White Paper Family

Elaine Welteroth Became Editor-in-chief Of Teen Vogue Aged Just 29, The Youngest Person Ever — And Only The Second African American — To Ascend To Such Dizzy Heights. She Revolutionised The Title, Running Social-justice Stories Alongside Sassy New-season Fashion. These Are The Lessons On Race She Absorbed From A Young Age

- Elaine Welteroth

THE FIRST TIME I realized race was a Thing, I was staring at a pile of magazines in preschool surrounded by a sea of pudgy White faces. We were all huddled together for our first official school assignment. The only brown kids there were me and Juan, the sweet Mexican kid who taught me how to tie my shoelaces. The teacher was instructing us to make collages that represented our families. All we had to do was dive into the large stack of magazines on the table, cut out pictures of people who resemble our family members and paste them onto a piece of paper. Easy enough. I have always loved a collaging moment – even way back then.

As I flipped through the pages, I saw smiling White ladies in pristine kitchens, cute White babies wearing Pull-Ups, handsome White men in power suits, White kids picnicking on Crayolagreen grass. I had never heard anyone use terms like “representation” before; all I knew was no-one on any of those magazine pages looked like me or my family. It reinforced what I had somehow already internalized: I was different. Other. An oddity living in a White world.