Detroit blogger and model Leah Vernon releases memoir 'Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim'

Staff Pick

Leah Vernon is a ray of goddamn sunshine. - Eric Puschak
Eric Puschak
Leah Vernon is a ray of goddamn sunshine.

While Detroit-born twerking superstar Lizzo has become the #YasQueen totem for encouraging body positivity — especially for women of color — another metro Detroiter is furthering the conversation (and looks damn good doing it).

Style blogger, model, and public speaker Leah Vernon can now add author to her list, thanks to her healing and revealing memoir, Unashamed: Musings of a Fat Black Muslim. An evolution of her blog, Beauty and the Muse, where Vernon shares everything from how to tie a turban in just two minutes to her Brazilian bikini wax experience, Vernon’s memoir is a bit more intimate as it details divorce, mental illness, abuse, and her own love-hate relationship with her weight, race, and faith, as well as her lifelong self-acceptance hustle. (For the book launch, Vernon has requested guests to flex their best color-blocked or monochromatic look because everyone deserves to look and feel like their best selfie.)

Event runs from 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, at Playground Detroit; 2845 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; 313-649-7741; playgrounddetroit.com. Event is free, books will be available for purchase.


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