When Jared first suggested that he had a cousin who did video content producing for a major beauty brand that I happen to love, and that he thought we should talk…I didn’t know what to think. I was nervous, and questioned whether or not I was really “ready” to interview a stranger. Despite my concerns, I knew that I wanted to talk about my experience with Basal Cell Carcinoma, a type of skin cancer I was diagnosed with and treated for back in 2015, and was not sure how to package it in a way that anyone would want to listen.

After watching a few of the videos Avelino had created, my heart melted into a warm salty puddle, and I knew I had to meet him. Avelino Pombo has been working in storytelling literally all of his life, and his insights are mind-blowingly refreshing. Hearing about his childhood as a new immigrant to America, I was struck by the impact art and drawing made on his ability to connect with people across language barriers. If little boys like him can take an impossible situation and expand and develop it into such a stunning life, I have more hope for the future.

Even though I can’t make a big deal about the company he currently works for, I hope you’ll take a minute to check out what they are doing for communities like Cancer Survivors, people with alopecia, Transgender/GNB and recently transitioned individuals with their Classes for Confidence series. Corporate initiatives can’t erase the complexities that arise when shopping at big box stores, and this is a multi-layered issue that I live with a lot of guilt and anxiety about,

But Avelino’s stunning stories about amazing individuals overcoming all of life’s adversities go a very long way toward making a person who has been marginalized, abused or discounted to know that they are not, in fact, alone. Representation Matters not merely as a saying or some bullshit meme to throw up for performative allyship, but because when we get to see ourselves in stories, we know we exist.

For too long, our world has operated with dangerous blinders on. We still don’t even have board books to buy for people having babies that aren’t full of pictures of little able-bodied white kids with antiquated definitions of families. It excites me to know that a big brand like $ephora is making an effort to show more versions and iterations of beauty, because, as Avelino says, “Beauty is what you define it to be.”

FULL TRANSCRIPT COMING SOON!