Hair! How I Grew It

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 Kamarah Green. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kamarah now lives in Washington, D.C. She is a multimedia artist. I asked her to explain what that means. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

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

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

On today's show, I interview my beautiful and talented cousin, Tanikka Charraé. I wanted Tanikka to be a part of Hair! How I Grew It’s first season, but she couldn’t because before COVID, she was traveling around the world singing backup for Lauryn Hill. She’s been doing that for nearly 11 years. I’m so proud of Tanikka. The first time I saw her on one of the late-night shows with Ms. Hill, I cheesed so hard, my cheeks hurt. Now, grounded like most us, Tanikka made time to share her journey to natural hair. She’s been rocking hers for about 12 years. I know I’ve mentioned Ms. Hill a few times already, but I assure you, this is not a show about her. This is about Tanikka Charraé, but I started the interview talking about the Grammy-award winning artist because of her natural vibe. I still remember Ms. Hill’s glorious locs from back in the day, and those iconic lyrics from her song Doo Woop. "Look at where you be in, hair weaves like Europeans." She’s calling sistahs out. So, I asked Tanikka what impact has bei

On today’s show, I interview my family doctor, Sabine Paul-Yee. She’s a CentraState physician, who embraced her natural six years ago. Dr. Paul-Yee is the best doctor I’ve ever had. Her bedside manner is impeccable, and she always makes me feel like my health really matters, so of course I had to interview her because on this show, black hair matters. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

On today’s show, I interview LaWanda Toney. LaWanda is a Communications Director for a nonprofit based in the Washington, D.C. metro area. A South Carolina native, she is also a graduate of Howard University. We spoke less than 24-hours after former Vice President Joe Biden announced he picked Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. Harris is also a Bison, so of course, I had to get LaWanda’s thoughts on her HU sister making history. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

On today’s show, I interview Comedienne and Musician Rita Brent. Rita embraced her natural five years ago. Her viral videos are the humor we need during this unprecedented time. The Mississippi native’s Quarantine Shuffle features Rita dancing with her family while she sings about washing hands, staying indoors and other precautions we should take to protect ourselves from COVID-19. Rita’s A Prayer for Trump, which has more than one million views on Facebook, is laugh out loud political commentary. Here’s an excerpt. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message

On today’s show, I interview Karla Redditte. Karla is a TV anchor and reporter at NBC 12 in Richmond, Virginia. The Memphis, Tennessee, native is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. See, told y’all, this Delta is all about spreading Greek love. Karla embraced her natural 12 years ago, and five years ago this month she debuted it on air. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hairhowigrewit/message