Receiving an NAACP Image Award and a BET Young Stars Award are big accomplishments. Actress and TV host Keke Palmer has been awarded both prestigious honors, but she says to this day, her best accomplishment is showing Black girls “that there is nothing they can’t achieve.”
The 26-year-old reminded us on Tuesday night when she shared her first Olay Body commercial to Instagram with a heart-touching message.
Palmer became the new spokesperson for the brand last month, and in an interview with ESSENCE, she discussed what it means for representation in the beauty industry. Palmer says it “is so important.”
“I used to watch these kinds of commercials on television when I was a little girl, and very rarely, if ever, did I see a girl in them that looked like me,” Palmer captioned the Instagram post.
“I always thought there was a special kind of beauty or hair texture or complexion that you had to have to be considered for an actual beauty ad. Not to be mellow dramatic or whatever, but REPRESENTATION MATTERS. It truly does,” she continued.
“I am just an American black girl, both my parents are extremely normal, I’m from a small and what would be considered “a nothing town”. Till this day, my best accomplishment will always be showing all the girls like me that there is NOTHING THEY CAN’T DO. NOTHING THAT CAN’T BE. NOTHING THEY CAN’T ACHIEVE!!! Whatever I have done, you can double. If you come from nothing and think there is something you’re missing, I’m here to tell you you’re not. The only thing you ever could be missing, is the belief that what God has for you IS ALREADY YOURS! Take it. Love you.”