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1) I know a lot of media & advertising decision-makers are taking a hard look at diversity/representation right now. Just wanted to shout out some of the amazing work the @Allure_magazine team has done in the past few years & how we’re pushing things even more...
2) This shoot by Sharif Hamza and hair by Nikki Nelms is one of my favorites of the year. Put a collaborative, diverse team together and let them work their magic...
3) In our nail art shoot with Mei Kawajiri, we included a male model but didn’t make it about men wearing nail art. He was just in the mix with the other hand models. Everyone, please do more of this...
4) Similarly, our June 2018 cover featured 3 Asian models but it was not a story about their Asianness—it was about hair color...
5) The Allure team looks at models of all ages...
6) And we try to have good representation of dark skin (Adut is so beautiful 
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7) My team gives a lot of thought to who’s behind the camera, like Nadine Ijewere who shot our Rihanna cover or our monolid shoot which had an all-Asian crew...
8) We strongly believe that beauty can be a political statement and that Karens who tell us to “stick to beauty” can suck it...
9) Also, people are multifaceted and shouldn’t be defined by just one aspect of their identity. My team makes me a better editor. Case in point, our Billy Porter cover. He’s not the poster boy for genderless beauty—he’s a beauty icon regardless of gender...
10) We highlight women who are defining beauty in their own cities and towns around the country like Braid Heaven in Kansas City and groundbreaking all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Las Alteñas in San Antonio...
11) Digital and social often inform our decisions and drive a lot of new ideas, like our recent K-pop print and digital covers, which @abelw0man worked so hard to make a reality...
12) We’re also always exploring the beauty experience through a different lens, like our feature on Beauty & Blindness. This quote had a huge impact on me: “People think just because blind women can’t see, they don’t care about what they look like”... https://www.allure.com/story/blind-women-beauty-industry-tactile-packaging-for-visually-impaired
13) My team is intensely smart and understands that talking about skin color and hair is not frivolous. It’s a doorway to discussing really big issues in culture, like racism, colorism (this Lupita issue was nominated for a National Magazine Award)...
14) This was my first week back after maternity leave and it happened to coincide with the craziest week of media news ever. Anyway, it made me *really-REALLY* appreciate the incredible people I work with at @Allure_magazine
15) Also: lots of my Condé colleagues are doing amazing, inspiring work—special shout-out to @radhikajones who brought much-needed diversity and a burst of fresh energy to VF...
16) When I started at Allure 4 yrs ago some readers were so angry. When the announcement came out, one site compared Linda (an icon, for sure) to a luxury car while I was the cheaper Asian model.
For the first year, I got some very mean letters & messages. And I swallowed it...
For the first year, I got some very mean letters & messages. And I swallowed it...
17) I’ve thought a lot about the glass cliff, when women/POC are put in positions of power in times of crisis, often w/ fewer resources & greater risk of failure. Keep it in mind when you see POC in leadership roles: they’re dealing w/ challenges their predecessor may not have...
18) Despite the challenges, we’re thriving & the team is creating work that makes me proud every day. But it takes a lot of thought, effort & persistence. There are naysayers who will say that BIPOC don’t scale or sell. But that comes from a place of fear—& it has to be torn down
