Leah Vernon

Leah Vernon

Biography

Leah Vernon is a hijabi social media influencer with over a quarter-million viewers and an author of “Life Unfiltered”. During her master’s program, she started the blog, Beauty and the Muse, because there wasn't enough inclusion of everyday bodies in the media. As a young Black girl, she never felt like she belonged, which led to low self-esteem and eating disorders. Besides being a plus-size model and building social media platforms, she is an educator, public speaker, lecturing widely around race relations, feminism/sexuality, Islam/religion, body-image, education, cultural sensitivity. As keynote speaker she has spoken at Google, Lululemon, Columbia University, Stanford University, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence Public Library to name a few. University of Ottawa sponsored Leah V to speak at their Identities Summit. Dr. Ummni Khan stated, “countless attendees said that Leah’s presentation was the highlight for them. We were so honored to host her. Her presentation, comments, insight, creativity, generosity, beauty, pride, humor, spirituality, honesty, challenges…it was all just absolutely brilliant.” Leah V is a recipient of the esteemed Gilda Award and the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship. As an activist she been featured by Buzzfeed, Yahoo, CBS, CBC, Huffington Post, Seventeen Magazine, and the New York Times. In addition to landing national and international features, she's worked on projects with Adidas, Polaroid, Refinery 29, and NYLON magazine. By educating Leah V is bringing awareness and creating a safe space and starting the much needed conversation about identity, self-love, and acceptance in not only America but globally.

Sources