If you've encountered any exchange involving Symone D. Sanders, you know she is not about that apologetic life.
Apparently, the political strategist and pundit received an influx of emails criticizing the fact she wears long bedazzled nails on television. Calling out obvious respectability politics, Sanders posted a thread addressing how professional black women are often criticized for their looks rather than for their abilities.
“People were talking about my nails because they're absolutely uncomfortable with themselves,” she told Teen Vogue. “And instead of responding to the few people in my email or direct messages on Twitter, I was like, Let me tweet about this to the world."
THREAD: I’m going to “reply all” to this because I think more than a few folks need to hear my answer. Ok? pic.twitter.com/Iace3yl06f— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
When someone tells me my nails, the dress or blouse I wore or my hair is “unprofessional,” I find what they are really saying is it is out of the norm for what they are used to seeing on cable news.— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
B4 my 1st contract, I had an agent tell me I wasn’t “palatable enough for cable tv” & another said I needed voice lessons because I didn’t “sound professional enough.” Translation: I didn’t look or sound like any of the women they were used to seeing on tv.— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
*spoler alert* there aren’t a lot of black women on cable news. ????????— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
So I’m fully aware that when I show up curvy, with a low cut, a bold lip, an oversized bow, amazing nails & a chilling analysis…people don’t know how to take it. B/c I am not “supposed” to be able to give you solid political commentary with a bedazzled nail right?— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
Nah. I’m completely comfortable with my authentic self. I have no problem showing up authentically as Symone and delivering. The problem is most of y’all aren’t comfortable. Some of y’all keep showing up as K. Ashely when your name is really Keisha.— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
But you show up as K. Ashley because someone impressed upon you long ago that Keisha wasn’t acceptable enough for the office. ????????— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
See when someone says my XYZ isn’t “professional” what I hear is that they are uncomfortable with what I’m doing b/c they aren’t actually comfortable w/themselves. They wonder how I have the audacity to authentically show up every day meanwhile they are tossing on a mask from 9-5— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
I stopped looking for validation long ago from folks who didn’t think I belonged in the first place. Don’t let the non-melanated proverbial majority (proverbial b/c people of color are the actual global majority) tell you what’s “acceptable.” You will be left out every time.— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
But also don’t let anyone (because friends, family and folks that mean well also struggle with authenticity) try to put you in a box and tell you what is “appropriate.” Let’s strive to live boxless…there, the opportunities are endless. (END) pic.twitter.com/pLmCqtCqkF— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) May 7, 2018
“One of my good girlfriends went on an interview and was like, ‘I gotta get my nail color changed,'” Symone said. “I looked down at my nails and I was like, "If the people you're going to interview with can’t handle a little red, perhaps you don't need to be there.”
Sanders' steadfast nature has been brewing since the very beginnings of her career. “In my first internship in Washington, D.C., when I was in college, they told me that folks only wear three things in this city: blue, black, and gray,” she recalled. “I was thinking, 'Oh, my God! I was about to wear a color-block jumpsuit the next day!' I went to work in my color-block jumpsuit the next day because that’s who I am.”
Sanders also has fabulous advice for young people navigating the professional world, no matter the industry:
“There are lots of people telling us what we can't do and very few people encouraging us about what we can do," said Sanders. "I think young people — especially young folk in industries where oftentimes there's not a lot of people that look like them — should strive to blaze trails and do the things that haven't been done before."
"Young men, if you want to get a part in your head, get the part and go to work with it, and I promise you in two weeks people will stop asking you about it," Sanders stressed. "And ladies, if you want to wear the nails, get the nails! It will soon become the norm because it's what people are used to seeing. It wasn't normal for a really long time for women to wear pants in the workplace until somebody started wearing pants. And now nobody thinks twice about a pantsuit. But somebody had to be the one to put on the pantsuit. So if I gotta be the one to put on my bedazzled nails on cable news, damn it, I’ll do it. I’m willing to blaze a trail and break the mold.”
