Jaylynn Powe (2005), born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, grew up navigating a highly sensitive childhood. Growing up as a Black girl felt ten times harder, especially being Black and a woman.

 

You grow up being masculinized for your features. Big nose. Big lips. Textured hair. You’re bullied for how you look, act, and what you’re into. Especially if you’re the “weird” kid, the Black girl who likes alternative styles, anime, things you’re told Black girls aren’t “supposed” to like.

 

Jaylynn battled all of that.
And it made her dislike herself.

 

Jaylynn hid her hair under wigs and beanies, carrying self-image and self-worth issues. The things she said to herself were destructive. She hated how damaging her thoughts became.

 

Things shifted in Jaylynn’s early 20s when she studied abroad in Florence, Italy, for five months. Being alone forced her to rely on herself, and that changed everything.

 

Jaylynn learned confidence. She began to love being a Black woman with a big nose, big lips, textured hair, and her gap. Jaylynn views her gap as a symbol of expressing herself freely without doubts.

 

Jaylynn has been drawing her whole life. Since she was a kid, she drew messily, not afraid to color outside the lines in coloring books. Lately, she’s been pulled back to that. Sketchy lines. Crayons. Child-like, raw, imperfect work. 

 

Powenique is Jaylynn showing her life as a Black woman, unfiltered. Messy, expressive, and honest.