Mj Rodriguez Hosts an Event With H&M For LGBTQ+ Students

Mj Rodriguez and H&M Team Up to Empower LGBTQ+ Youth: "The Conversation We Had Was Beautiful"

Talented Pose actress, singer, and history-making Emmy nominee Michaela Jaé, aka Mj Rodriguez, continues to spread her wisdom through all her various projects. She recently partnered with H&M to host LGBTQ+ students at a "Fresh and Fabulous For the Fall" fireside chat. There, she spoke with Elle Moxley, executive director and founder of The Marsha P. Johnson Institute (a nonprofit that protects the rights of Black transgender people), about the beauty in all our various identities, empowering 20 NYC-based students, ages 14-24, ahead of their returns to school. Moxley's first feature film, Black Beauty, was screened, sparking a conversation about what can happen when we challenge ourselves to reimagine conventional ideas of beauty.

Image Source: Getty / Dia Dipasupil

"My younger self would've had a ball creating the many looks that represented how she felt."

H&M treated everyone to a shopping spree and a salon moment, providing hair and makeup, too, and Mj told POPSUGAR the importance of including this feel-good segment at the event. "Clothing, shopping, and fashion was a huge part of my life. Clothing was how I expressed my identity and were the pieces to my puzzle, no matter how many times I want to take it apart and put it back together again. I remember when I was younger, I would buy clothes and tailor them myself simply just to have a fit that made me feel most comfortable. To see that H&M has all of the fashion that I craved as a youth, my younger self would've had a ball creating the many looks that represented how she felt."

This isn't the first time H&M has partnered with industry leaders to empower students; Mj was actually the star of the retailer's Pride campaign this past June. "[She] was a natural fit to uplift students and instill confidence in advance of school starting in the coming weeks," the brand said, having outfitted the star in H&M's Studio AW21 Collection, a blue denim two-piece that Mj chose specifically to "reflect confidence, comfort, and courage, something that youth have innately, and that I know they will continue to grow."

Image Source: Getty / Dia Dipasupil

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