From There To Here
Gloria Tabi · 59 min
After three decades hiding her natural hair under a wig to survive Australia's professional world, Gloria Tabi's act of taking it off became a radical declaration that Black women are enough — exactly as they are.
Support services
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
Gloria Tabi grew up in Ghana surrounded by love and community, then left at sixteen to build a life in Australia. Three decades later, she became a DEI specialist and race researcher. But the path there was blocked in ways she couldn't name. She watched herself pass over for promotion after promotion, saw people move ahead of her despite her qualifications, and eventually stepped away from work for nearly a decade to raise her children. It wasn't until she studied the structure of racism itself that she found language for what had been happening all along: systemic racism operating through workplace systems, hiring patterns, and whose faces appear on television and brochures.
Throughout her entire career, Gloria hid her natural hair under a wig. She wasn't alone. Research shows 80 percent of Black women hide their natural hair to get a job. Oprah and Michelle Obama did it too. When Gloria decided to take the wig off, it wasn't a confident choice made in a day. She sat in her car too scared to get out. The fear took years to move through. She needed to build her own business first so she could choose safety on her own terms. Even now, less than two years later, she uses daily self-talk to step into the world with her hair undyed and natural.
Gloria's advocacy centres on concrete change: representation on brochures and television, policies that protect Black women with natural hair, and listening to people who live this problem. She is walking the Legacy International Pageant with her natural hair, something she says has never been done before in that context. Her forthcoming book, Enough, speaks to anyone told they are not worthy, moving toward embracing who they truly are.
Every story here belongs to the person who lived it. They said yes to sharing it, and we sat with it carefully before it went up. Nothing here is exaggerated and nothing is used without permission. Read how we handle these stories ↗
Kintsugi Heroes · Registered Australian not-for-profit · kintsugiheroes.com.au ↗