A Facebook Status Inspired This Social Worker To Write A Book To Inspire Black Girls To Love Their Natural Hair By JENELL B STEWART

About 4 years ago while working at a natural hair and beauty event in TN I was asked to participate as a judge for the Little Miss Natural Cutie

Pageant, this was one of the cutest shows I’d ever seen. The pageant creator, Ms Pametria Brown, who goes by Pam recently wrote a children’s book titled “I am a Natural Cutie” launching in late November. The story behind how this book came about is very touching and shows that inspiration can come from anywhere.

Hey Pam! Tell us about yourself.

I’m a 32 year old social worker and therapist from Memphis, TN. My company RBG Productions, Inc has been hosting “edutaining” events throughout the city of Memphis since 2011. Some of our crowd favorites are the Natural Cuties events. We host a pageant for adult women called the Natural Cutie of the Year, where women get to show off their style, intellect, and creativity all while rocking their natural. In 2013 we decided to expand that brand and invite the babies to have some fun. So we started the Little Miss Natural Cutie and Miss Teen Natural Cutie scholarship pageant. These events are held annually and get bigger and better every year. I wear many hats but all of them involve my love for children and my passion for helping others.

What inspired you to write this book?

As a therapist, I work with adolescent girls on a regular basis who don’t value themselves and are always looking for outside validation of their beauty. I value the importance of our girls knowing how special they are. As a business owner, my brand Natural Cuties works diligently to teach young girls in the Mid-South, to be proud of their kinks, coils, curls, and locs in spite of what anyone might say. For a while I had been brainstorming of ways to spread that message on to young girls who are beyond my general reach. So as I’m scrolling Facebook on night, I read a status about a mother feeling frustrated that her daughter no longer wanted her locs because she was being teased at school. I looked at her pictures and became sad because she couldn’t see the beauty that I saw. I wrote this story for her (Harmony) and every little girl who has ever felt they weren’t enough. I named the main character, Phoenix after my niece so that she can be reminded that she is naturally fly.
Why does every girl need this book in her library?

This story is a must read for every young girl natural or otherwise, as it shows the impact negative thoughts from others can have on our self esteem. This book shows how Phoenix is able to overcome negative thoughts, words, and people and own her natural beauty. I think that is something that we all can relate to and understand the importance of instilling that in all of our little cuties. My mission is to work towards teaching girls at a young age to pour into themselves so that it will continue on throughout adulthood and become second nature.
How can we get our hands on this?
The book is available for Pre Order now on my site www.iamanaturalcutie.com and officially launches Nov 26th. It will be available on Amazon and Kindle, just in time for the holidays.

Follow Pam on FB at Natural Cuties and on IG at IAmANaturalCutie for inspiration and updates!