Recently, I’ve had a few conversations about authenticity and perception, how it is hard, almost impossible to be your authentic self if you’re afraid of being perceived. “What will people say?” “What will people think of me?” are often questions a person asks themselves in attempt to combat the inevitable. But what if the only “perception” that mattered was yours? What if a life of creativity and self-expression was waiting for you on the other side of your fear of being perceived?

Society makes it hard not to fear perception; this looming temptation has increased my awareness and gratitude for people who are authentically themselves, fear of perception be damned! I can spot someone who’s more afraid of NOT being their authentic selves a mile away, and I’d like to share with you all who I saw.

Kedren, or should I say, one of the best examples of "the richness of authenticity", is a creative gift I've admired for quite some time. Before I'm an artist, I'm human, and I respect people who own their humanity, while sharing with the world their curated wonderland.

Kedren is an extremely special, model, reseller, and style curator who is paving the way for himself and other Black fashion creatives in the city of Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. I am genuinely a fan of Kedren, and I mean it when I say it; greatness cannot be contained, it can only be spread.

Kedren's use of color theory, backgrounds in his photoshoot selections/curations, creative direction, and his one-of-one fashion sense will take him further than a sentence can run on, and I cannot wait to see it.

Kedren is a fashion talent, an artist, and an example that is here to soar, and the world is in for an "inspiring awakening".