10-year-old girl's motivational video about embracing her natural hair goes viral: ‘Don’t allow anyone to steal your joy’
A 10-year-old girl in Nashville, Tenn., is inspiring people old and young after making a video before going to school “bigger and better” with her natural hair, just one day after she was made fun of for her “afro.”
Promise Sawyers’s motivational video was posted to Facebook by her mom Qui Daugherty, after the 5th grader secretly recorded it on Daugherty’s phone one morning. In it, Sawyers explains that she was feeing “some type of way” after classmates had mean things to say after she wore her natural hair the day before. But she was determined not to let it bring her down, and wore it the same way the following day.
“Don’t allow anyone to steal your joy,” Promise said. “Don’t give them that much power.”
Now, nearly 2 million views later, people everywhere are responding to the video and young girl’s empowering words. Daugherty says that Promise has been surrounded by that type of positivity her whole life.
“There’s affirmations everywhere,” Daugherty tells Yahoo Lifestyle about the inspirational posters that line her daughter’s bedroom. “Not to mention that I also had kind of wrote her out some affirmations like a year or so ago that I wanted her to say every morning, and so that’s up there.”
Daugherty goes on to explain that she’s always taught her daughter to “meet a negative with a positive,” even when somebody is trying to bring her down. And although this instance seemed like one of the more disheartening ones that Promise has faced after starting at a new middle school a few weeks prior, her video proved that she took her mom’s advice to heart.
“The video was made at that point, like she’s really taking a stance,” Daugherty tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “The immediate family was more proud of that moment, but we had no idea the impact that it was gonna make and the amount of messages.”
As of Thursday evening, the video has more than 8,000 comments, with sweet sentiments about Promise, such as: “Wow..this young lady is phenomenal,” and “You are beautiful. Wear your natural crown with pride.”
Others have praised Daugherty for teaching her daughter positive self-talk writing, “Your mother taught you well.”
“It’s impacted people in so many different ways,” Daugherty says of the comments and direct messages she has received. “It’s made a huge impact behind the scenes that has blessed me personally.”
Still, Daugherty jokes that Promise doesn’t understand just how influential her words are. Instead, the 10-year-old is just excited about the millions of views.
“I just tell her don’t focus on the numbers,” Daugherty says. “We’re not focused on the numbers. Let’s find a way we can be impactful behind this and make an influence and inspire people. That’s all we want.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Toddler allegedly returns home from daycare with braid ripped off scalp: 'This is a lawsuit'
Teen denied Six Flags job because of 'extreme hairstyle' gets scouted by modeling agency
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
