AUTHOR SEEKS TO EMPOWER YOUNG BLACK GIRLS

Tamera Trimuel is the author of “Dear Black Girl, You Are IT!,” a book she hopes will inspire young Black women to use their gifts and talents to make a positive impact on the world. photo provided by Tamera Trimuel
Tamera Trimuel is the author of “Dear Black Girl, You Are IT!,” a book she hopes will inspire young Black women to use their gifts and talents to make a positive impact on the world. photo provided by Tamera Trimuel

 AUTHOR SEEKS TO EMPOWER YOUNG BLACK GIRLS

BY TIA CAROL JONES

     Tamera Elyse Trimuel is using her voice to empower and inspire
young Black girls with her book, “Dear Black Girl, You Are IT!” Trimuel, a senior at Marion Catholic High School, said the same message she had when she started her business, when she was 9-years-old, is the same message she has now. She said the message matured with her. Her business, Tamera’s Treasures, had the tagline, “Treasure the girl in you.”
     “It was to inspire young girls to treasure themselves, to love themselves, to realize their worth and walk in it,” she said.
     Trimuel made bracelets, t-shirts and treasure boxes to sell at different events.  She said when she started to get more involved in school and activities, she focused on the business less and less, but the message stayed with her. In 2018, she went to Disney Dreamers Academy, an annual four-day event where 100 young people connect with celebrities and top business professionals. “I just remembered realizing what I’m supposed to do there, and realizing I have a voice to inspire girls who look like me,” she said.
    Trimuel said when she returned home, she wanted to figure out
how she could take what she learned at Disney Dreamers Academy and use it to inspire other people. And, that’s how she got the idea to write “Dear Black Girl, You Are IT!”
      “In the climate we live in today, Black girls are undervalued, we don’t realize our own worth and people don’t realize it either. So, I wanted girls who look like me at my age to realize that they are
intelligent and triumphant, that they are beautiful, that they are worth every good thing that comes their way,” she said.
     Trimuel said it took her about a year and a half to write the book. She said it was therapeutic for her.
     “It was kind of like an empowering love letter to myself, but
in a way that can inspire other young girls,” she said.
     Trimuel said she came up with S.E.L.F. which stands for See
you, express you, love you, and free you, as something easy the
readers could remember. She said she wanted the book to be
in her voice.
   Trimuel says that she wants the young girls who read her
book learn how to love themselves like they never did before.
And, release themselves of negativity, toxic relationships and
anything that isn’t contributing to their peace. She wants them to
have a new view of themselves.
     Trimuel has launched “Dear Black Girl, You Are IT! A Conversation
on YouTube, available at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=kblaVgiFDfk
     “I really want them to walk away with a self-awareness and
self-love. I think as a Black girl, you see all these negative
representations of who we are, in social media and your everyday
life. We’re talked down to and we’re made to feel like we can’t
accomplish anything or that we’re not worth it and that we’re not beautiful,” she said. “When young girls read my book, I want
them to realize they are IT, and they are the opposite of what the world says they are. I really want them to see themselves as beautiful, I want them to use their gifts and talents to change the world and inspire other people.”
     The book costs $14.99 and is available at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.
     For more information on Trimuel, visit http://tameratrimuel.com/.

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