1Blessed Natural Mag

1BlessedNatural: Being Mary Jane Highlights the Struggles of Young Black Natural Haired Women in the Workplace (photo cred: BET) This week's episode of BET's Being Mary Jane showed how Black women are often judged based on their age, skin color, and natural hair ( appearances in general) in the workplace. On the show, Mary Jane (Gabrielle Union) met with her team to discuss ideas for her return to her TalkBack show. When a young Black woman with natural hair by the name of Nina (Makeda D e clet) walked through the door, the reason for her presence was immediately questioned by her new co l league s.This represents the real-life struggle of many wom e n, especiall y Black women in America.  Nina received questions and comments from her new colleagues including one of the producers who was an Asian man named Young Jin. He questioned the 21-ye ar-old's ag e and expressed that she represented a demographic that he already represented in their group. Next, a B...

1BlessedNatural: Wearing Your Natural Hair in the Workplace and to Job Interviews (photo courtesy of Flickr- (cropped) HelenSTB CC by-SA 2.0 license) Happy Tuesday, my blessed naturals, In a previous article, many of you discussed whether your natural hair should be straightened for a job interview. At the time the article was written, I'd just done my big chop a few months prior, and I was curious to see how many people would rock an afro to a job interview. Now that my natural hair is long enough to do other styles, I have been able to better test the idea of natural hair in the workplace and on job interviews. For me, the answer is no! You do not have to straighten your hair for a job interview. For the last 5 years, I 've worked in school administration, and I'm happy to say that I've been able to wear my hair in any style I prefer, as long as it's neat. I've worn puffs, afros, cornrows, flat twists, etc. My workplace styles include most of...