April 27th is National Girl Crush Day. The first time National Girl Crush Day appeared on my radar was in 2015 when I saw a bunch of people tweeting about it and nominating women and girls who were inspirations to them. I want to nominate and talk about two women I've been following closely this past year: Filipina rapper Ruby Ibarra and Ellen Pao, the former CEO of Reddit and founder of Project Include.
Ruby Ibarra
I feel like I have a lot in common with Ruby. Both of us are Filipina-Americans and both of our fathers are from Mindanao, an island located in the far south of the Philippines. We both are very invested in unraveling and understanding our dual identities of being both Filipina and American. We both feel underrepresented and misunderstood when mainstream narratives lump us in with East Asians.
When it comes to rapping and Pinay—or Filipino female—empowerment, Ruby is the truth. Her lyrics and flow are hard hitting, unapologetic and complex, and she effortlessly combines English with Waray and Tagalog. The video for her song “Us” will bring you to tears because of how honest and raw it is. Her debut album, CIRCA91, is about her family's story as first generation Filipino-American immigrants and the title comes from the year her family moved to the states.
"She stays building upon previous subjects like political corruption and revolution,” says writer Stephanie Gancayo for pro-Filipina website Hella Pinay. “But on CIRCA91 we hear her going more introspective, vacillating between self-hate and swagger as she explores colorism, colonial mentality, assimilating into American culture, and something that isn't talked about much in our community but that hit me especially close to home—about being raised by a single mother.” She actively works against the stereotypes about Asian Americans being docile and quiet, and the stereotypes about female rappers all competing for Queen Bee status.
Growing up as a Filipina-American just like Ruby, I never learned about the real history of the Philippines in school, nor did I learn much about the country’s American colonization after WWII. I had to seek that kind of information out on my own. I wish there was a Ruby Ibarra when I was growing up. Even in Asian American studies classes in most college curriculums, Filipino history is largely ignored, and Filipino-Americans are underrepresented despite our large numbers.
About her work and being a role model, Ruby says, "Some issues I explore through my work have been the history of colonization in the Philippines (and the social/personal effects of that), trying to bridge the two conflicting identities of being both American and Filipino, and language barriers...I don't think I've fully absorbed the idea that I could possibly be a role model to someone yet. I, however, will not be oblivious of that happening and so I am often careful about the ideas and platforms I choose to support and speak about." (Hella Pinay)
Ellen Pao
Ellen Pao is a Chinese American corporate attorney, investment partner at Kapoor Capitol and founder of Project Include. She doesn't get the credit she deserves for her achievements in tech, finance or in calling out gender discrimination and harassment of women in the workplace. Ellen was one of the first to expose Silicon Valley's toxic frat-bro startup culture.
An excerpt from her memoir reads: "Ambitious, money-hungry people began turning their attention away from Wall Street and toward the tech sector, idolizing the rapid ascent to billionaire status of the Google founders. Almost overnight, it seemed to me, the amount of money and money types pouring in changed the vibe. Even the new rich people were different. Famous rich guy of the earlier era Bill Gates was known for working hard and then for doing good with his money. His goal was a PC on every desktop. Famous rich guy of the new era Mark Zuckerberg was known for spitefully attending a VC meeting in his pajamas. His goal was making it easier to find women to date. The newest crop of billionaire boys included Evan Spiegel, who sent crude emails about trying to get 'sorori-sluts' drunk enough to have sex with his frat brothers, and about peeing on a classmate. His goal was to enable nude selfies with self-deleting photos." (Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change)
She is most famous for her criticism and high-profile lawsuit against the hiring and promotion practices at the prestigious venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. She shocked the entire tech industry when she filed a $16 million lawsuit against the firm, alleging she’d been discriminated against, then terminated, because of her gender. The high-profile case went to trial in 2015, and the tech industry followed it obsessively. (Buzzfeed)
As the former CEO of Reddit, she was one of the first people to start cracking down on hate groups, harassment in the subreddits, and revenge porn on the site. Unfortunately, she was forced to step down in 2015 because many of the decisions she made were extremely unpopular with Reddit users. While all these white Hollywood actresses are considered pioneers in exposing gender discrimination and workplace harassment and the #metoo movement, Ellen is one of the original whistle blowers. She deserves more credit than she's received for all the work she's done and continues to do in fighting racism and sexism.
*This post was sponsored by Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever and Revlon. I am wearing Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color in Baby. Bobbi Brown would like to encourage other women to join their Girl Crush movement and nominate their own girl crushes using the hashtags #BBGirlMovement and #BBGirlCrush on April 27th.
Bobbi Brown's Crushed Lip Color in Baby.
Here is an even closer look at Bobbi Brown's Crushed Lip Color in Baby, which is a sheer hot pink color. It's very comparable to Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment's Candy lip balm in terms of color payoff and hydration. I love how easily it glides on and it's not so pigmented that you need a lip pencil. You can keep this in your bag and it can take you from day to night.
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