Sephora Commercial of Belonging | Aesha 2025

VIDEO Sephora of Belonging | Aesha TV commercial 2020 • “The reason why I had pursued the career in the first place, and pushed so hard, was for what that would have stood for. I wanted to use my art as a vehicle to show that women of color can be ethereal.” We are so inspired by you, Aesha (@theswandreamsproject), and your mission with The Swan Dreams Project to show the world that beauty has a space for everyone. Thank you for sharing your story ❤️ 00:00 i think the first time that i ever 00:02 experienced 00:03 something very racist was in third grade 00:07 and it was a teacher i don't think i 00:08 ever shared this story 00:10 the teacher uh started going to decide 00:12 the groups and doing eeny meeny miny mo 00:14 well this is a version of eenie meenie 00:16 miney mo that i certainly had never 00:17 heard of in my life 00:19 and she went eenie meenie miney mo 00:22 ketcha 00:23 inward by its toe 00:29 [Music] 00:32 my name is aisha i'm a former 00:34 professional ballerina 00:35 of almost 14 years 00:38 growing up as a nurse city kid my 00:40 community was predominantly black 00:42 but i went to a predominantly white 00:44 suburban school so that was my first 00:46 encounter feeling other fast forward 00:50 i started dancing and 00:53 it was at that time that my mom was 00:55 warned that it would be difficult for me 00:57 as a woman of color 00:58 in ballet but that desire was burning 01:01 inside of me 01:02 dance is my voice it is it is my soul 01:04 speaking 01:05 i loved ballet i loved the elegance 01:08 that's what i wanted to do 01:12 ballet was hard ballet was very hard 01:14 it's a low percentage in general of 01:16 dancers who 01:16 have a professional career but you add 01:19 on to that the added challenge of being 01:21 a minority 01:21 you have to work twice as hard to be 01:23 noticed 01:24 and so i got accepted into the new york 01:26 city ballet where 01:28 i was the only black female i remember 01:31 one time reading 01:34 it is just so distracting seeing a line 01:37 of girls 01:38 and seeing one black body 01:48 and being in my apartment and reading 01:50 that 01:53 is beyond hurtful 01:57 i felt like i just i can't do this 01:59 anymore 02:00 what was it all for all the blood the 02:02 sweat the tears the sacrifice of not 02:04 only myself 02:05 but that my family had to make what was 02:07 it for 02:10 the reason why i had pursued that career 02:12 in the first place 02:13 and pushed so hard was for what that 02:15 would have stood for 02:18 i wanted to use my art as a vehicle to 02:22 show that women of color 02:23 can be ethereal 02:25 [Music] 02:27 i think a lot of times especially for 02:29 people of color 02:30 we tend to make ourselves small so that 02:32 other people feel comfortable 02:34 but in doing that you kind of squash 02:36 your talents 02:37 and you squash something inside of you 02:39 that is so beautiful 02:41 and in a space like sephora you're 02:44 allowed to be as loud and proud as you 02:46 want to be 02:46 and be you without any apologies 02:50 but that feeling that anyone is accepted 02:53 that's what i wanted for 02:54 ballet that's when i just completely 02:57 flipped the script and went okay this is 03:00 my fight 03:01 through it all no matter how many 03:03 struggles i went through no matter how 03:05 many times people tried to knock me down 03:08 i was able to rise 03:14 in my career i've been on television 03:17 i've won awards i've been on the cover 03:20 of magazines 03:21 even with all of those great 03:24 accomplishments 03:25 my greatest accomplishment besides my 03:27 family and my children 03:28 would be the swandrums project 03:32 the swan dreams project for me is my 03:34 story 03:36 it's my career and it is exactly 03:39 what i fought for my entire life so we 03:42 teach 03:43 ballet and physical fitness and 03:45 nutrition and etiquette 03:47 and art classes and the idea behind the 03:49 camps 03:50 is to show our young boys and girls 03:53 that beauty and grace are not defined 03:56 by status or race it doesn't matter 03:58 where you come from 04:00 what you look like you have to believe 04:02 in your dream 04:03 and you have to fight for it and if 04:06 you're willing to fight for it 04:07 you can accomplish it i wish to be 04:14 you- advertisement spot 2020