Who Is Madame Noire?
Interview by Kweli Wright
Name: Ijeoma Ndekwu
Title: Style Editor, Bella Naija, bellanaija.com
Twitter handle: @bellanaija
What do you love about being a Madame Noire?
As a young Nigerian lady, I love the strong sense of self that [has arisen from] my culture. I love that I can be influenced by other sub-cultures around me and build on and enlarge what I am and should be as a Madam Noire–which is a woman who takes control of her destiny…
Is the media (news and reality shows) having a “field day” with black women? Why us and why now?
There are many powerful, confident, and successful black women; Western media, although accepting of this reality is still exploring this dynamism. With recent developments, for example Michelle Obama as the First Lady of America, the black woman is now at the forefront of various discussions; from good hair talks to relationship matters. What the media does is feed on what’s out there; both the good and the bad! With reality TV, it is all about generating content that will drive a large audience, so what you tend to see portrayed of the black woman is limited, with little opportunities for expansion because they are fundamentally representing a single angle to the black woman and sometimes guilty of reinforcing negative stereotypes. It is left for us to continually steer the direction of the media concerning the black woman towards the positive; with content that is a true representation of who are, drawing attention to the different yet equally admirable dimensions of our personality and sense of self .
