Yara Shahidi Stars in Beyoncé's Ivy Park Campaign (and Reveals How They First Met)

By Andrea Cheng
Updated Feb 01, 2017 @ 5:30 pm
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OK, so in other, non-pregnancy-related news, Beyoncé just unveiled the spring 2017 campaign of her athleisure line Ivy Park (not as exciting as twins, but it's up there). And it's a pretty badass campaign, starring badass women (the theme is all about female empowerment, after all), who embody the strength and perseverance that it takes to achieve goals: Black-ish actress (slash fashion darling, slash scholar, slash philanthropist—see: Yara's Club, a partnership with the Young Women's Leadership Schools) Yara Shahidi, and models Selah Marley and Sophie Koella.

We had so many questions: Was Beyoncé on set? How did they find out about the campaign? (And did they know Beyoncé was pregnant?) We turned to 16-year-old star Shahidi to give us the scoop. "I got an email from her team and they said something along the lines of, Beyoncé wants you in this Ivy Park campaign. It was a very exciting moment," she tells us. "I was like, that is probably the most fabulous sentence I will hear in my life."

It only took a couple of hours, Shahidi reveals. It happened at the end of a Black-ish work day. She wore a giant oversize sweatshirt ("There's nothing more fitting than an oversized sweatshirt—quite honestly that's all I ever want to wear," she comments), and she listened to Beyoncé's "Forward" feat. James Black to get into her element (though she says sometimes she needs "trap music, and then there are moments when you want to listen to Prince or George Michael"). And no, Beyoncé wasn't on set, though they've met before.

"I met her at the White House Easter Egg Roll last year—that was a very cool moment," Shahidi recalls. "I was with the entire Black-ish cast, my entire family, we had just met the Obamas, and I went to say hi to my friends Chloe and Halle and give them a big hug. And then I noted an ethereal vision behind me—it was just an introduction, but it was definitely the icing on the cake."

Ethereal vision—yep, that does sound like Beyoncé. Scroll through to see the rest of the Ivy Park spring 2017 campaign.

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Beyoncé in the Ivy Park Spring 2017 Campaign

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Beyoncé in the Ivy Park Spring 2017 Campaign

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Yara Shahidi in the Ivy Park Spring 2017 Campaign

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Yara Shahidi in the Ivy Park Spring 2017 Campaign

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Selah Marley in the Ivy Park Spring 2017 Campaign

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Selah Marley in the Ivy Park Spring 2017 Campaign

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Sophie Koella in the Ivy Park Spring 2017 Campaign

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By Andrea Cheng