Start Right Here! Podcast

This week we're back with new episodes. We're coming out the gate strong with my chat with Patricia Reynoso, Executive Director, Cultural Relevancy Engagement—North America, at The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.  Patricia has been an editor, author, publicist, editor-in-chief, copy director, essay writer, and more throughout her career. In this episode, she walks us through the career she never knew...

We're digging the crates to bring another episode rebroadcast. This week we're featuring Dr. Edward E. Dickerson IV, a double board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon (originally ep 37). Did you know that there are only about 25 Black specialists like Dr. Dickerson?  He shares his education and medical training at two HBCUs, West Virginia State College and Morehouse School of Medicine. A...

This month, we're back in the crates, offering remixes of some of our old episodes. This episode features Jazmin Alvarez, founder of the clean beauty & wellness site Pretty Well Beauty (initially. interviewed. in episode 3!) Since I chatted with Jazmin last, a few things have happened: The website redesign and brand refresh She's added seven new lines 50% of the brands on the site are from BIPOC c...

We dug in the crates again to give you another fantastic episode. First, I wanted to rebroadcast my chat with Eunice Cofie-Obeng, Founder and Chief Cosmetic Chemist of Nuekie, a skincare company, because products created for melanin-rich skin are increasingly popular. But Eunice has been working on her products for more than a decade (the first time I met her was in 2009). And since we last chatte...

This is a rebroadcast of my interview with Kim Roxie, founder of Lamik Beauty, early in the pandemic. Since we've chatted, Kim has won 10 pitch competitions. Ulta.com   is selling the Lamik Revelation Brow Duo, Clear Brow Gel, Mascara, and Powder Brow Duo Brush. And Kim has embraced live shopping by regularly appearing on Talk Shop Live and has just begun her own show Kickin It With Kim!   At her...

As we prepare the next round of interviews for Season 2 we are going to rebroadcast some of our favorite episodes. These are our Episode Remixes. First up: Ni'Kita Wilson, a cosmetic chemist, and product development expert who also has experience in contract manufacturer. This interview originally ran as episode 15, but we updated the format to match this season.  Since we spoke in 2020, Ni'Kita h...

In this bonus episode, I share some of the fantastic tips shared by my guests that can help the beauty career curious, those who want to make a pivot into the industry or within it, and some critical insights for those pursuing entrepreneurship. Keren Davey, a Senior Brand Manager, Luxe and Clinical Skincare at Sephora, shares tips on breaking into the business, even if you haven't had an internsh...

This week, we feature Rochelle Graham-Campbell, the C.E.O. of Alikay Naturals . Rochelle is an entrepreneurial dynamo who puts her heart into everything she does. And she gives us lessons on building a business strategically. As a young newlywed, Rochelle was paying her way through school and working three jobs: a C.N.A., a waitress at Olive Garden, and delivering daily newspapers with her husband...

This episode features photojournalist and author St. Clair Detrick-Jules. She joins the podcast to discuss making her book "My Beautiful Black Hair " and why it was vital for her to chronicle the hair and heritage of those with textured hair.  Around the time St. Clair was concluding her studies at Brown University, she learned that her four-year-old sister, Khloe, was being bullied about her text...

For this show, I had the privilege of chatting with my friend and legendary makeup artist Sam Fine about his career journey. He's worked with Iman, Vanessa L. Williams, Patti LaBelle, Queen Latifah, and Cynthia Erivo, to name a few. So, folks, get out your pad and pencils or note app, Sam is about to take you to school. We chatted about his early aspirations to become an illustrator initially brou...

This week, the Start Right Here podcast welcomes a groundbreaking beauty entrepreneur, Miko Branch, CEO of the haircare brand Miss Jessie's, salon owner, and author of Miss Jessie's Creating a Successful Business From Scratch—Naturally. Miko, alongside her late sister, Titi Branch, built a multi-million dollar brand that is sold in outlets like Target and Wal-Mart, has more than 40 SKUs, and was a...

Chrissy Cabrera, the founder of Naturally London, never dreamed about becoming a beauty entrepreneur. But a rough first pregnancy, where she suffered from swollen feet and an aversion to ingredients in many foot care products, prompted her to make her own. Still, she didn't think about selling the products until the friends she gifted started asking where they could purchase her products. Along th...

Megan Young Gamble calls herself The Project ExecutionHER and the principal consultant at Get Level Consulting . She used transferrable skills in project management to move from working at a car rental company and claims to beauty. She has also created a successful career in the beauty industry while living in Georgia, proving opportunities outside New York and Los Angeles exist. She landed a posi...

In this episode, we talk with a woman who is making an impact internationally with her beauty brand, Shirley Billot, the CEO and Founder of the amazing skincare brand Kadalys. We have a far-ranging chat about the impact of her early life living in Martinique, the significance of bananas as a symbol of freedom for its Black inhabitants, the culture shock of moving to Paris, and how she came to star...

Keren Davy, Senior Manager, Clinical and Luxe Skincare at Sephora has beauty in her DNA, she was raised in her mother's hair salon. First had tea parties, later got to work, and eventually obtained her cosmetology license, yet it was a challenge for her to land her first corporate beauty role. So in this episode, Keren and I explore whether there is such a thing as the "right" school when it comes...

Stay tuned for a 2-part Master Class on having a stellar beauty career. In this episode, I am joined by Kim-Van Dang, the former beauty director of In Style, who talks to me about her impressive editorial career and how it led to her becoming a serial entrepreneur. I call her the CEO of many things, and you'll find out why. In this first episode, Kim shares her love of magazines and her determinat...

This is part 2 of an interview with the amazing Kim-Van Dang, the former beauty director of Instyle turned serial beauty entrepreneur. In this episode, Kim and I chat about how her love of fragrance helped her build profitable beauty businesses.  Kim could see the writing on the wall before she decided to leave In Style. The internet and its impact on print publishing was going to change things si...

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jolorie Williams, the General Manager of Revlon. In her role, she proudly oversees the Multicultural Division, which includes Cream of Nature products and Contract Services. Jolorie loves working in haircare and even has some mannequin heads in her home where she tries out the latest products in the pipeline. Her first job was in a non-beauty ro...

You may know Trae Bodge from her more than 1,000 television appearances as an intelligent shopping expert. But, Trae has deep roots in beauty. You can say that she was practically born into the business because her mother owned a shop in her small Massachusetts town where they sold creams, soaps, and other products. Trae initially wanted to be an artist but found a way to use those talents in beau...

Makeup department heads, beauty entrepreneurs, and twin sisters Denise and Janice Tunnell have carved out an impressive career behind the scenes in the film in television industries for more than 20 years. From "Hustle &n Flow" to "The Notebook" to "HBO's "Boycott" to now Netflix's "Sweet Magnolias," to name a few. This week's episode discusses how they made the career shift from accountants to ma...

If you are a young person interested in fashion and beauty, who majored in journalism, this episode featuring Janell M. Hickman-Kirby will give you some guidance on how to build a career that works for you. Janell, a graduate of Hampton University, began her career as an intern in the fashion closet at Women's Wear Daily. She explains how she made the most of that internship and how it led to a ro...

Ginger King, President of Grace Kingdom Beauty , a cosmetic development and manufacturing company grew up in beauty. Her mother was the first woman to open a Shiseido boutique in Taiwan. Yet, even though she loved makeup and secretly wanted to be a makeup artist as a teen, she never thought that she would have a career in beauty. But her science background opened the door in ways she could never i...

This week, it is my pleasure to welcome Stephanae McCoy, founder of Bold Blind Beauty to the Start Right Here podcast. Today, we are going to talk about how the beauty industry interacts with the blind. Is there an intersection? What grade would Stephanae give the industry? What is it like navigating websites when she needs to shop for beauty? Stephanae also dispels some of the myths about the bli...

This week, Maisie Dunbar, President of the Maisie Dunbar Beauty Brands and Bluffajo Cosmetics , joins the podcast to discuss changing careers, building a clientele, embracing entrepreneurship, and empowering underserved communities with new skills during our chat, and so much more. Maisie explains that she always received compliments on her nails from her colleagues when she worked in IT at Britis...

For Amber Makupson, founder of Meraki Organics , the creation of her line and entrepreneurship came due to her quest for a healthier lifestyle when she became pregnant with her daughter. That path led her to change her diet and look closely at what she was applying to her hair and skin. It also led Amber to enroll in a program to become an aesthetician. Economic realities, however, caused her to b...