Source: R1 / R1
March is dedicated to the celebration of Women all across the world. Celebrating Herstory highlights powerful women in our area who showcase their superhuman abilities on a daily basis.
Lady B sits down with Aziza Shuler from CBS 3, to talk about her life story, her motivation, and inspiration among other things.
Shuler was born in Virginia and was raised in Washington D.C.. She mentions her parents struggling with addiction early on in her childhood, in which she was placed in the foster care system where her and her other six siblings had to adjust to a new lifestyle.
Such much stress early on in her childhood allowed her to develop alopecia, an autoimmune disease that affects hair loss. She developed this condition at the age of 12 years old, and decided to wear a wig to remain comfortable in her skin.
While still trying to figure out her path in life, her father would always give her the blueprint to her career path whenever they saw each other.
“My father always told me I was going to be a journalist.” Shuler explained. “Even though I didn’t have a relationship with him as a child because of foster care. But whenever I did see him, we would have visitation, and he would embrace me in his arms and sit me on his lap and say ‘You’re going to be a journalist, a reporter, a writer, something of that nature and tell the stories of people like us, who come from certain communities or disadvantages and tell their stories and humanize them. Because we deserve to have a voice as well”
That always stuck with Shuler, and as she grew up in Washington D.C., she would often listen to black on-air personalities on the radio, and see black anchors on the news, so she knew the dream was obtainable.
Shuler graduated from UCLA and St. John’s University where she subsequently landed a job in Yuma, Arizona. From there she’s worked in Los Angeles, Capitol Hill, and now she is working as a news anchor in Philadelphia.
It was when she got to the east coast where she had the strength to embrace foreign territory. Shuler mentioned her boyfriend being a huge contributor to her being comfortable in her skin. During a trip to New York, she was encouraged by her partner to go out in public without her wig for the first time in her life. The experience was so invigorating, as she received a plethora of compliments from strangers on her look, essentially letting her know she was doing the right thing.
When Shuler returned to Philadelphia, she did not want to put back on the wig. She now viewed it as a hindrance, having to maintain one identity on camera, while being her true authentic self off camera.
“I went on vacation completely bald, and just having those periods of time where I could test it out and see how I felt. And I started getting comfortable”. Shuler explained. “Now when I go to Philadelphia I don’t wanna put that wig back on. It’s started feeling more like a burden — and that’s when I realized, ‘alright I think I’m ready to finally do this'”.
Check out the full interview below!
