0:00:00.801,0:00:03.616
I am from the South Side of Chicago,

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and in seventh grade,[br]I had a best friend named Jenny

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who lived on the Southwest[br]Side of Chicago.

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Jenny was white,

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and if you know anything about[br]the segregated demographics of Chicago,

0:00:17.360,0:00:20.496
you know that there are[br]not too many black people

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who live on the Southwest Side of Chicago.

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But Jenny was my girl

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and so we would hang out every so often[br]after school and on the weekends.

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And so one day we were[br]hanging out in her living room,

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talking about 13-year-old things,

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and Jenny's little sister Rosie[br]was in the room with us,

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and she was sitting behind me[br]just kind of playing in my hair,

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and I wasn't thinking too much[br]about what she was doing.

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But at a pause in the conversation,

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Rosie tapped me on the shoulder.

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She said, "Can I ask you a question?"

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I said, "Yeah, Rosie. Sure."

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"Are you black?"

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(Laughter)

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The room froze.

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Silence.

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Jenny and Rosie's mom[br]was not too far away.

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She was in the kitchen[br]and she overheard the conversation,

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and she was mortified.

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She said, "Rosie! You can't[br]ask people questions like that."

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And Jenny was my friend,[br]and I know she was really embarrassed.

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I felt kind of bad for her,[br]but actually I was not offended.

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I figured it wasn't Rosie's fault[br]that in her 10 short years on this earth,

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living on the Southwest Side of Chicago,

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she wasn't 100 percent sure[br]what a black person looked like.

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That's fair.

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But what was more surprising to me was,

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in all of this time I had spent[br]with Jenny and Rosie's family --

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hanging out with them,

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playing with them,

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even physically interacting with them --

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it was not until Rosie[br]put her hands in my hair

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that she thought to ask me if I was black.

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That was the first time I would realize

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how big of a role the texture of my hair[br]played in confirming my ethnicity,

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but also that it would play a key role[br]in how I'm viewed by others in society.

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Garrett A. Morgan[br]and Madame CJ Walker were pioneers

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of the black hair-care and beauty[br]industry in the early 1900s.

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They're best known as the inventors[br]of chemically-based hair creams

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and heat straightening tools

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designed to permanently,[br]or semipermanently,

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alter the texture of black hair.

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Oftentimes when we think[br]about the history of blacks in America,

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we think about the heinous acts

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and numerous injustices[br]that we experienced as people of color

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because of the color of our skin,

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when in fact, in post-Civil War America,

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it was the hair of an[br]African-American male or female

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that was known as the most[br]"telling feature" of Negro status,

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more so than the color of the skin.

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And so before they were staples

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of the multibillion-dollar[br]hair-care industry,

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our dependency on tools and products,

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like the hair relaxer[br]and the pressing comb,

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were more about our survival[br]and advancement as a race

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in postslavery America.

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Over the years,[br]we grew accustomed to this idea

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that straighter and longer[br]hair meant better and more beautiful.

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We became culturally obsessed

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with this idea of having[br]what we like to call ...

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"good hair."

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This essentially means:

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the looser the curl pattern,[br]the better the hair.

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And we let these institutionalized ideas[br]form a false sense of hierarchy

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that would determine[br]what was considered a good grade of hair

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and what was not.

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What's worse is that[br]we let these false ideologies

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invade our perception of ourselves,

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and they still continue[br]to infect our cultural identity

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as African-American women today.

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So what did we do?

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We went to the hair salon[br]every six to eight weeks,

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without fail,

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to subject our scalps[br]to harsh straightening chemicals

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beginning at a very young age --

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sometimes eight, 10 --

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that would result in hair loss,

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bald spots,

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sometimes even burns on the scalp.

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We fry our hair at temperatures[br]of 450 degrees Fahrenheit or higher

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almost daily,

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to maintain the straight look.

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Or we simply cover our hair up[br]with wigs and weaves,

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only to let our roots breathe in private

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where no one knows[br]what's really going on under there.

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We adopted these practices[br]in our own communities,

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and so it's no wonder[br]why today the typical ideal vision

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of a professional black woman,

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especially in corporate America,

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tends to look like this,

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rather than like this.

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And she certainly doesn't look like this.

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In September of this year,

0:05:25.320,0:05:27.816
a federal court ruled it lawful

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for a company to discriminate[br]against hiring an employee

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based on if she or he wears dreadlocks.

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In the case,

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the hiring manager in Mobile, Alabama

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is on record as saying,

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"I'm not saying yours are messy,

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but ...

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you know what I'm talking about."

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Well, what was she talking about?

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Did she think that they were ugly?

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Or maybe they were[br]just a little too Afrocentric

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and pro-black-looking for her taste.

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Or maybe it's not about Afrocentricity,

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and it's more just about[br]it being a little too "urban"

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for the professional setting.

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Perhaps she had a genuine concern[br]in that they looked "scary"

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and that they would intimidate[br]the clients and their customer base.

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All of these words are ones[br]that are too often associated

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with the stigma[br]attached to natural hairstyles.

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And this ...

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this has got to change.

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In 2013,

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a white paper published by the Deloitte[br]Leadership Center for Inclusion,

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studied 3,000 individuals[br]in executive leadership roles

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on the concept[br]of covering in the workplace

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based on appearance,[br]advocacy, affiliation and association.

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When thinking about[br]appearance-based covering,

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the study showed

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that 67 percent of women[br]of color cover in the workplace

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based on their appearance.

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Of the total respondents who[br]admitted to appearance-based covering,

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82 percent said that it was[br]somewhat to extremely important

0:07:14.120,0:07:17.120
for them to do so[br]for their professional advancement.

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Now, this is Ursula Burns.

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She is the first African-American[br]female CEO of a Fortune 500 company --

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of Xerox.

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She's known by her signature look,

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the one that you see here.

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A short, nicely trimmed,[br]well-manicured Afro.

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Ms. Burns is what[br]we like to call a "natural girl."

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And she is paving the way[br]and showing what's possible

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for African-American women[br]seeking to climb the corporate ladder,

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but still wishing[br]to wear natural hairstyles.

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But today the majority[br]of African-American women

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who we still look to as leaders,[br]icons and role models,

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still opt for a straight-hair look.

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Now,

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maybe it's because they want to --

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this is authentically[br]how they feel best --

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but maybe --

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and I bet --

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a part of them felt like they had to

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in order to reach the level of success[br]that they have attained today.

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There is a natural hair movement[br]that is sweeping the country

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and also in some places in Europe.

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Millions of women are exploring what[br]it means to transition to natural hair,

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and they're cutting off[br]years and years of dry, damaged ends

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in order to restore[br]their natural curl pattern.

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I know because I have been an advocate[br]and an ambassador for this movement

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for roughly the last three years.

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After 27 years of excessive heat[br]and harsh chemicals,

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my hair was beginning to show[br]extreme signs of wear and tear.

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It was breaking off,

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it was thinning,

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looking just extremely dry and brittle.

0:09:07.520,0:09:10.896
All those years of chasing[br]that conventional image of beauty

0:09:10.920,0:09:12.136
that we saw earlier

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was finally beginning to take its toll.

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I wanted to do something about it,

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and so I started what I called[br]the "No Heat Challenge,"

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where I would refrain[br]from using heat styling tools on my hair

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for six months.

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And like a good millennial,

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I documented it on social media.

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(Laughter)

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I documented as I reluctantly cut off

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three to four inches of my beloved hair.

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I documented as I struggled[br]to master these natural hairstyles,

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and also as I struggled to embrace them

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and think that they actually looked good.

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And I documented as my hair texture[br]slowly began to change.

0:10:04.440,0:10:06.896
By sharing this journey openly,

0:10:06.920,0:10:10.696
I learned that I was not[br]the only woman going through this

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and that in fact there were thousands[br]and thousands of other women

0:10:14.520,0:10:16.240
who were longing to do the same.

0:10:16.960,0:10:19.296
So they would reach out to me[br]and they would say,

0:10:19.320,0:10:21.576
"Cheyenne, how did you do[br]that natural hairstyle

0:10:21.600,0:10:23.536
that I saw you with the other day?

0:10:23.560,0:10:25.576
What new products have you started using

0:10:25.600,0:10:27.936
that might be a little better[br]for my hair texture

0:10:27.960,0:10:29.400
as it begins to change?"

0:10:29.960,0:10:33.776
Or, "What are some[br]of the natural hair routines

0:10:33.800,0:10:37.920
that I should begin to adopt[br]to slowly restore the health of my hair?"

0:10:39.160,0:10:42.856
But I also found that there were[br]a large number of women

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who were extremely hesitant[br]to take that first step

0:10:47.720,0:10:50.240
because they were paralyzed by fear.

0:10:51.400,0:10:53.136
Fear of the unknown --

0:10:53.160,0:10:54.760
what would they now look like?

0:10:55.440,0:10:59.776
How would they feel about themselves[br]with these natural hairstyles?

0:10:59.800,0:11:02.216
And most importantly to them,

0:11:02.240,0:11:04.240
how would others view them?

0:11:05.400,0:11:07.216
Over the last three years

0:11:07.240,0:11:11.136
of having numerous conversations[br]with friends of mine

0:11:11.160,0:11:15.096
and also complete strangers[br]from around the world,

0:11:15.120,0:11:17.816
I learned some really important things

0:11:17.840,0:11:21.560
about how African-American women[br]identify with their hair.

0:11:22.800,0:11:24.776
And so when I think back

0:11:24.800,0:11:28.336
to that hiring manager in Mobile, Alabama,

0:11:28.360,0:11:31.096
I'd say, "Actually, no.

0:11:31.120,0:11:33.576
We don't know what you're talking about."

0:11:33.600,0:11:35.560
But here are some things that we do know.

0:11:36.720,0:11:41.696
We know that when black women[br]embrace their love for their natural hair,

0:11:41.720,0:11:45.176
it helps to undo generations of teaching

0:11:45.200,0:11:48.496
that black in its natural state[br]is not beautiful,

0:11:48.520,0:11:51.440
or something to be hidden or covered up.

0:11:52.480,0:11:56.736
We know that black women[br]express their individuality

0:11:56.760,0:11:59.856
and experience feelings of empowerment

0:11:59.880,0:12:03.920
by experimenting with different[br]hairstyles regularly.

0:12:04.880,0:12:06.496
And we also know

0:12:06.520,0:12:11.416
that when we're invited[br]to wear our natural hair in the workplace,

0:12:11.440,0:12:14.816
it reinforces that we are uniquely valued

0:12:14.840,0:12:18.600
and thus helps us to flourish[br]and advance professionally.

0:12:20.520,0:12:21.720
I leave you with this.

0:12:22.600,0:12:25.520
In a time of racial and social tension,

0:12:26.440,0:12:28.376
embracing this movement

0:12:28.400,0:12:30.176
and others like this

0:12:30.200,0:12:33.720
help us to rise above[br]the confines of the status quo.

0:12:34.720,0:12:40.776
So when you see a woman with braids[br]or locks draping down her back,

0:12:40.800,0:12:43.336
or you notice your colleague

0:12:43.360,0:12:46.440
who has stopped[br]straightening her hair to work,

0:12:47.360,0:12:50.936
do not simply approach her and admire

0:12:50.960,0:12:53.776
and ask her if you can touch it --

0:12:53.800,0:12:55.056
(Laughter)

0:12:55.080,0:12:56.920
Really appreciate her.

0:12:57.920,0:12:59.136
Applaud her.

0:12:59.160,0:13:02.880
Heck, even high-five her[br]if that's what you feel so inclined to do.

0:13:03.520,0:13:05.096
Because this --

0:13:05.120,0:13:07.880
this is more than about a hairstyle.

0:13:08.880,0:13:11.800
It's about self-love and self-worth.

0:13:12.600,0:13:14.816
It's about being brave enough

0:13:14.840,0:13:18.880
not to fold under the pressure[br]of other's expectations.

0:13:19.800,0:13:24.376
And about knowing that making[br]the decision to stray from the norm

0:13:24.400,0:13:26.856
does not define who we are,

0:13:26.880,0:13:29.200
but it simply reveals who we are.

0:13:30.040,0:13:31.776
And finally,

0:13:31.800,0:13:33.656
being brave is easier

0:13:33.680,0:13:36.120
when we can count[br]on the compassion of others.

0:13:36.680,0:13:38.536
So after today,

0:13:38.560,0:13:41.880
I certainly hope that we can count on you.

0:13:42.360,0:13:43.576
Thank you.

0:13:43.600,0:13:47.652
(Applause)