Aurora James has teamed with Johnnie Walker ahead of the midterm elections through the brand’s ‘First Strides’ initiative to elevate She Should Run’s mission of empowering women to imagine their name on the ballot during future elections.
Johnnie Walker is partnered with She Should Run, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that is helping women take bold steps toward a run for office. Together with Johnnie Walker, She Should Run has set the bold yet necessary goal to inspire 250,000 women to take their first strides toward public leadership by 2030.
‘First Strides’ Initiative
Johnnie Walker’s work to champion women is part of the brand’s broader ambitions through the ‘First Strides’ initiative, helping to close the gender gap in leadership and support the goals of ongoing partners IFundWomen and She Should Run in a collective effort to create parity for women in leadership positions.
She Should Run Video
Continuing this commitment, Johnnie Walker, Lilly Singh, and Aurora collaborated on a short video that serves as a message to encourage women to take a first step toward closing the gender gap and be part of a movement that helps get her on the ballot. Johnnie Walker and Aurora will be sharing the video across social platforms ahead of the midterm elections.
Johnnie Walker x Aurora James Merch
Furthering to fuel the conversation, Aurora created a custom sweatsuit in collaboration with Johnnie Walker and She Should Run that serves as a wearable message to voters this November that more women should consider a run for public office. Those who want to support can purchase the sweatsuit on Aurora’s website beginning Nov. 1st and proceeds will be donated to She Should Run.
During our interview, Aurora made several comments about who she felt inspired by, what has motivated her with Brother Vellies and what she decides to do in order to be heard and fight for self.
Interview with Aurora James
The Knockturnal: One question to start off is, you know, Johnnie Walker has started a partnership with She Should Run. And with their ‘First Strides’ initiative to help close the gender gap and leadership by empowering women to, you know, realize their potential to run for public office, I wanted to know, how has this partnership affected you? And what are you hoping to see form because of this initiative?
Aurora James: Oh, my gosh, well, I have to tell you, obviously, we’re just a few days out from the midterm elections, right? And so it’s weighing very heavily upon me. And I think, and I talk a lot about this, like, you know, my mentors over the years have actually been my friends, and other women in my circle, and some of them are absolutely crushing it, you know, following their dreams, doing their thing, so true to who they [are]. Like, why can this not be what our whole Cabinet and House feels like from a political perspective, right? And it’s a fascinating because, you know, when we’re growing up, there’s like, all these different things that we’re told that we could be, right? And that so rarely includes seats in office, right? Like, that just wasn’t, that wasn’t even on my list growing up, and my mom really did tell me, I could be anything that I wanted to be. And so personally, and those who are close to me know this, I spend a ton of time trying to convince the women in my own life to run for office. And I think the more we can close that gender gap, the better off we’ll all be. And so, I’m so excited just to be able to focus on that and have that conversation, be a part of Brother Vellies, and, you know, kudos to Johnnie Walker for really picking up that torch and pushing it forward and amplifying that message as well, because it’s critical.
The Knockturnal: Exactly, and I’m glad you brought that up, because it had me wondering what steps are needed, what steps should be taken in order to have this be a successful initiative? You know, the goal is to reach 250,000 by 2030. So what do you think, needs to be done in order to do that?
Aurora James: Honestly, we just have to talk more about it collectively. As women, especially also as women of color, right, and encourage each other. I feel like a lot of the giant leaps of faith that I’ve taken, I’ve felt confident to do because I had someone not even necessarily a group of people, just someone to encourage me, right? And then also like, when you see women being bold, being brave, taking a chance, running for office, support them.
We talk about Stacey Abrams, how much we all love Stacey Abrams, Stacey Abrams is running right now. You know, we need to be doing everything that we can to amplify her voice to call people from back home. I’m in Arkansas right now. Right? And it’s like, you know, listen, it’s easy in New York, it’s easy in LA, to sit at a dinner table and have a fairly fluid, cohesive conversations of everyone with the same political ideologies. But when we think about okay, at home, where we grew up at our high school, who are those friends we want to pick up the phone and call and convince them that their vote and that their greater participation is really going to make a huge difference, right? Because I think that we’ve been so indoctrinated to feel like we’re just one person, right? We’re just one vote. We’re just one idea. We’re just one hand being raised in a crowd, right? But what happens when you raise your hand to actually cheer another person on? Or do you say yes, me, right? Um, and so it’s really about, you know, being allies to each other as women, right? And then taking a step even beyond that. It’s how do we be co-conspirators, right, to make sure that we’re actually like, empowering, enabling, brainstorming with each other to help get to that number? Because when we do get to that number of 250,000, like, we will see a lot of changes in this country.
The Knockturnal: And what was it like working with Lilly Singh in this process too?
Aurora James: Um, it was amazing. Also, we’re kind of similar hometown. So that’s really cool. I’m so excited for you to see this video. It’s really great, right? And I think like, you know, the whole thing is about having fun, right? Like having fun, trying to inspire people to get out there and do it, and to think outside of their boxes. And when I think of some of the women in my own, you know, life who have run, right, like, these are not necessarily people that everyone grew up being like, oh, yeah, you’re going to run for office, right? And so, at what point do you decide that might be the thing that you want to do? Because by the way as women, we spend so much time advocating for, you know, our families and our own communities, right? And often that’s done in like a micro way. But…it’s in us, right? It’s in us, and we just really, so awesome. And I think that she’s so great at storytelling and getting a point across in a really organic and fun way. So I think you’re gonna really enjoy the video.
The Knockturnal: I’m excited to watch it… [As] a creative yourself – you’re a fashion designer, you make such beautiful clothes. How does it feel having collaborated with Johnnie Walker and She Should Run in order to create your midterm sweatshirt design?
Aurora James: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s about visibility, right? It’s like when you see things are out there more often, you start to normalize that idea more. So for me, I love to use fashion, as a vehicle, especially to send the message, right? I’ve been doing that since the very beginning, like to put lots of different messages out there into the world. And so putting this idea about women, meaning to run, and really focusing on, you know, She Should Run as an organization that’s doing this work and trying to amplify their work. And, you know, Johnnie Walker helping us do that, I think is so incredible. And personally, I love a sweatsuit, because I think it just speaks to being comfortable, right? Being in your own skin, being happy to show up exactly as you are. And I think that it’s really great. And I’m excited to just see it out there in the streets of New York, or the streets of LA, or maybe even the streets of Arkansas.
The Knockturnal: Oh, that’s awesome. When it comes to your line Brother Vellies, you use that as an inclusionary and sustainable brand in the fashion industry. And I was reading about some of the things that inspired you, for instance – well, you talked about how your mother introduced you to fashion, right? Could you speak a little bit more to that relationship and how her influence pushed you towards this industry?
Aurora James: Oh my gosh, sure. So I have a very complex relationship with my mother, as I’m sure most of us do. Um, but you know, she is an incredible, incredible, incredible human being who’s always been very unapologetically herself. And I write a lot about our relationship in my book, but she was adopted at birth. And so a huge part of her own journey to kind of understand other cultures, where she could be from, find connection – she used fashion as a tool to help her do that. And so from a very early age, we would sort of traveled to different places. And, you know, whether it was physically or like, literally, in books, and encyclopedias, or on television, just try to understand different types of traditional cultural apparel that were usually worn by women and why those groups chose to dress in that way. And, you know, even how they sourced their materials, right?
So my father was born and raised, raised in Ghana, and I also, I lost him when I was very little. And so I don’t have a relationship with his side of the family in Ghana. And so I started traveling in 2011, to a couple different countries in Africa – South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Namibia, and just looking for local artisans that were there and trying to understand what they were making and what their supply chain was, how they were sourcing things, right? Like, in America, we spend so much time talking about, like, “oh, we’re doing this. It’s sustainable, right?” In Africa, like they’re doing it in that way, because it’s what they know, right? And they’re working with animals, that they’re, you know, hunting and they’re eating their whole animal and using parts of it for a number of different things. And I really fell in love with a shoe called the vellies which is one of the very first shoes that sort of originated on that continent, started out with just being leather wrapped around your foot and then it evolved to being several pieces sort of tacked together. And then it got a Rubber Soul. And when British people came to Southern Africa, they saw that shoe, they fell in love with it, they brought it back up to the UK, renamed a desert boot and launched a company called Clark’s, which is, is fascinating. But that shoe shape is a traditional African shoe shape.
So I started Brother Vellies with the, with the goal of empowering traditional artisans, making the things that are part of their own culture. And, you know, it seems so different from what we got on the phone talking about, but it’s actually all the same, right? It’s like, what happens when you empower communities to take a hold of their own narrative, right, and to really push that narrative forward, and for other people to rally behind that, listen, understand, and be a support system. And I think, you know, that’s really what we’re kind of calling on this country to do right now. And that She Should Run has just been doing such a fantastic job, inspiring women to consider run for office, and I hope that I can be an ally to this whole next crop of women that we’re gonna see run.
The Knockturnal: Yeah, I hope so too. Because you know, one of your quotes, this is actually my last question – You said, once, “sometimes just existing, as you are as a revolutionary act”, and you find often that you have to fight and choose yourself in the industry, just in the space of where you exist, wherever you go.
Aurora James: Totally. Yeah, I absolutely, you know, agree with you. And I think, listen, the other thing is, like, it’s been really hard for a lot of us for this past few years, right? It’s been a tough political climate, right, it’s been tough with the pandemic. And, you know, continuing just to show up every day as yourself in certain spaces is incredibly taxing. I have, you know, coastal privilege where I don’t, you know, every day, I’m not directly faced with people who are very visually opposing my own belief systems and who I am in the world, I definitely hear about it all the time in social media, from people who disagree with my own viewpoints. But, you know, like, we also have to give each other credit and grace, right, for just having the strength to continue showing up as we are, because it hasn’t always been accepted, right? And we also can’t lose sight of all of the work, right, and all of the other women specifically who have shown up as themselves during more volatile times, and really fought for us to be able to, you know, have some of the experiences that we’re having today, have the conversation that you and I are having right now openly, and, you know, continue to pull their work forward and press on.
