It was a mixed bag of things imo. I went to art school in a big city so a lotta Blk students were making art to reflect the times which was the offset of BLM w/ the deaths of Blk folks due to police brutality. We also had a lotta events dedicated to the nostalgia of the 90s and embracing our natural hair. I personally had to go thru so much learning and unlearning as it pertained to respectability and elitism/class consciousness. I definitely value this era for my radcaliztion and the blueprint for how I wanted to build friendships and community to deal w/ endless political upheaval w/e else. Our inclusion in media was so much better than now as well imho.

Sigh... I was so naive back then... Actually had hope and trust in humanity.

Never again. 😔

It was encouraging because it felt possible to simply exist as a black woman, and not as an othered phenomenon. In reality, this was probably somewhat naive but it was how I felt at the time.

Also, imo, I 100% blame the shift on the 2015/2016 cultural crossover in the United States. We lost Obama and the backlash pendulum swung back HARD in the other direction. Makes me furious and sad all the same, especially for younger folks out there who think that this level of mainstream hardline conservatism is normal.

It was fun!

Elder millennial. The 2010s were a mixed bag. I think there is a lot of romanticizing happening. The economy was definitely better for a lot of people but not everyone.

As far as natural hair goes I think the products and education are much better now. IDK back then you'd see someone with beautiful hair and they'd be like I spend 9 hours on my twist out every Sunday. Now you can have beautiful hair and not devote 1/2 your weekend to it.

Social media was "purer" back then. It was mostly students and people just posted things for fun. I think the beginnings of the shit show were there (e.g. FOMO) but it felt organic versus now where everything is about gaming the algorithm for engagement

I miss this era so much. I was in college from 2010-2014 and it was just the best time. It wasn’t perfect though. I started wearing my hair fully natural during my freshman year of college and my roommate and her friends all bullied me for it if I’m being honest. It wasn’t as widely accepted as it may have seemed.

Adding: as someone who didn't grow up with a lot of Black people, that era was really helpful to me in putting a name to things I'd experienced, but didn't have a name for, like microaggressions. Being exposed to Black people I could relate and aspire to also helped me unpack the self-hatred I had. I'm really grateful to the Black women and men who put themselves out there at that time to write and talk about those things, and who just posted about their lives and interests on social media. It gave me a sense of identity and community.

No, everyone did not love their natural hair lol. Zoe Saldana played Nina Simone in blackface during this time. Should I go through the list of things that triggered the BLM movement? I'm not supporting BLM, just pointing out the ability for it to rise was due to some incredibly racist and tragic events that social media shed light onto. 

There was no increased optimism outside of social media, and honestly I dont remember a lot of uplifting. I was actually threatened with a write up for wearing a scarf tied tastefully around my head at work. Anecdotal, but true. 

I actually graduated, was in the job market and voted during this time. I think people have rose colored glasses on as we tend to when we get nostalgic. While there were some interesting cultural exploration within the decade that we miss, I wouldn't say it was "optimism".

This is such a weird take I've seen on the internet considering we know social media is an echo chamber and a lie most of the time. 

I’m a young millennial at 33 so it was a mixed bag for me. I had highs and lows.

I agree about the natural hair movement. I became natural in 2011 and have not looked back since.

I don't know if we were optimist we were just young and the world was broke and cheap

It was great and then the 3C’s (no shade to them, fr fr) started to roll in and they became the face of what people thought black girls/women should be in their natural state.

It was great while it lasted tho lol.

It felt like we had made progress, and I am speaking specifically for us in the United States. We were starting to have more space for us. Media made by us for us. Products by us for us. More entrepreneurship on a more mainstream stage.

When Obama became president, it felt like there were more possibilities for upward mobility. And I saw more Black women in great positions during that time as well. The ones that they now openly call “DEI hires”.

At least for me in Los Angeles, I saw an increase in interracial dating and generally mingling for Black women. But in certain spaces, we were still too dark.

In spite of progress, inclusion, and more, there was still racist mess to deal with, it was just quieter than it is right now. Inclusion even sometimes came at the price of erasure of certain things. You were cool until you referenced something not palatable to the white main culture. Or if you laughed a little too loud. They included you more when you played the game.

I do feel there was growth with more Black spaces and dialogue on Black wellness and joy though. Topics like White fragility and systemic issues were also in more conversations.

With the natural hair movement, we still saw an imbalance in favor of people with 3C and 4A. There was still more promotion of curly fros over 4C hair, but the 4C girls were out and glorious.

This was my experience as a millennial during that time (mid-twenties to early thirties).

Edited for typos

Things certainly did not feel as tense as they do now, but it wasn't perfect. If I was optimistic , it was cautiously so. was in college and had a toddler in 2012, I stopped relaxing my hair and spent some of my tax return on some Kurly Klips (iykyk), so it was a period of self discovery for me, and that was nice. 

The pot was always boiling though. Watching Congress dog Obama daily was rough. Trayvon Martin's killer got acquitted the day before my birthday in 2013. And we all know what happened in November 2015. I remember being scared to even take my son out to catch the school bus the day after the election bc I expected some weirdos to come through shooting or something. 

In my opinion, millennials would miss the black plague if it happened in their childhood. (I say that as an elder millennial myself, their obsession with their own pasts is ridiculous). Don't let them make you think it was all sunshine and lollipops. 

A time!

2008 or so was the right balance of internet and socialization.

So, less angst about being filmed and posted fully publicly. That meant people were dancing and sweating and being goofy in business casual outfits.

The economy was rough rough but it was also cheaper COL, so, people could live in very HCOL places with budgeting. You still would have roommates but also had money for activities.

Additionally, bc of the economy, national service programs, like Ameri Corps, and such had a heyday. TFA too but that one’s a little complicated. I think that was helpful/important for people to be more engaged and interested.

That shit was #OnFleek. Early 2010s was this Old Gen Zer’s high school era. #’s were everywhere on everything. We misted our hair along with checking our makeup in the bathroom. I don’t miss high school but I miss the natural girl era.

Mmmmm, let's not label this the "millennial optimism era" please 💀

What happened to the girl in slide 3 & the sisters slide 7? I used to follow the girl on YouTube (can’t remember her name) and the sisters on tumblr (can’t remember their names either)

To be honest I hated it. I felt like the fashion, color schemes, and make up were more towards white women or anyone lighter. Like 90s fashion great…early 2000s beautiful….millennial optimism…I’m good on it and they can keep it. Don’t even get me started on the Instagram filters…it just made everyone ashy.

Started college in 2010. Did my big chop in early 2011, and got my first set of locs later that year. I remember living on YouTube, watching I think her name was Naptural85, NaturallyCurly, and Chescalocs for hair tutorials. I went to a small PWI, and there were maybe 20 black girls on campus. It seems like we all went natural together. I can't speak to some of the things you mention in your post, but as far as hair was concerned, it truly was a magical time for me. Having that community of people experiencing the same things alongside you, learning and growing together, was unlike anything else. I definitely think we've cycled out of the novelty of the natural hair movement, as others have said. Those of us who want to be natural, probably already are. There's less of a push to embrace our hair, because it's seen as more mainstream.

As an alt and nerdy black girl, this was really peak time. I graduated HS in 2011, and I found my stride and my tribe. The internet especially helped me realize that I wasn't only as a Black girl nerd. Also I know everyone has been talking about the natural hair movement, but I want to emphasize how ubiquitous it was. I remember going to France for a college course. All the black girls who went were natural and almost all the black women we saw in France were natural. I used to be so self-conscious about my hair (grew up in a hella white area) but seeing the chicest women in the most fashionable city proudly wear their hair was an awakening.

What a cute name for that time period! Social media was still fairly new and it was amazing to see so many Black girls doing cool things. It felt like we were all discovering ourselves at the same time. I was heavily into fashion, and it felt so good to find people like Shirley B Eniang who I could draw inspiration from. Loved watching people like Shameless Maya who decided to do big things with their lives and figure it out along the way. I remember learning to care for my relaxed hair from ulovemegz. Learning about makeup from Jackie Aina when she was still lilpumpkinpie. Learning from the hair girls like IVY (I learned about the flip-over method from her) and fabulasityisme. Laughing until I cried when I watched Issa Rae's Awkward Black Girl web series on YouTube, before it was turned into Insecure (highly recommend watching both, they're fantastic). The cool, artsy woke girls like Cipriana Quann and TK Wonder. It was the first time I had so many Black women to pay attention to, and they were creating their own molds instead of having to fit into the boxes that were created by traditional media, and now, the influencer economy. I felt like I could do anything.

One thing I miss about that time was that everyone had their own look and there was not the same pressure to look as perfect and polished as there is now. The beauty standards today are so hard to achieve and so uniform.

When Obama was president, I felt a sense of pride and that I had a chance, an opportunity, a window, a door, a light glimpse of hope that I could too, gain the American Dream, a slice of the Apple PIE with hard work, education, and goals. Fast forward to today, that dream has vanished. Back to square ONE....

This time I'm not reaching for the slice of pie, I'm finding ways to create my OWN Pie! I've awaken, open my eyes and moved away from the delusions of the 2010 era!

As far as Black Girl movement, we became blueprints, trendsetters, innovators, restored Black pride surrounded us. We started making our own, building our own and ultimately became the Blueprints of the world. Imitators flourished, rebranded, and stole our flair and swag! We were ALL influencers without the title and money, it was a way of life not monetized yet!

solange - losing you

Yes! Graduated HS in 2012. Went natural 2014 with an overwhelming amount of knowledge on YT from ladies like naptural. Had me making hair concoctions that now feels so pivotal to my early acceptance of me. Business casual fits to clubs which were resistance btw and seeing black women win shaped so much growing up in a rural town after moving from Baltimore due to housing market crash. It was crazy time!

I was in college and I had a blast. I graduated high school in 2010 and it was my first time really on my own. The music, the parties, the 4Lokos. I was just ready to gtfo of high school after dealing with the racism I dealt with when Obama got elected. White girls that were initially and allegedly my friends turned into the most hatred-spewing Republican imitating devils. My school was actually pretty diverse, but my dance team was not and those same girls tried to literally poison me with eyedrops. College was freedom to me.

Sooooo good. And so happy. This is what is truly scaring me about the future. We were happy and it was spreading. We were encouraging others. But yeah its a garbage fire now. I think we'll make it. But I'll always miss that Era of time. Before the fire nation attacked

It felt like "FINALLY!"

It was amazing. It was a lot of visibility and celebration and centering of black women and girls then. For the first time loudly and publicly.

I loved being young, but idk if I loved being young AND Black necessarily. I went natural in college and realized I had 4C hair after 12 years of relaxers. Lots of youtube and 2 strand twists. I relaxed my hair in 2016 after 4 years natural cause I was over the shrinkage. Went natural again 2020.

Being queer was not as accepted as it is now. Coming out in HS was very very uncommon. Gay marriage wasn't legal until 2015. It was very normal to be anti gay marriage and a Democrat. I was. Im queer now lol.

Oh and being a feminist wasn't popular yet. That's why it was a big deal when Beyoncé said it in 2013 and had that Chimamanda Ngozi clip in Flawless about it. Feminist were seen as men haters, lesbians, etc.

I learned a lot about social justice from Tumblr actually after leaving my very white city. Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012. Then Ferguson was 2014. Then Baltimore Riots in 2015. It was a wild time to be growing up and learning about myself whilst still being at a PWI .

Its different living it than what was curated for you.

The world was my playground. I was a young professional with all of the potential.  And I was hot 🔥  Life was one networking mixer after another. The optimism (which for me was 2012 and after post global financial crisis) was very reasonable. Society was making progress and our success was a part of that.

The what era?? Lol never heard of that name for it but very interesting to see

Oh it was a TIME! Obama was president, the clubs were free before 11 (broke college student necessity) and it was the era where black women especially just became so openly loving and supportive of each other. More so than i experienced prior. I miss it soooo much! I miss the optimism I felt.

i wish i was a teen in this era sighhhhh

Take me back 😭

I remember this time period, and every now and then I think about it and miss it. There’s some good memories/nostalgia that I have from it.

I’m an elder millennial and this time period was wild. I was grown grown, getting a divorce after getting married in 2004, my mom was terminally ill, I changed job fields and relearning who I was.

It was an emotional experience because I started thinking about myself - I started wearing my hair naturally (still am), branching out my music, watching web series (Awkward Black Girl and almost everything on the Black & Sexy YouTube channel) just to give myself some of this optimism. It was a breath of fresh air and freedom in a time that was otherwise tumultuous and terrible.

I’ve since recovered well - got remarried in 2021, went into a different well-paying field with potential for growth and dealt with the loss of mom as well as I can - but I think about that time and reflect on it with mixed feelings.

I love this post ❤️

I graduate highschool in 2012, and I started wearing my hair natural no perms and taking AA history courses in college, I loved these years! Still got called nigga hard R though, so that part hasn't changed

Wondaland Janelle Monae, Electric Lady era Janelle Monae, was a fucking MOMENT!!!

Now you’re giving me serious nostalgia for that time. I would live to go back.

I was in undergrad when Obama won in 08 and we were in that campus like lunatics, so happy, crying, cheering, hugging random people, playing music. My Alma mater is a Deep South HBCU so it felt like it hit different to and for us in that red state. It felt like we could do anything. This was also around the time Scandal was on...BABY, I was gonna go to DC to wreck SHOP! It just felt limitless and legit magical to be a Black girl.