Jessica Leonard has gone viral for her company headshots showing off her tattoos
Tattoos in workplaces are far from being a mainstream trend. Rather, tattoos, piercings or even unconventional hair colours are considered unsuitable for offices. But a woman is changing this notion. When Jessica Hanzie Leonard, from Ohio, USA, changed her LinkedIn profile picture, she did not estimate the kind of noise it would make. Recently, the professional showed off her tattooed arms on the social media platform. Her inked arms were also put up for her company headshot. Internet users at once noticed the anomaly and rushed to comment on it.
After the LinkedIn photo went viral, Ms Leonard penned down her thoughts on the platform. She wrote about some of the negative reactions she has received.
Then, Ms Leonard added, "Ironically, most of the negative feedback I have received has been from female leaders who I looked to as mentors."
But things were different with her boss. Ms Leonard, who recently joined as a Partner in a firm named Evolution Capital Partners, was getting a professional photo for the company's website. She wrote, "I was cautious but asked our Managing Partner if he was comfortable with me getting a photo taken sans jacket for my personal use on LinkedIn, but that we would use one with the jacket for our website."
Instead of a negative reply, Ms Leonard received this reply from her boss, "Let's roll with the tattoos in both. Loud and proud."
Ms Leonard wrote, "I was honestly shocked." She added how she had kept her tattoos hidden during formal meetings in her 14 years of professional life. "Very often, I simply felt that I needed to be careful about when I was being too free," Ms Leonard added. Her post was an appreciation note for "those leaders who have recognised that whether I'm in the jacket or not, I'm the same person, the same business professional… a female leader who will most certainly be taken seriously." Ms Leonard update, which was posted two months ago, has received over 31,000 reactions and more than 2,400 comments.
Ms Leonard told Good Morning America, "As soon as it started going viral, I thought, “I know how this works. If I put myself out there, and it's something that is controversial, I should be prepared.”"
Ms Leonard added that she was "moved" and "brought to tears" when she read her boss' text message.
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