@milkmakeup

For #APIDAHeritageMonth, MMU content creator @iley.c (she/they) invited her friends to Milk Makeup HQ to discuss what community and identity mean to them. “I wanted to highlight the vast amount of stories that APIDA folks hold,” says Iley. “We are not a monolith, we are not the stereotypes that media portrays us to be, and we should not be treated as such. There is so much beauty and complexity that exists in APIDA stories and identities, I wanted to help create a space where we can be heard.” So what does community mean to Iley? “Community to me means coming as you are,” she says. “It’s finding a group of people who not only accept you, but also fully embrace you. It’s people who stick with you through the nitty gritty, push you in all the right ways, and hold you when things get difficult. It’s having people to celebrate the good, the bad, and the aggressively mediocre with.” Head to Instagram Stories to hear more from Iley’s community on the complexities and beauties of growing up APIDA in the diaspora.