SHOCKED AND APPALLED. That's how I felt reading news coverage about Tiana Parker, the 7 y/o dismissed from school for wearing locs.

As a young Black woman, I not only saw myself in Tiana, I saw all of us. I saw OUR struggle as women to love ourselves fully in the midst of a world that often tells us we're less than. I created the We Love Tiana & Her Hair Facebook page to show Tiana, and the WORLD, how many of us think she's beautiful and smart just the way she is. Afro hair isn't a fad; it's a texture. And our curls are GORGEOUS no matter how we wear them!

Thank you to everyone who joined the Facebook group (all 1,690 of you and counting!) for sending such a positive message to such a bright little girl! Not only do I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart, Tiana's family does too.

Read more about Tiana's story and the FB group I created here: Okla. School Board Alters Dress Code to Allow Dreadlocks.