For the Issue 9 installment of Our Hair Don’t Care, we chat with our longtime friend, the interdisciplinary creative Rajni Jacques. One of the most talented women and editors in the fashion industry, we’ve watched Rajni confidently rise through the ranks and transverse creative leadership roles at fashion and social media’s most dynamic companies like Snapchat where she holds the position of Global Head of Fashion & Beauty. Artist, wife, mother of two adorable humans, and community advocate, Rajni’s deep understanding of the intersection of culture and fashion has deemed her a highly sought after voice for important media outlets and thought platforms. Read on to discover what she views as crucial in building on the gains garnered during the latest Black Lives Matter movement.

Tell us about how your family and childhood influenced your hair and beauty standards professionally. Black women across the world often carry the burden of other people’s perceptions and expectations in our professional lives when it comes to appearance. What has your experience been, while rising through the ranks of traditional and new media in your amazing career?

I have no control on how people view me, so I will not be in a headspace where I'm fixated on that. It took some time to get to that level of being self-assertive. Especially confident in how I handle myself, for myself. My experience has been varied—good, bad, mediocre, and sometimes horrible. Yet, I would not change a thing.

Describe your personal relationship with your hair. Do you have a ritual together? Does your relationship have seasons? What have the highs and lows been?

I have a love, love, sometimes hate relationship with my hair. That hate mainly comes from humidity interactions (haha). I like to keep it simple when it comes to a routine—wash, condition, treatment/mask, blowdry. I typically wash my hair every two weeks. As a black woman, seasons play a huge part in what my hair looks like. Summers are usually for braids, but I'd like to switch it up this year.

The highs are being able to experiment and do new things, the lows are when my hair gets damaged by something new I try — heavy bummer.

You are a mother of two small children - how do you consciously manage their perception of beauty? Of womanhood and motherhood? How do they feel about their own hair?

My perception of beauty is forever in flux. For me, beauty is about everything around me, around us. When it comes to my own beauty, it's been a beautiful struggle - from skin to hair to body to inner confidence. But motherhood has obviously been a driver on how I feel about beauty at a specific point and time. Motherhood has made me love more. I've embraced things that I never thought I could. My children love their big, curly, and fluffy hair because as my daughter says when it's out "it's a cloud."

You have been in some of the most important houses in publishing and media through probably one of the most important and hectic phases of publishing and media since… ever. How do you feel the industry has evolved over the past few years, and where do you feel it can continue to grow? 

Transformations and evolutions are an obvious must for progress. The industry needed to rethink a lot about how they operated and still needs to update some of their structures. The goal is to elevate, while continuing to be inclusive to all. We are in a moment where we are rebuilding after a very tumultuous time. But I do feel like the industry is reverting slightly back to pre-2020, which is a bit disheartening. So where we can continue to grow is to realize the work for inclusivity and diversity are not just buzzwords that surfaced in 2019/20.