Model Lori Harvey Puts Herself on a Pedestal for Essence’s ‘Black Love’ Issue

Donning a necklace and a “self-ish” attitude, model Lori Harvey stuns on the January/February cover of Essence.

In the spirit of the magazine’s Black Love issue, the 25-year-old SKN by LH founder is emerging from all the rumors and attachments, and focusing on her inner happiness.

“This moment is about me,” Harvey told Essence. “I feel like it’s always been about me attached to something or someone. This time, it’s about me. Self-love, self-care, self-reflection. I’m being a little self-ish right now. It’s my time.”

The spread, shot by Emmanuel Sanchez Monsalve and styled by Yashua Simmons, captures Harvey’s charismatic nature. She poses in a chair wearing white briefs, an oversized white furry coat, and black heels in one photograph. Another shot shows her in a black Dior dress, surrounded by champagne glasses.

Though the imagery speaks a thousand words, Harvey opened up about navigating her relationships with Black love and womanhood, all in the public eye. Headlines in the past have featured her tumultuous break up with Michael B. Jordan. More recently, social media chatter suggested that Harvey might even make her dating prospects sign $1 million non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to prevent them from talking about her romantic life, BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported.

 

Harvey, who prides herself on being a private person, told Essence that she wants people to see that she is just a “young woman trying to figure it out.”

“Every decision that I have made has got me to the place that I’m at in my life, as a woman—and the mindset that I’m in, and the growth that I’ve made, and this level of clarity and maturity,” Harvey explained.

“So I don’t think I would say I regret anything.” 

Self-love is the mantra behind Harvey’s magazine spread: “Love yourself. Put yourself on the highest pedestal, and don’t ever come down.”

“I know my worth, and I know my value. I’m not going to compromise that, or settle, or accept anything less than what I know I deserve,” she added.