10-Year-Old Bullied for Her Dark Skin Becomes Role Model and T-Shirt Designer

Kheris Rogers is only 10, but she’s already launching a fashion line — and inspiring others in the process.

However, the preteen’s path to success stemmed from severe bullying she endured because of the color of her skin. In fact, the teasing got so bad at her Los Angeles school that she had to transfer to a new one. Things took a turn following this fresh start — but it was her sister, Taylor Pollard, posting a tweet featuring several striking photos of Kheris in a floral dress with her hair styled naturally that really made the biggest difference.

The tweet, which Pollard captioned “My sister is only 10, but already royalty,” has been liked more than 83,000 times and received thousands of positive comments.

“After Kheris received many dm’s and emails of people sharing their story growing up as a person of color, it made her feel more confident in who she was,” Pollard tells Yahoo Beauty. “She soon realized that colorism is a global issue, versus an issue that only she deals with.” And Kheris agrees. She says that knowing her experience has been shared by many “is the best feeling in the world!” She adds, “I used to think I was the only person that felt this way, but people have been sharing their stories, and now I know I’m not alone.”

Pollard notes that it was this realization that led “Kheris to want to keep speaking out and addressing colorism.” So Kheris and her family launched an Instagram account called @kherispoppin to share even more stunning photos of the young girl.

But beyond social media, where Kheris is featured in fan art and photos with empowering messages, is a new line of T-shirts called Flexin’ In My Complexion. “People were asking on my page when was I going to make shirts, so I asked my mom and she said sure. We made about 20 of them, and they sold out in a few minutes,” she shares.

Rogers explains that Flexin’ In My Complexion was launched to let other people of color know that there is beauty in all skin tones. While Kheris is herself inspiring, she looks up to her mom, sister, and Zendaya. “I always see her on social media standing up for what she believes in,” Kheris explains. “She is also an actress, model, and designer, as I aspire to be.”

How does Kheris feel about bullying now? “Those behaviors do still happen from some of my schoolmates, and it makes me sad and hurts my feelings,” she says. “But, I mostly get compliments from adults and people on social media telling me how pretty my skin color is.”

Things can only keep getting better for Kheris!

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

• Model Who Was Bullied for Her Dark Skin Stars in Another Make Up For Ever Campaign
  

• Dark-Skinned Model Gives Her Uber Driver a Reality Check: ‘Beautiful Melanin’ Is ‘a Blessing’
  

• Why Are People So Bothered by a Colorful Photo of 5 Black Women?

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