In what feels like a perpetual chain of unprecedented times, the nation is gearing up for yet another high-stake election season. The 2024 Democratic National Convention will provide a large platform for the Party’s presidential nominee, VP Kamala Harris, and inevitably for Black women in politics more broadly. This heightened level of visibility sparks discussion around representation, freedom of expression, and as a result, beauty standards.
That said, the convention committee’s Executive Director Christy George, and Senior Advisor Keiana Barrett, speak with to define beauty in their own words, discuss how beauty manifests in the political sphere, and detail what practices they center to feel empowered. Read on below for more. For both professionals, the qualities that define beauty are far reaching.
George’s multicultural, multiregional background exposed her to many interpretations of beauty and their accompanying standards, shaping the way she views beauty in her own life. “It’s about how we treat people,” she offers, “not necessarily a conventional way of looking but, to me, it’s an internal perspective.” Barrett’s poetic response aligns with George’s and focuses on the idea of the inner-self.
She defines beauty as, “a mosaic image of what the eye sees [paired with] a reflection of the inner essence.” They acknowledge the impact that physical presentations, confidence, and body language have when showing up in historically white spaces, and fin.