1. When she taught trolls the true meaning of "ugly."
In January, Zendaya swiftly shut down a Twitter user who called her ugly with a photo of her looking totally flawless and not bothered, obviously. But after another (just barely comprehensible) troll called her parents ugly, Queen Z took her mom and dad's lead and turned the experience into a teaching moment. In perhaps the classiest burn ever, she responded that her parents were "two of the most selfless people in the world... who have dedicated their lives to teaching, cultivating, and filling young shallow minds."
*Crosses fingers that the instigators were smart enough to learn from this.*
2. And when she reminded some sexist rando that his opinion does not, in fact, matter.
When a Twitter account for would-be Don Juans (were it not for all that mouth breathing and hiding out in their parents' basements) targeted makeup artist Shannon Harris with a, um, super original meme, Z decided not to sit back and let another woman be criticized for (gasp!) her natural appearance. Her response shut down the original post in a way that only 64,000 or so retweets and favorites could.
3. When she had to tell a magazine staffed by grown-ass adults that an unreasonably retouched shoot was not going down like that.
4. Plus when she responded to racist comments with far more grace than we would...
5. ... and inspired tons of little girls in the process.
6. And then, when she got her own damn Barbie doll.
7. When she ~slayed~ homage to the powerful women who came before her.
In October, Zendaya teamed up with hairstylist Larry Sims and Mane Addicts for a photoshoot in honor of groundbreaking women like Diana Ross, Grace Jones, and Cher. And — no surprise here — she looked totally incredible in all of them.
8. When she gave the haters something to tweet about.
9. When she kindly but firmly educated the masses about cultural appropriation.
10. When, for her birthday, she was more interested in giving than receiving.
11. And when she shared a major magazine cover with fellow proponents of social justice.
12. And when on top of all that, she became a proud high school graduate.
Thank you, young queen, for bestowing all that beauty and wokeness upon us.
