I love those moments when everything seems to be perfectly aligned. Earlier this month, the team at Ferragamo sent me an awesome pair of aviators with rainbows in the lenses telling me about the brand’s history with rainbows. Rainbow has been an iconic element for the brand since the 1930’s when Salvatore Ferragamo developed the rainbow wedge sandal for actress, Judy Garland. I was so excited to receive them, especially as my mom often calls me the “rainbow in her cloud.” This is from a quote often attributed to Maya Angelou which she in turn got from a 19th c. southern black song.

When it looks like the sun wasn’t going to shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the clouds.

How fitting as the first legend in my self-portrait series of Black Women in History was Maya Angelou.

She said this during an interview in 2011 on Oprah’s Masterclass.

We joke that London’s cloudy and rainy, but like Dr. Angelou, I’ve had so many rainbows during this last month here. For which I am so grateful. And, as I tear up when I’m on my flight back to NYC this week looking at cloudy London overhead, I can chicly cover my face with my Ferragamo sunglasses and call on my rainbow.

What are you going to do to be the rainbow in somebody’s cloud today?