Meteorologist fired for natural hair gets a job two years later

Do you remember the meteorologist, Rhonda Lee, who was fired in 2012 from her local news job for defending her natural hair style?  She has recently been hired for another meteorologist position, her first television job since being fired from her position at KTBS-3 TV in Shreveport, Louisiana.

According to NewsOne, Lee announced on her Twitter and Facebook pages that she accepted a position at WeatherNation in Denver, Colorado.  “By all accounts, it is my dream job and I am thrilled to be a part of the WeatherNation family,” she said Thursday on Facebook.

The offer for the position came at a time when Lee was on the brink of giving up hope that she would find another job in her field.

“A month ago, I told my husband that I’m pretty sure I would never work in weather again,” she told NewsOne.  “I had completely lost faith, but in a matter of a week or so, all of a sudden, three people showed interest in me. It was an awakening is what it was. I really had given up.”

KTBS-3 TV claimed that they fired Lee for violating their social media policy.  Lee had responded to a man over the news program’s Facebook page who made a comment about how she was “a very nice lady” but needed to “wear a wig or grow some more hair.”  “I am very proud of my African-American ancestry which includes my hair,” was among some words with which Lee responded.

Lee had also responded to comments left by kids who were bothered by seeing more black people on one of the program’s segments.

Lee explained that the infamous incident with her former employers was hardly mentioned by anyone at WeatherNation.

“My new boss said, ‘I heard about that,’ and we moved on so that was it,” she said.  “Every once in a while in life, you find good people with good sense who know talent when they see it and know a good employee when they see it.”

Lee said that although unemployment was uncomfortable for her, she never succumbed to the pressures that mainstream media puts on the image of black women.  She still wears her hair natural to this day, and she has learned a valuable lesson from everything that has transpired.

“It’s revealing to me that you should never give up,” she said.
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“I tell people that all the time in any speech that I give.  For me to actually follow my own advice is a pretty beautiful thing.”

Sources:

http://newsone.com/3035581/rhonda-lee-black-weather-woman-natural-hair-weather-nation-denver/

http://newsone.com/2867261/rhonda-lee-weather-woman-fired-natural-hair/

http://newsone.com/2101557/black-weather-woman-fired-for-responding-to-racist-fb-commenters-hair-remark/