Yahoo Movies Tattoos on your LinkedIn profile? Woman goes viral for not hiding her ink in company headshot
Tattoos can be a controversial subject within the workplace, with some employees choosing to cover theirs up and remain silent. But the conversation is picking up after a woman challenged the stigma in a now-viral LinkedIn post containing her professional work headshot where she doesn't hide the ink on her arms.
Jessica Leonard, who began a new role recently at Evolution Capital Partners, a private equity firm, got a new professional photo taken about a month ago. She wanted to use a photo of her not wearing a jacket for personal use on her LinkedIn page but planned to take another photo of her wearing the jacket and obscuring her tattoos for the headshot that would be used on the company's website.
According to the post on LinkedIn, when she asked her manager for permission, he said, "Let’s roll with the tattoos in both!"
"'Loud and proud' is what he said," Leonard told ABC News. "I read the text message aloud and I was literally brought to tears. And then my husband got a little emotional about it too. It was such a shocking response to have that kind of inclusion from someone that you work for, and just overall acceptance of who I am."
For years, she had received comments expressing surprise at showing her tattoos, calling them inappropriate or telling her that people wouldn't take her seriously, Leonard wrote on her LinkedIn post.
Leonard has tattoos on both arms, with one covered from shoulder to wrist and the other displaying a Harry Potter-themed owl tattoo running from her elbow to her wrist.
"I had grown accustomed to wearing long sleeves in the heat of summer, to tugging on my suit coat sleeves in every meeting," Leonard said on LinkedIn, "Very often, I simply felt that I needed to be careful about when I was being too freely me."
Leonard also recalls pulling her hair around her ears so that no one could see the tattoo behind her ear and avoiding getting leg or ankle tattoos for fear of never being able to wear a skirt in a business setting.
"I think everyone needs to go where they feel comfortable in their skin," Leonard told ABC News. "They shouldn't feel like they work in an environment where it's hindering them as an individual. There are a lot of places you can work where you're not going to feel that."
Tattoos and their role in the workplace continue to split employers. According to job search site Indeed, allowing tattoos can promote individuality and attract a greater array of applicants, but customers or clients may not approve of them.
Attitudes toward tattoos may be changing as tattoos become more mainstream, according to The Harris Poll, an American market research and analytics company.
A 2015 survey of 2,225 U.S. adults by The Harris Poll found 29% of people, or about three out of 10, have tattoos.
Michelle Shen is a Money & Tech Digital Reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her @michelle_shen10 on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tattoos in the workplace: Woman doesn't hide ink in LinkedIn headshot
