WEBVTT

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I am from the South Side of Chicago,

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

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who lived on the Southwest
Side of Chicago.

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Jenny was white,

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

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you know that there are
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
after school and on the weekends.

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And so one day we were
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
was in the room with us,

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

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and I wasn't thinking too much
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
was not too far away.

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She was in the kitchen
and she overheard the conversation,

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and she was mortified.

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

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

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

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I figured it wasn't Rosie's fault
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
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
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
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
played in confirming my ethnicity,

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

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Garrett A. Morgan
and Madame CJ Walker were pioneers

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

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

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and heat straightening tools

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designed to permanently,
or semipermanently,

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alter the texture of black hair.

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

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we think about the heinous acts

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and numerous injustices
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
African-American male or female

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that was known as the most
"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
hair-care industry,

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our dependency on tools and products,

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like the hair relaxer
and the pressing comb,

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were more about our survival
and advancement as a race

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in postslavery America.

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Over the years,
we grew accustomed to this idea

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that straighter and longer hair
meant better and more beautiful.

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We became culturally obsessed

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with this idea of having
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,
the better the hair.

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

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that would determine
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
we let these false ideologies

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invade our perception of ourselves,

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and they still continue
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
every six to eight weeks,

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without fail,

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to subject our scalps
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
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
with wigs and weaves,

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only to let our roots breathe in private

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

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We adopted these practices
in our own communities,

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and so it's no wonder
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,

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a federal court ruled it lawful

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for a company to discriminate
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
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
it being a little too "urban"

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for the professional setting.

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

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and that they would intimidate
the clients and their customer base.

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All of these words are ones
that are too often associated

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with the stigma
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
Leadership Center for Inclusion,

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studied 3,000 individuals
in executive leadership roles

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on the concept
of covering in the workplace

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based on appearance,
advocacy, affiliation and association.

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When thinking about
appearance-based covering,

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the study showed

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that 67 percent of women
of color cover in the workplace

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based on their appearance.

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

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82 percent said that it was
somewhat to extremely important

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for them to do so
for their professional advancement.

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Now, this is Ursula Burns.

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She is the first African-American
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,
well-manicured Afro.

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

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

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

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but still wishing
to wear natural hairstyles.

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But today the majority
of African-American women

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who we still look to as leaders,
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
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
that they have attained today.

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There is a natural hair movement
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
it means to transition to natural hair,

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

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in order to restore
their natural curl pattern.

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I know because I have been an advocate
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
and harsh chemicals,

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my hair was beginning to show
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.

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All those years of chasing
that conventional image of beauty

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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
the "No Heat Challenge,"

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where I would refrain
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
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
slowly began to change.

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By sharing this journey openly,

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I learned that I was not
the only woman going through this

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and that in fact there were thousands
and thousands of other women

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who were longing to do the same.

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So they would reach out to me
and they would say,

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"Cheyenne, how did you do
that natural hairstyle

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that I saw you with the other day?

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What new products have you started using

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that might be a little better
for my hair texture

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as it begins to change?"

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Or, "What are some
of the natural hair routines

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that I should begin to adopt
to slowly restore the health of my hair?"

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But I also found that there were
a large number of women

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who were extremely hesitant
to take that first step

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because they were paralyzed by fear.

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Fear of the unknown --

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what would they now look like?

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How would they feel about themselves
with these natural hairstyles?

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And most importantly to them,

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how would others view them?

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Over the last three years

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of having numerous conversations
with friends of mine

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and also complete strangers
from around the world,

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I learned some really important things

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about how African-American women
identify with their hair.

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And so when I think back

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to that hiring manager in Mobile, Alabama,

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I'd say, "Actually, no.

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We don't know what you're talking about."

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But here are some things that we do know.

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We know that when black women
embrace their love for their natural hair,

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it helps to undo generations of teaching

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that black in its natural state
is not beautiful,

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or something to be hidden or covered up.

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We know that black women
express their individuality

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and experience feelings of empowerment

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by experimenting with different
hairstyles regularly.

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And we also know

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that when we're invited
to wear our natural hair in the workplace,

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it reinforces that we are uniquely valued

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and thus helps us to flourish
and advance professionally.

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I leave you with this.

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In a time of racial and social tension,

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embracing this movement

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and others like this

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help us to rise above
the confines of the status quo.

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So when you see a woman with braids
or locks draping down her back,

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or you notice your colleague

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who has stopped
straightening her hair to work,

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do not simply approach her and admire

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and ask her if you can touch it --

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(Laughter)

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Really appreciate her.

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Applaud her.

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Heck, even high-five her
if that's what you feel so inclined to do.

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Because this --

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this is more than about a hairstyle.

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It's about self-love and self-worth.

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It's about being brave enough

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not to fold under the pressure
of other's expectations.

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And about knowing that making
the decision to stray from the norm

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does not define who we are,

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but it simply reveals who we are.

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And finally,

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being brave is easier

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when we can count
on the compassion of others.

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So after today,

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I certainly hope that we can count on you.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)