Artist Cherelle Brown designs new Black History Month badge

To mark Black History Month this year, Girlguiding has released a new badge for girls across the UK to celebrate the impact of heritage and culture of Black women.

Black History Month is about celebrating the culture, heritage, achievements and voices of Black people. Each year, Girlguiding creates a new badge to mark Black History Month, and this year the badge was designed by illustrator Cherelle Brown.

Cherelle has been drawing since she was a child and found early inspiration in illustrators such as Nick Sharratt. The badge is inspired by the sisterhood and bonding moments shared with friends and family while doing each other’s hair.

“It was just such a lovely bonding process that we took for granted when we were younger,” Cherelle said. “Although we still get our hair done, we tend to go to hair salons more often nowadays, we don’t really get our friends or whoever we’re close with to do it. I just liked that aspect of being younger, that sisterhood, and the bonds that you create in the conversations you have when you’re having your hair done“.

Cherelle's passion for art led her to study accessories and handbag design at university. However, illustration remained her true calling. She faced challenges in staying true to her brand in her earlier days, after being asked to change her designs. Cherelle said, “I needed to stay true to my own brand and stick with it even if people weren’t getting it at that time”.

Cherelle emphasises the importance of remaining faithful to your vision in her advice to girls who want to pursue a career in illustration. She said,

“Stay true to what you like and what you think is beautiful in your creations. Have fun with what you’re doing, don’t worry about other people’s opinions on your work. Creating art, drawing or illustrating is all about expressing yourself. So have fun with it and stay focused on your vision!”

When asked what message she hopes every girl and young woman takes away from her badge, Cherelle’s advice was: “'Embrace the simple moments you have in your friendships and sisterhoods! A lot of the time society leads you to believe you have to go out and do extravagant things with your friends- when actually those sacred moments so often happen when you’re just spending time together relaxing. So, embrace those simple moments!”

In the UK, Black History Month takes place every year during October. It’s a chance to spotlight the incredible impact of the culture, heritage and achievements of Black people.

As the UK’s largest youth organisation dedicated to girls, Girlguiding strives to be a place where all girls feel welcome, free to be themselves, and have an equal sense of belonging. Girlguiding has collaborated with the Black Curriculum to create a series of unit meeting activities (UMAs) focused on Black, African and Caribbean culture and representation.*