Left: Alashia Flora sits in her room behind her camera and LED ring light as she records a new video for her YouTube channel.
years. And in that time, she has come to know the stereotypes and obstacles she faces because of her appearance. Flora also knows the rush of overcoming such judgments and proving her critics wrong. In the classroom, she’s at the top of her game. With a small schedule, she only attends Grant on A-days. She fills her days off and weekends working at Old Navy and creating videos for her YouTube channel, “Alashia Allure.” The YouTube channel, she says, has helped her find her voice and gain independence; it’s proven to be a place of solace where she can interact with people outside the bubble of Grant High School and Portland. Flora was born in Portland on Aug. 8, 1998 to parents Patrice Flora and Yolanda McCowan. As a child, she was energetic and active. Her mother, Patrice Flora, says: “Anything that was basically athletic she liked to do as a kid; she was always a good kid.”
At just a few months old, her parents separated, but Flora says it hasn’t strained her relationships with either parent. “It’s pretty normal for me,” she says. “Like I don’t feel like sad or anything. Just because they are really good co-parents, like they are pretty much friends...It’s been pretty much the same as if they were together.” After her parents’ separation, Flora spent the majority of her time living with Patrice Flora, her older sister, Shawntavia, Flora and her older foster siblings, Ravell Sterling and Shalisa Jackson. Flora attended Faubion Elementary School where she spent her days in the classroom, glued to the arts and crafts table. Her afternoons were spent planted at the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods After School Program playing basketball, running track and taking cooking classes. She gained independence and was in charge of herself. But soon after, Patrice Flora’s position of 18 years at Kaiser Permanente was eliminated. So she and her 9-year-old daughter packed up their things, randomly picked a location and headed to North Carolina. The move was tough for Alashia Flora and her mother. Shawntavia Flora and her foster siblings stayed in Portland, leaving the duo on their own in a new place. For Alashia Flora, there was an added hardship leaving her other mother, Yolanda McCowan. “It was a sad moment for me. It was a sad moment because it wasn’t agreed upon that she would go there (and) stay with the other parent,” says McCowan. But it was also in North Carolina that Alashia and Patrice Flora formed the strong bond that they have today. On the weekends and days off from school, they would go out to get ice cream, go to the movies or more often than not, stay at home watching competitive cooking shows or HGTV. “I was able to actually spend some time with her…for the first time in my life,” says Patrice Flora. “I was able to take her to school and pick her up from school...We were able to sit down on the weekend and do some fun things without me being too tired from having all of those foster children and running here and there, so we became really close the entire time we were in North Carolina.” Additionally, Flora noticed a significant change in diversity. “It’s kind of like flipped; here it’s predominantly white, and there it’s predominantly black and Mexican,” says Flora. “I kind of feel that people there are more supportive…they kind of want us to succeed.” After seventh grade, Alashia and Patrice returned to Portland because Patrice needed to adopt Shawntavia’s son, Mahlik. But a year later, Flora was on the move again, this time to Tacoma, WA. There, she began her freshman year at Curtis High School. But the social aspect of school in Tacoma was difficult for Flora, says Patrice Flora. The students had formed strong cliques that excluded her daughter. Alashia Flora was alone. “Having to adjust every time I moved, it’s kind of like I would get used to something, and then it’s like OK we have to pack up and go. Having to adjust was difficult,” says Flora.
Senior Issue 2016
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