AFROBEAUTY of The Week: Brionna 3.09.15

Congratulations to 23-year-old Brionna for being our first official AFRObeauty of the week. We specifically sought her out for her afrovocative mindset. Not only is she living out an adventure most people of color don't get to embark on at a young age, we encourage her to keep influencing other afrobeauties with her unique beauty, style and grace. We asked Brionna a few questions to help everyone understand who she is and how she wants to impact the world.

When I graduated from college I was posed with the question: What am I going to do with my life? Well, I didn’t know. I still don’t, and may never, but I did know that it would be foolish of me to decide what I wanted from this world or what it is I want to give to the world without having at least seen some of it. To make a long story short, that’s how I ended up on my current adventure, living and working in Madrid, Spain and traveling around Europe. You can read up about it on my blog TheGreaterWorld.com

What are your hobbies/interest? Outside of traveling, I also love politics,

philosophy and Mexican food. Sometimes I like to fancy myself a writer but I’m still only writing books in my head.

What inspires or motivates you? This is going to sound pretty morbid, but I’m most motivated by death and the possibility of oblivion. I’d like to believe in an afterlife that my soul will live on

forever, but what if it doesn’t? What if this is all there is and when it’s over there’s

just darkness? If this is the only world I’ll ever know then I want to really KNOW it.

And if this is the only time I’ll ever have, if there’s no eternity, well I better use this

time wisely. Or too put it simply, YOLO.

What makes you AFROVOCATIVE (unique)? I always have a story to tell. I think somehow I attract madness and I’m always caught in the middle of some great adventure. And I’m really good at taking my life experiences, for better or for worst, and turning it into a really interesting, and

usually funny, story.

Where do you want to be in 5-10 years? I don’t know where I want to be but I hope I’m still traveling even if it’s only twice a year. I hope I’m still finding adventures and telling stories and eating Mexican food without getting fat.

What advice can you give when facing setbacks or difficult situations? I think the hardest part about setbacks and hard times is that you think everyone else is doing better than you. Stop comparing you behind the scenes footage to someone else’s highlight reel. You have live your truth. Everyone has hard times, they’re just not advertising them. Make the best choices for YOU and keep it pushing.

What makes you proud of your racial or cultural background? I’m proud of my people because I see how strong we have been in the face of adversity, especially black women. We constantly have to fight to be seen and heard and respected but still it hasn’t hardened our hearts and that’s amazing. Some people are lost in the fire –some people are built from it. I think my people are better for everything we have had overcome and I’m proud of that.

What do you wish to accomplish in or for your community? How do you plan

executing this with your current hobbies/talents? I didn’t know anyone that looked like me that had seen the world. When I told my Mom I wanted to take a year off after I finished college to travel and see the world, she looked at me straight-faced and said, “Where did you get an idea like that? That’s for white people.” I was shocked that my mom, my super-supportive and usually encouraging mom, said such an ignorant thing. There’s something to be said about that. A lot of people think that because no one that looks like them is doing it or has done it, that it can’t be done. So if I accomplish nothing else, I want to be proof that it can be done. You don’t have to be rich and you don’t have to be white to travel the world. You just have to want to do it. I want to be an example of that.

#afrobeauty #abotw