TALKING
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but who I am as a person, not so
much. When I get to know you
and I get to know that I want
to have you in my life, then I
let you in. But otherwise I’m
pretty introverted. For a while,
my job kept me away from
home and my loved ones and
friends for so long that I started
to hate it. And what made me
love it again was finding a bit
of joy for myself in every day.
That could be anything: sitting
watching birds, lighting a can-
dle and just feeling refreshed
from the scent. Nest has beau-
tiful [floral] candles that I take
everywhere. If it’s raining, and
it hasn’t stopped raining for
four weeks, and it’s cold and
blustery, I go to my trailer and
my Nest candle is lit. I could
just sit and go, “Okay, I have
this beautiful scent. It’s taking
me places.” I try to find the
beauty in my day, [like] taking
walks, especially if it’s a place
I’ve never been. I love seeing
new things. And for me, when
I’m centered, I find this joy
that’s pervasive throughout
my body. That brings my inner
beauty out, I think. —AS TOLD TO
COTTON CODINHA
THANK YOU, MADAM
You may have heard the story of Madam C.J. Walker (or you
will when you watch Self Made), but it likely was not in a
textbook—black women often don’t make the cut. Walker was
born on a plantation near Delta, Louisiana, in 1867. She worked
as a laundress until she was 38, when she began selling a hair-
care product she’d developed to treat her own scalp sores
and hair loss. (It was made largely of petrolatum and sulfur.)
With the success of this pomade, Walker built a business that
made her America’s first woman to earn her way to millionaire
status. But Walker’s impact didn’t end there. “She was also
a philanthropist who contributed to black schools and colleges,
a political activist who supported the anti-lynching movement
and the suffrage movement, a patron of the arts, and a person
who educated other women through her beauty schools and
annual conventions,” says A’Lelia Bundles, Madam Walker’s
great-great-granddaughter and the author of On Her Own Ground:
The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker (Scribner). The Madam
C.J. Walker Beauty Culture brand (now 15 products strong) is
no longer family owned, but Bundles still acts as its historical
consultant and is looking forward to introducing her great-great-
grandmother to the streaming generation: “What I think
is the core of Madam Walker’s story—what’s really important to
me—is how much she empowered other women.” —C. C.
From left:
Walker circa 1914;
Spencer in
character in 2020.
72 ALLURE APRIL 2020
FROM LEFT: GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF NETFLIX
