Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock nominated for an Ethnicity Award

Little Mix singers Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock have been nominated in the 'Inspirational Personality' category at this year's Ethnicity Awards after their monumental support during the Black Lives Matter protests.

Both Jade and Leigh-Anne attended the protests in London earlier this year, following the tragic death of American man George Floyd, as well as using their social media platforms to educate their followers on the important matter.

The 'Touch' singers have been shortlisted alongside the likes of John Boyega, John Barnes and Kunal Nayyar, with votes now open.

As well as attending the BLM protests and appearing on Channel 4 documentary The Talk to discuss how she's dealt with racism, Leigh-Anne also emotionally opened up in an online video where she documented how racism has affected her time in Little Mix.

Uploading a five-minute video of herself candidly speaking, Leigh-Anne recalled the moment she was told by choreographer Frank Gatson during the 'Wings' video shoot that she would have to 'work 10 times harder' because of the colour of her skin.

She said, "He said to me, ‘You’re the Black girl, you have to work 10 times harder.’ Never in my life had someone told me I would need to work harder because of my race.”

Leigh-Anne then added, “Later on, what Frank Gatson said made sense. I learned that the dream of being in the biggest girl band in the world came with its flaws and consequences. Consequences such as knowing about the existent underlined racism in the creative industries.

“You learn to understand you can’t be seen to be too loud or too opinionated otherwise you’re deemed a diva or aggressive. You learn that by walking into a room you are deemed unapproachable or offish before anyone has even approached you. You learn that by voicing your opinion about the lack of diversity within the industry is like smashing your head against a brick wall.”

As well as this, 29-year-old Leigh-Anne is also currently working on a one-off documentary for the BBC called Leigh-Anne: Colourism & Race.

Speaking about the one-off documentary, Leigh-Anne said, "Conversations surrounding racism and colourism are something I constantly have with my boyfriend and family.

"Systemic racism is complex; through making this documentary I want to learn how I can best lend my voice to the debate so that the young people who look up to me won't have to face what me and my generation have had to."

Now check out Leigh-Anne relationship timeline with her fiancé Andre Gray:

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• Leigh-Anne Pinnock
• Jade Thirlwall
• Little Mix
• Black Lives Matter