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Today, / if you search the word "beauty," / you'll end up with a sea / of fair-skinned, / thin, / young women, / as if good looks don't come in any other form. // And so, / when we have those ideas in the back of our mind, / we really start to think that we're ugly. // We look at the beautiful people, / and we think, / man, / they have it all. // They're rich, / they're in love, / they're happy, / they're successful. // And I could have that too / if I just had ..., // if I just changed ... // We start to think that we're not enough of something, / that we are lacking in some areas. / That causes us to stifle opportunities for ourselves / because we feel as though we don't belong / and we don't deserve. // And even worse, / we extend that, / that low confidence, / and that lack of confidence, / and low self-esteem. // We extend that / onto our sisters, / our friends, / our cousins. // Because if I'm not enough, / she's definitely not enough, / right? // For years, / women were taught that our value / was directly linked with our looks, / our ability to get married, / our ability to have children. // And even today, / now that women are starting businesses, / taking office - taking over the world, / essentially - // we're still relegated to this idea / that beauty / and our looks are most important. // We see this in every industry, / from Serena dominating on the tennis court / to Hillary running for president, / all the way down to Louisiana, / where a little girl wasn't permitted to go to school / because of her braided hairstyle. // Now, braids have always been / a long-standing part of African and African-American beauty culture. // And just because you don't practice it / doesn't mean that you can't accept / or respect it. // And I don't know about you, / but the last time I checked, / my hairstyle didn't prevent me from learning. // The tutu that I wear on the tennis court / doesn't prevent me from winning a Grand Slam. // And the colored suit that I wear, / it certainly doesn't make me ill-equipped to run a country. //