Zendaya is Tired of Being ‘Hollywood’s Acceptable Version of a Black Girl’

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Source: Instagram

Beautycon is to beauty lovers what Coachella is to festival goers; a must-attend event for anyone who can’t walk out the door without a lipstick in tow. The annual festival features the best in makeup, hair, skin and wellness swag, and grants attendees access to their favorite influencers and celebrities in the span of two days.

This time around, the New York edition proved to be its most star-studded one yet, with appearances that included game-changing vlogger Jackie Aina and actress Zendaya. The latter, whose bold beauty choices have already made her an icon-in-the-making, sat on a panel and used the opportunity to not only dish beauty advice, but also acknowledge her privilege as a lighter-skinned black woman in Hollywood.

“I am Hollywood’s acceptable version of a black girl, and that has got to change,” said the 21-year-old, who continues to shed light on the industry’s failure to provide equal opportunities for black women of all shades. In late 2017, she dropped the same truth bomb during a candid chat with Yara Shahidi for Glamour.

“A lot of people who aren’t people of color can’t quite understand what it’s like to grow up and not see yourself in mainstream media,” she said. “And you know, there is so much work left to be done. I’ve talked about this before, but can I honestly say I would be in the position I’m in if I weren’t a lighter-skinned black woman? No…One thing that I constantly say is that my goal is not to be the face of black girls,” Shahidi said. “The goal is to open the door so widely that I am drowning in a sea of [black girls.]”

The Oakland, CA native, who calls herself a “very old woman inside a younger person’s body,” also cited her upbringing as the starting point for her activism and penchant for steering clear of the typical Hollywood lifestyle.

“It’s something that I’m proud of and I’m lucky to be where I’m from. My aunties held Black Panther party meetings in the downstairs basement of our house that I grew up in,” she said. “[My] 21st birthday [was] at my house, with my family and friends. There [was] no alcohol – I mean, people can have alcohol if they want it, but [I wasn’t] going to be drinking any … For me, a Vegas version of my birthday would be like hell.”

Never change, Zendaya.