This omission of smart, sexy Black women from Business Insider's original list is hardly an idiosyncratic occurrence. Instead, the invisibility of Black women who are smart, sophisticated, and sexy is a silent part of the Zeitgeist, an unspoken reality that has only recently been deemed real enough to be recognized by the mainstream social-scientific research community.
But unlike most folks who simply complain and moan, Kyla acted, along with 72 other women (including yours truly, No. 38), to create a counternarrative. I'm glad she did, because by taking steps like this, slowly but surely we can reshape the "expected" and shed light on the beauty and complexity of smart, Black women.
