Hair! How I Grew It

Hair How I Grew It tops Feedspot’s and MillionPodcasts’ best lists.25 Best Natural Hair Podcast Best 10 Natural Hair Podcasts Best 10 Black Beauty PodcastsBest 50 Hair Podcasts On today’s show, I interview business owner Joy M. Hutton. Joy has one of the most striking Afros I’ve ever seen. It’s big. It’s bold. It is beautiful. When I saw it on social media, I knew I had to interview her. The fro is so impressive, sistahs often ask her how she maintains it. Incredibly, Joy does it herself. No salon. Not even for trims. She stopped going because stylists kept jacking up her hair. More on that later in the show, and stick around until the end of the show to hear Joy’s sought-after hair care routine. Shout out to past Hair! How I Grew It guest Janel Caminos for helping to make this interview happen. Janel reached out to Joy, her mentor, to put in a good word for me, and well now here we are, and I am so grateful. Born and raised in Chicago, Joy describes herself as a serial entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of two businesses. One is called jmh and co. The other is on the go GLAM. When Joy is not working, you’ll probably find the wine connoisseur sipping her favorite vino, which she features on her podcast, Sip with Joy. More on that later in the show. The Windy City native embraced her natural about 14 years ago. I told you what I think about Joy’s crown. I asked her what she thinks about it.

Hair! How I Grew It tops the 25 Best Natural Hair Podcasts on the web. Thanks Feedspot for this incredible honor. On today’s show I interview curly hair influencer Janel Caminos. Her authentic voice has paid off in partnerships with multiple beauty brands. She is an ambassador for Sienna Naturals. That’s a vegan hair care line co-owned by actress and producer Issa Rae. Janel is an ambassador for FirstlineBrands. That’s a company that sells hair tools and accessories for multi-ethnic textures. The curly hair influencer is also the founder of Curly Crown Collective, which she describes as a “self-help group” for “curlfriends across cultures.” More onthat later in the show. In the corporate world, Janel is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion professional. OnConferences recently named her one of the top 50 DEI professionals. Before we started our hair talk, I congratulated Janel on this incredible honor and asked her how she is dealing with the attacks on her job.   

On today’s show, I interview Michele Joseph. I met Michele years ago at a networking event in the Washington, D.C. metro area. As the organizer, this striking sistah commandedthe room. Not surprising since she was a high fashion model during the 1980s supermodel era. You’ll want to stick around until the end of the show to hear her spill the tea on her encounter with a young Naomi Campbell and others who graced the pages of some of your favorite magazines. Born in Trinidad and raised just outside of the nation’s capital, Michele also competed in pageants. Today the two-time cancer survivor is the president of Next Generation, Inc., a business she started while fighting the big “C.” She is also the CEO of SGAP Leaders. More on her current jobs and triumph over cancer later in the show. After we met, I didn’t see Michele again. We’ve stayed connected on social media. When the former model recently praised my work on Hair! How I Grew It I thought maybe she’d like to be a guest, so I messaged her an interview request. She said yes, and I was thrilled. Hair and fashion go hand in hand, so I was dying to find out how she managed her Black crown in a white fashion industry. Turns out Michele didn’t just manage; she thrived with ingenuity. More on that later in the show. We started our hair talk talking about why she embraced her natural in two stages.  

On today’s show, I interview Endia Henry. Endia, pronounced India, is a principal consultant in the healthcare technology industry. She is also an entrepreneur, who started selling bamboo wig caps out of necessity. More on that later in the show. Endia describes her hair texture as soft like cotton, airy and fluffy. She embraced her natural four years ago, and typically wears it in a twisted style pulled away from her face. Let’s go back to Endia’s hair beginnings in Decatur, Georgia.

On today’s show, I interview my Delta Soror Shannon Beasley Taitt. Shannon used to work with my Delta line sister Erin and past Hair! How I Grew It guest Sharron Fletcher at the U.S. Department of Justice. Listen to episode 30 to hear Sharron share her journey to her best natural hair life. Shannon currently works at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Washington, DC metro area. She is the Director of the Office of Program Analysis and Coordination in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The New England native is also a speaker, life coach and philanthropist. More on her work outside her nine-to-five later in the show. Shannon describes her hair texture as fluffy and bouncy. She’s been rocking her loose natural since 2001. Then about a year and a half ago, Shannon started sporting Microlocs. Before we jump into that journey, here’s a 101 Microlocs vs. Sisterlocks education courtesy of our Delta Soror Lurie Daniel Favors. I always get the styles mixed up, so Lurie, whose mom was a talented hair stylist, explained the difference when I interviewed her last year.

On today’s show, I interview Heather Dolland Tamam. She is an author, lifestyle content creator and model based in New York City. Heather typically wears her soft, coily and pillowy Afro in a wash and go. She prefers the easy style because it’s not a lot of fuss. Also, this queen is still getting to know her crown. You see, she’s a natural hair newbie. The author did the big chop on December 15, 2020. She remembers the exact date because not only was it a big deal, her big chop was during the height of COVID when salons were closed. More on that later in the show. Let’s start with Heather’s hair beginnings in Saint George’s Grenada in the West Indies.

On today’s show, I interview Tanya Turner. Talking to Tanya really did seem like old times because back when we were broadcast journalism students at Ohio University, we often talked for hours. Ready to conquer the world. Tanya is currently a human resources director based in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

On today’s show I interview Dominique Kizer. She is a linkage coordinator at her alma mater Shaw High School. My cousin and other folks that I know graduated from there. The Shaw High School marching band is legendary. What does a Linkage Coordinator do?

On today’s show I interview Lori Danley. Lori is a project manager in Washington, D.C. She is also the cousin of past Hair! How I Grew It guest Sylvia Danley-Smith. When one of my podcast guests fell through, Sylvia immediately recommended her cousin because Lori makes luxury shampoo bars. Luxury because they’re made with all natural ingredients. No chemicals or detergents that are typically found in commercial brands. More on that later in the show. Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, the project manager left the Sunshine State when she was about 8 years old and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. She finished school there at 13 and was thrust into adulthood. More on that later in the show. Lori first embraced her natural in 1997. The only child went back to the creamy crack six years later and kept her straight hair until 2012 when she embraced her natural again. She’s been natural ever since. I asked Lori to describe her fine hair texture.

On today’s show, I interview attorney, author, activist and radio host Lurie Daniel Favors. Lurie is the Executive Director at the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College. In January 2013, she self-published Afro State of Mind: Memories of a Nappy Headed Black Girl to rave reviews. The classic is currently out of print. Lurie plans to release it again this year to celebrate the book’s 10th anniversary. More on that later in the show. I discovered Lurie years ago when she was a contributor on The Karen Hunter Show, which airs on Sirius XM’s Urban View. Now, this multi-talent has her own hosting gig on the same channel. The Lurie Daniel Favors Show airs live every weekday from 10 a.m. to noon Eastern Standard Time. It focuses on the messy intersections of race, gender, culture, identity, politics and the law. I am a big fan, so when I heard that my Delta Soror and past Hair! How I Grew It guest Mercy Chikowore knew Lurie, I immediately asked Mercy to introduce us. She did. Lurie said yes to being on Hair! How I Grew It, and I am so grateful. Lurie is a Sisterlocks newbie. She got them last year. Before that, she rocked a loose natural for nearly 25 years. Her thoughts on her hair texture have evolved.

On today’s show, I interview Sylvia Danley-Smith. Sylvia is living her best natural hair life, and she’s showing it off as a content creator and social media influencer. Her target group—women over 40.

On today’s show, I interview AJ Watkins. She is the founder and CEO of All Natural Kinks, a natural hair care company based in LA. It’s inspired by AJ’s struggles to grow her natural. More on that later in the show. Let’s start with AJ’s hair beginnings. She was born and raised in Gilroy.

On today’s show, I interview St. Clair Detrick-Jules. She’s a photojournalist in Washington, D. C., her hometown. St. Clair’s love letter to her younger sister Khloe is called My Beautiful Black Hair: 101 Natural Hair Stories from the Sisterhood. More on that later in the show. First, let’s dissect St. Clair’s hair journey.

On today’s show, I interview Mercy Chikowore. Mercy is a publicist in the Washington, D.C. metro area. She is also my Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sister. I always start my Hair! How I Grew It interviews with, “Where were you born and raised?” While all the answers have been interesting, Mercy’s was the first to take my breath away.

On today’s show, I interview Bernita Cooper. Bernita is the CEO and Founder of Bernita Cooper Communications. She helps her clients alleviate the stress of creating content that informs, educates and tells a story. Bernita was born and raised in Hemingway, South Carolina, which is a small town located about two hours from Columbia. Fun fact, Sylvia Woods, the woman who founded the famous soul food restaurant Sylvia’s in Harlem, was from Hemingway. Bernita has sported a natural for about 15 years, but she did take a natural break in college. More on that later in the show.

On today’s show, I interview Sharron Fletcher. Sharron is a Lead Victim Justice Specialist in the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime. I met her in 1999 shortly after I moved to the Washington D.C. metro area. Her friend, colleague and my Delta Sigma Sorority line sister Erin, introduced us. I recall that meeting clearly because Sharron was nearly bald.

On today’s show, I interview my Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sister and fellow Cleveland native Linda Dukes-Campbell. Linda is a voice over actor. Her melodious tone is smooth and calming. I’d be entertained just listening to Linda read the yellow pages. While voice over acting is something she’s always wanted to do, that’s not what she started out doing professionally. Linda spent years in radio and television doing other jobs. She’s been a news reporter, talk-show host, news director, public affairs director and producer. Linda was also a Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist at NASA. She stayed there for two decades before retiring eight years ago. I met Linda in the early 1990s when she was an executive at the ABC affiliate in Cleveland, and I was a broadcast journalism student at Ohio University. Linda came to OU to recruit for her station, and when we met, we hit it off right away. She hired me as a station intern and became my mentor. During my reporting days, when I was crazed, unsure or just needed to talk, Linda was always willing to listen and help me if she could. We lost touch for a while, but when I reached out to her for Hair! How I Grew It, we picked up right where we left off, and she said yes to being a guest on the podcast without hesitation. Linda has been natural on and off for years. She embraced the style completely in 2013. Today, she rocks a short salt and pepper Afro.

On today’s show, I interview my Divine 9 sister, Ashley Rowe. Ashley is a licensed natural hair care specialist and instructor. She is a SisterlocksTM brand ambassador and an R Certified consultant. R Certified means she’s been trained to teach people how to maintain their own sisterlocks. Ashley is also an entrepreneur. She owns Naturally Rowe LLC and co-owns Twist’d Up and Loc’d Down Boutique. I met Ashley last year when I was looking for a natural hair care specialist to team up with for my COVID-19 Natural Hair 9-1-1 LIVE clinic on Zoom. I wanted to hold the virtual event because I knew sistahs couldn’t get to salons, and many of them desperately needed help maintaining their naturals on their own. The clinic was a success. Ashley shared a lot of good information. Her mist water bottle suggestion changed my life. She told me to mist my hair with water then detangle it with a comb before I washed it. I was detangling my very dense coily Afro after I applied conditioner, which took forever. I started our conversation with gratitude.

On today’s show, I interview Helen Maynard. She is an assignment editor for News 5 Cleveland, which is the local ABC television station in Cleveland, my hometown. Helen has worked in TV newsrooms for more than 30 years. I met her in the early 1990s. She was one of my supervisors at News 5 when I was a college intern. Both of us had relaxers back then. Helen has rocked a natural for 12 years. Her crown has multiple textures.

On today’s show, I interview Dr. Eddith Dashiell. In May, she became the Director of the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Dr. Dashiell is the first woman and the first African American to hold the position. I met her in the early 1990s when I was a journalism student at OU. She was one of my favorite professors. About a decade after I graduated, she embraced her natural because OU, a predominantly white campus in rural Athens, Ohio, has never had much black hair care support.