#ShesGotVERVE — Why We Love Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith has got a lot going on. The actor, director, producer, singer, author, philanthropist, entrepreneur, humanitarian, and self declared womanist is constantly walking her talk.
Smiths latest project “Red Table Talk” is a series of conversations between Smith, her daughter, and her mother. What makes the show so riveting is how frankly and fearlessly Smith, Willow, and Banfield-Norris tackle some of today’s most pressing issues and never shy away from life’s cold hard truths.
“One of the reasons why I have such a difficult time with the feminist movement — why I don’t call myself a feminist and I call myself a ‘womanist’ instead — is because of the history of the feminist movement…….How the feminist movement began and how the DNA still exists and how it’s still focused on, really, middle class white women.”
- Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk
Aired on Facebook Watch these three generations of black American women share their personal experiences and perspectives on subjects that most of us can relate to with episodes like “Body Confessions! Jada Tells All At The Table”, “Facing Addiction: Jada & Adrienne Share Their Family’s Story”, “The Racial Divide: Women of Color & White Women”, “Domestic Abuse: When Love Turns Violent”, “Does Porn Ruin a Relationship”, and “Confronting Mental Illness”.
Smith’s activism went big in 1996 when Smith and her husband founded The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation to recognize and address the hardships faced by urban inner-city youth and families. The empowerment of women and girls, especially black women and girls, is a theme that runs through all of Smith’s philanthropy and put her book “Girls Hold Up The World” on the New York Times bestseller list.
“I just think, as women, we have to give ourselves room to be individuals. So when a woman makes a decision for herself, we as women shouldn’t set those hardcore boundaries for another woman. Just like we don’t want men setting hardcore boundaries for us.”
— Jada Pinkett Smith
Smiths dedication to educating Americans about the epidemic of human trafficking led her to partner with CNN to produce the award-winning TV documentary “Children for Sale”. Soon after she went on to create the initiative “Don’t Sell Bodies” which provides hotlines, support and access to information for victims. The site is a font of education for the uninformed on how to identify those living in slavery and what can/should be done to help them.
Smith’s philanthropic work and her tireless efforts to reach out and lift up others are both effective and inspiring which is why we’re adding her name to our long list of phenomenal women who’ve got truckloads of VERVE.
#ShesGotVERVE
Article by VERVE Founder & CFO (Chief Feminist Operative) Anna Quick-Palmer
Originally published on www.verveup.com
