Today, Cari Champion is celebrating her birthday and we’re here to show her some love.
A former ESPN host, Cari stepped down after seven years on air, to pursue other endeavors and focus on her nonprofit foundation, Brown Girls Dream.
Supporting Black girls across the nation, Cari created BGD “as an informal support system for high potential young women of color,” the official site states, adding the mentorship program “seeks to level the playing field by pairing young leaders with multimedia industry veterans who are committed to helping them navigate through the early stages of their careers.”
Forever supporting her own, she’s also been very vocal throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, that disgusting Amy Cooper incident, and the George Floyd protests.
“So many of my friends that I’ve talked to are at a breaking point. They are fed up. They are tired. They are feeling marginalized, powerless, hopeless… ignored, silenced, but by the way, that’s nothing new. It’s a consistent feeling that happens way too often to people in our community,” she began in an IG TV video last week. “What Amy Cooper did has always happened, we just have cameras, right, to catch it.”
“We all know why she thought she could weaponize her fragility,” Cari continued. “We all know that Black men in America are often hunted and murdered. Police brutality… nothing new. You’ve seen all the videos circulating from 40 years ago with Black folks in tears, crying, fed up. But no matter what, we’re resilient and hopeful. That’s in our DNA to fight… to still push forward… to still be kind… to still exceed beyond expectations, even when we’re told we’re not that great.”
Cari Champion is an essential and ever powerful part of our community, who deserves all the love we can possibly give her. See her full message below and join us in hoping she’s having a beautiful day, all things considered.