Keeping it Real with Tia Mowry

Fabienne Fleurantin/Staff Writer

Tia Mowry kept it real as she made an appearance at BBC. SGA hosted its Lecture Series featuring Tia Mowry, who spoke about topics ranging from her childhood career, to struggles in Hollywood and her current pursuits.

Walking in to the view of an eager crowd, Mowry did not disappoint. She captured the crowd with her wit as well as her humble air and disclosed secrets to how she kept herself honest throughout her time in Hollywood, as well as how she dealt with all the criticisms along the way.

Mowry has been involved with so many projects in the past twenty years and never ceases to create a new momentum for her drive and overall success.

From when she got her start on the hit comedy series “Sister Sister,” where she appeared alongside her twin sister, Tamera, to hosting her own cooking show, “Tia Mowry at Home,” she exceeded the bounds of expectation and refused any labels anyone or anything may have assigned her.

On one of her current projects, “Mostly Mom,” which is a podcast that airs weekly on podcastone.com, has become quite controversial. Kerry Washington had a photo taken in the magazine, Ad Weekly, where she was Photoshopped to the extent of being virtually unrecognizable.

This topic came up on her show and when Mowry heard this, she vowed to never Photoshop any of her pictures ever again. To her, this was a noble thing but not everyone held the same sentiment.

She received a lot of backlash for it and during the event, she spoke about how the ideals of beauty are subjective, yet society seems to make it a singular object that needs to be adopted by every individual.

“Embrace who you are. I think women come in all shapes and sizes, but I think a lot of the time, what happens is, you will see an actress or whoever, you know, on the cover of a magazine and what they do is, they morph and Photoshop the person to what they think society, what those standards are,” Mowry said. “I just feel like that opens up a can of worms with one narrow minded thought of what beauty is. Why do we have to be one look? Why do we have to be one size?”

Mowry also touched on how social media has brought bullying into a negative light and how this awful phenomenon has affected the lives of so many people.

“Bullying on social media is a whole other level than it is—you know, we’ve all been bullied before. But when you have millions and millions of people coming at you, saying mean things—why? What is the point?”

As for us college students, she shed some light on her experience at Pepperdine University and that it’s okay to be lost sometimes.

“Follow your passion. I think that’s the most important thing. It’s okay to change your major. If you find that you’re not enjoying it, if this isn’t speaking to you, if this [isn’t] calling you, it’s okay,” Mowry said.

She brought forth an in-depth perspective on her life by sharing it with many in the audience. She inspired me, as well as many others, as she spoke about embracing yourself, fighting for dreams and how important it is to nurture and maintain them. For people who may be going into the business of acting, she had a couple of words of encouragement.

“Don’t let the business define who you are. Do not let success define who you are. What defines you is your integrity, and your character and who you are as a person,” Mowry said.

Photos by Charlotte Alba // FIU Student Media