Hair! How I Grew It

Hair! How I Grew It trailer

Hair! How I Grew It tops the 20 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 req

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 Lur

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sho

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

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

On today’s show, I interview my Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Sister Nichelle Smith. Nichelle is the enterprise editor for racism and history at USA TODAY. Saying Nichelle and enterprise in the same sentence makes me think of Star Trek and the actor, who portrayed Lieutenant Uhura in the original series. When I brought that to the Indiana native’s attention, she said she was named after actor Nichelle Nichols. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

Hair! How I Grew It is number 1. It tops the list of Feedspot’s 20 Best Natural Hair Podcasts on the web. 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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

Good news! Hair! How I Grew It is "movin' on up." It’s now ranked #5 on Feedspot's Top 25 Natural Hair Podcasts You Must Follow in 2021. That’s six spots higher than it was ranked last year. Thanks again for the recognition Feedspot. See the complete list at https://blog.feedspot.com/natural_hair_podcasts/. 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

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. Past Hair! How I Grew It Guest, Stefanie Graddic, who is also my stepsister, recommended Ashley for the clinic. Ashley is Stefanie’s Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority line sister. 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

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. Note: Hair! How I Grew It has been named one of the top 25 natural hair podcasts on the web by Feedspot. The complete list is available at https://blog.feedspot.com/natural_hair_podcasts/. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message