Danai Gurira is celebrating Ladies Day by ensuring her voice is heard. The playwright, actress, and activist made her way to the United Nations Observance of International Women s Day in New York this morning—an event at which she was slated to speak—in modern warrior guise, her buzz cut paired with a swipe of unapologetically bold pink lipstick.
Gurira s career is one built on female empowerment, every move serving to pave the way for legions of females to follow. Consider her take The Walking Dead s resident badass Michonne; her self-penned Broadway show Eclipsed, which follows five women and their struggle for survival during the end of the Second Liberian Civil War; her interpretation of General Okoye in the boundary-breaking film Black Panther; and her recently announced plans to pen a screenplay (along with Lupita Nyong o) for feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best-selling novel Americanah, and it quickly becomes clear that Gurira is at the creative forefront of the modern women s movement.
Today, rather than reaching for the crimson lipstick that dominated the red carpet in an unanticipated show of solidarity at this year s Golden Globes, Gurira s makeup statement of choice centered on a bold fuchsia iteration and matching blush that reaffirmed why power and femininity are synonymous. In a recent interview, the actress offered a laconic summary: “Do we want to progress? If we want to progress, let women be all they can be. Don’t get in their way.” When in doubt, an application of lip-level armor may just help you speak your truth—and blaze your own trail.
