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A former Secret Service agent says she couldn t defend Michelle Obama from racist verbal attacks.
Evy Poumpouras told Insider she could do nothing when witnessing racist comments.
Poumpouras book, Becoming Bulletproof, details her time in the Secret Service.
The former Secret Service agent Evy Poumpouras says an upsetting part of her previous job was not being able to protect Michelle Obama from racist slurs or signs while on duty.
Poumpouras served on the presidential protective division for the first lady and President Barack Obama during their time at the White House. She also protected George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush during her 12 years in the Secret Service.
Still, she was able to recognize how special the moment was and found some silver linings in the process. “This time has allowed us to get some stolen moments back with our girls,” Mrs. Obama explained. “Those recaptured moments have meant the world to us, and I think they’ve made our relationships with our children even stronger.”
With family reunions, of course, comes shifting dynamics, especially when your children grow into adulthood. “There’s something about witnessing your children become adults and developing a different relationship with them,” she noted. “They didn’t come back into the house into the same set of rules because I didn’t want them to miss out on independence. They came back as young women, and our conversations are more peer-oriented than they are mother-to-daughter.”
Throughout the years, Michelle Obama has become a style icon.
Her stylist, Meredith Koop, has helped Obama become the noted fashion icon she is today.
Koop and Black professionals weighed in on the lasting impact of Obama s style and what it says about power dressing.
Daniella Carter said if she s learned one thing from Michelle Obama s style, it s what an unapologetic Black successful woman looks like even when there are people in the world spewing hate.
Carter is a Black trans activist and founder of the eponymous Guest Book which highlights creators of color.
She grew up in foster care but said seeing Obama suited-and-booted made her always remember that though she may not have had a mother who looked like her, she would learn to carry herself so that she and her future daughter could both grow up to be unapologetic Black, successful women.
Michelle Obama s Makeup Artist Reflects on Inauguration Day and Working With the Former FLOTUS
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Not every makeup artist can brag about having the pleasure of working with a first lady even Carl Ray, Michelle Obama s longtime makeup artist and chief MUA for Albolene, thought he was being pranked when he was offered the opportunity to work with her. One day, I received an email from the White House to audition for the position and do [her] makeup for an event, he told POPSUGAR. I thought the opportunity was a hoax at first, but lo and behold, it was real.
It’s Time To Talk About Kamala Harris, Colorism & Who Gets To Be First Refinery29 1/18/2021 Brea Baker
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and I have a few things in common. To start, we are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. the first (and
finest) historically Black sorority. Thirty years may separate our entrance into this sisterhood (Harris joined in the Spring of 1986; and I did in 2016), but we both had the honor of being a part of a community that centers us in a world that continues to push us to the back.
Aside from their success and Alpha Kappa Alpha membership, these “first” women and I have something else in common: we all have a light complexion that indisputably opens doors darker-skinned Black people historically haven’t been able to walk through. From the brown paper bag test to Hollywood casting that favors fairer skin, America is rooted in systems that reinforce colorism and protect narratives of white supremacy. Often, t