Ep. 6: Kamara Douglas
from Hair! How I Grew It Hosted by Drakeel Burns
On today’s show, I interview Kamara Douglas. The natural hair discrimination she experienced on a job helped change the law in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now, Cincy is the second U.S. city to ban natural hair discrimination at work. New York is the first. Even though I’d never met Kamara, I knew in my gut after reading about her, she would be a great guest, so I called her and asked for this interview. She didn’t hesitate to say yes despite a busy schedule. Kamara is a full-time student at Northern Kentucky University where she’s pursuing her master’s degree in Public Administration. She also works full time as the Administrative and Community Affairs Director for Councilmember Chris Seelbach. And it’s while working for him that her hair story helped make history. Councilman Seelbach hired Kamara in April 2019. After hearing about Kamara’s and other black women’s natural hair struggles, he proposed adding natural hair and hairstyles to the city's discrimination policy. On October 9th, council approved the addition by a vote of seven-to-one. Now, Cincinnati employers can’t ask a person to change their hair at work for any reason. Kamara was born in Bermuda, her dad’s native home, and raised in Columbia, Maryland, which is about an hour outside of Washington, D.C. Her mom is from Trinidad. A few days before our interview, Kamara lost her voice. It improved enough for her to talk to me, but she still had a bit of a frog in her throat.
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