Misty Copeland: "Representing Black Women in Beauty Means So Much to Me"

"People don't understand or appreciate — they're just so caught up on what the outside should look like — but I've worked for 20+ years to build up the armor and the calluses on my feet so that I can do what I do. To me, I think that's beautiful. I get a lot of comments about my hairy arms. And my feet. And I'm like, 'This is me.' I say embrace it. I'm not going to change something about myself because someone else doesn't think it's right or beautiful.

"So, when it comes to my feet, I don't want people to mess with my calluses or corns. It's my protection. That's how I can dance on pointe for 10 hours a day and not be in as much pain as I would if I didn't have those calluses. That's why young dancers' feet bleed and they feel more pain because they haven't built up that protection. So, at most I clip my toenails and I paint them, and I'm like, 'This is a ballerina's foot.'"