Meet the up-and-coming social media content creator who uses her platform to change opinions on issues such as colourism in the Bangladeshi community and growing up with two different cultures.
The first time that she experienced discrimination because of the colour of her skin, Soraya Assadar was only eight years old. What was even more shocking was that these comments came from members of her own cultural community. While visiting a friend’s house one evening, an older boy told her that she could not be related to her sisters, because she was too dark.
“My sisters were ‘fortunate’ to fit the standard of Bangladeshi beauty. They were fair, they had sharp noses and they were slim. That comment stuck with me while growing up and it made me realise the obsession that my community had for fairer skin,” she writes on her YouTube channel.
Following the Black Lives Matter protests in London last year, the 27-year-old from East London decided that it was time to speak up about the issues in her own community. “Sometimes I get anxiety about not having my voice heard,” she says to me on our FaceTime call. She set up her YouTube account ‘SorayaSays’ in June 2020, releasing her first video about how common colourism is in the Bangladeshi community, how it links to racism, and what we can do to change it. Towards the end of the video, she begins to speak in Bangla dialect, “Please show this next clip to your parents,” she says, as she translates her video and pleads with the older generation to stop using hurtful terms towards those with darker skin tones.
It was important for her to address the older generation in her video, because she wanted to be a bridge between the older and younger community, “A lot of Bengali kids have a language barrier with their parents,” she says, “which means these important issues aren’t spoken about.” This is the case for many British-Bangladeshi children, as we find it harder to communicate in our mother tongue, while also speaking English growing up.
Despite her continuing activism on social media, she speaks about the responsibility of creating content, working full time as a financial advisor, and being a mother. “It’s actually really hard to juggle everything, social media’s more of a hobby at the moment but I’d love to do it full time one day.” She plans to discuss issues deemed taboo to speak about in her community such as, marrying outside of the race and abusive relationships. “You have to get timings right though, if I were to post a video when a certain topic was viral on Twitter, it would stay in people’s minds longer,” she explains, “but it can be hard when I have work and I’m looking after my daughter.” As if on cue, five minutes later, a three-year-old girl with wavy hair pops up on the screen, “See this is what I mean,” Soraya exclaims. Our chat continues with the little one in her arms.
The positive reaction to her videos and Instagram posts are a comfort for Soraya, “It shows how advanced the younger generation are in their mindset and how we’re trying to be more progressive,” she tells me. “Sometimes I am afraid to speak about certain things, but I’ve come to a point where I don’t need people’s approval, so it’s easier for me now.”
Towards the end of our call, we discuss the difference between social media influencers and content creators. “The phrase social media influencer was always a bit confusing,” she says, “I thought it would be about influencing people’s mindset and talking about life experiences, that’s what I want to do. I wouldn’t say I’m an influencer, more of a content creator.” Soraya plans to release a video discussing marriage later this year and looks forward to seeing the growth of her channel as she delves into a variety of topics.
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