When looking at Tenicka Boyd’s Instagram and TikTok pages, it’s clear the fashion influencer is a fan of color. Followers can expect to see all colors of the rainbow through Boyd’s daily outfit posts.
Boyd’s inclination for bold colors wasn’t always a hallmark of her style. The fashion influencer spent the last 15 years working in social justice, most recently serving as an executive at the American Civil Liberties Union and previously working at organizations like Color of Change and at the White House under the Obama administration, where she stuck to a uniform of neutral outfits.
“I live a colorful life and I embrace color,” she explained. “I think it’s really important, especially for the way we think about and express happiness and joy at such a time like this. I started in a personal way just trying to break out of the mode. I would add a colorful bag to my all-black work outfit, or I would add some sienna burnt orange pants to an all neutral palette.”
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At the beginning of the pandemic, Boyd started experimenting with colorful outfits on Instagram and slowly transitioned also to TikTok once she saw that video content was resonating the most with her following. Her colorful outfits plus her lifestyle and travel content led to a steady increase in her follower count, which is now over 700,000 on Instagram and TikTok combined.
“What TikTok and video content is doing is it opened up the floodgates of what is possible,” Boyd said. “People are really craving authenticity, so I think that’s really my strategy. It’s all about connecting and building community with people and really helping people see that wearing color is also just a way that we can express ourselves and it can be chic, fabulous and really fashion-forward in a way I don’t think a lot of people really utilize because they’re used to a monotone uniform that Instagram really piloted when I was coming out of college.”
Boyd builds this community also through being vulnerable and sharing snippets of her life with her followers, like talking about setting boundaries with family and staying present.
She makes a point to use her platform and influence to advocate her social justice work, sharing organizations she supports and speaking out on causes that are important to her.
“Social justice is just how I grew up,” she said. “It’s how I see the world. It’s my moral compass and it’s just who I am. I talk about criminal justice reform, police reform and about all the things that matter to me. I weave it into my passions. I just want to show up online as a full person — as someone who is deeply affected by things that are happening in the world, wrongs that are happening in the world and I wanted to continue to lend my voice and not only make people aware, but steer them toward organizations that are really improving some of the conditions of the people around us.”
Boyd’s social media presence has drawn the attention of many brands that have tapped the influencer for partnerships, such as Lulus, Nina Shoes, Anthropologie, Aerin Beauty and Amazon, which is working with Boyd on a second collection for The Drop, the company’s fashion arm that produces collections with influencers and celebrities.
The influencer’s second collection, which will be released on Thursday, is a restock of her first collection and includes previous styles in new colors. The initial lineup focused on an orange hue, and now offers the spring pieces like puff-sleeved tops, midi dresses and wide-legged trousers in yellow, blue and purple. The limited-edition collection offers sizes ranging from XXS to 3X and is priced from $54.90 to $79.90.
“It’s all about a colorful life and enjoying the ways we can allow color into our lives,” Boyd said about the collection and her social media strategy. “I love to think about just the way we think about leisure and reclaiming leisure in our lives — just breaking out of some of those social norms we’ve been programmed to think. I know so many of us talk about all the ways the pandemic has changed our life, but the pandemic has really allowed me to step into my own identity and really enjoy the things that I love the most out loud.”
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