- My name is Kheris Rogers and I was
being bullied for my dark skin complexion.
I turned a negative into a positive
by making a clothing line called
Flexin' in my Complexion and it's blowin' up.
Now my family and I are going around speaking
to other kids who are also being
bullied but came out stronger.
This is Beyond Bullied.
Today we're meeting Lauren Lulu Williams.
She's a 16-year-old from Tennessee
who wore wigs to cover up a scalp condition
and her wig got ripped off her head in school
and then the kids posted the video on social media.
Since then she created a movement called
I Am Shame Free to encourage others
to love and accept themselves.
So come on in and get comfortable.
- Alright.
- So I wanna learn some fun facts about you.
- I don't know, I'm kind of like an open book.
I write a little, I play piano,
I've always wanted to be a dancer,
me and my mom have been putting together
kind of like a talk show and, let's see, I love photography.
- Cool!
I was bullied as well, I heard you were bullied.
Can you tell me a little bit about that?
- I think it started really in middle school
when girls would start throwing food at me behind my back
and then it progressed into high school
where this instant happened where this guy
decided that he was gonna take a $5 bet
to pull off my wig and so he ran past me,
tore it off, threw it down the hallway.
He had a girl that went in the bathroom
and videotaped me over the stall
like crying and trying to put my wig back on.
I was terrified.
That was one of my worst nightmares.
It was so bad that it gave me whiplash
and tore out two patches near the front of my head.
And I had to shave my head, but it was
one of the best decisions I've ever made.
- When you are a parent and you send your child
to school, the last thing you expect
is that they're gonna be in harm's way.
The entire time this was going on
with my daughter, no administration was around.
After my daughter finally got my other daughter,
they found her wig, came and brought it
to her, both of my daughters walked out
of the school and left the school.
I'm not trying to get emotional because, but it upsets me.
- It's an emotional time.
- Why do you think kids bully other kids?
- I think that kids bully other kids
because they're hurting inside.
It starts at home sometimes, so they go
and they channel all that towards another kid thinking,
oh this is gonna move the attention off me,
make me feel better about myself
and what I'm doing, so I'm just gonna go and bully this kid.
Hurt people hurt people.
- She's speaking facts, like straight up facts.
- I'm so proud of both of our daughters
because they did not take the violent route.
They said, let me take this incident
that happened to me and teach others
how to turn this into something positive,
how to bring attention to it, and hopefully
another child doesn't have to go through this.
- [Lulu's Mom] They took back their power and they said,
I'm not gonna allow you to determine my worth
or you to tell me how to feel about myself.
- What did you do after you were getting bullied?
- I made an organization that's called
I Am Shame Free and it's basically
all about showing that there's no need
to be ashamed of who you are or what you look like.
Shame Free to me is feeling free within yourself,
feeling like no one can hurt you
because you realize that, oh I love myself,
I am above this, I can overcome all this,
these things that people are saying about me.
And one of my quotes I've been saying is
beauty isn't defined by the number
of strands on your head, but by what's within,
and that kinda goes with girls feeling like they're not
beautiful because they don't have long, silky hair.
- So I have a special message from someone for you guys.
- Alright.
- Well hello there.
You guys both mean so much to me personally.
Do you know, I found both of you guys on Instagram?
I heard that you were being bullied
for your skin color and I'm like,
this is some of the most beautiful skin I have ever seen.
And Lulu, I heard your story about someone
rippin' off your wig and so I took off my wig
for a photo and showed the world
that we don't need those things to be beautiful.
And a little birdie, a fierce one,
told me that Lulu, you want to be a talk show host.
Well I have a little bit of advice for you.
You need to listen and stay present
and then you're gonna get an Emmy one day.
I'm so proud of both of you guys.
Alright, sending love!
- Aww! - Hey Tyra!
- Hey Tyra!
- Hold up, wait a minute, did that just happen?
Thank you and I love your story.
I love everything that you're doing
about bullying because you're putting
a message out there and it's just inspiring
to see other young black girls being successful.
What are you doing to accept yourself today?
♪ SoulPancake ♪