Start Right Here! Podcast

Miki Wright, a salon coach and founder of the "Beauty Superstars Talk" podcast, says that working in the beauty industry was her destiny. But that doesn't mean that her path has been easy. Miki packed her worldly possessions into her car and drove from Houston to Washington, DC, determined to start her beauty career. She landed her first job asking women whose hair she admired where they got it done and tracked down that salon. When she was offered a chair in that salon, she happily accepted but found out quickly that it may have been premature since she didn't have any customers. Because she needed to pay her bills, she thought about the opportunity differently--working in the salon in the evenings and on weekends until she could afford to leave her full-time position.

Miki then built and sold two hair salon businesses while living in the DC area. The first where hair was the focus, the second was the first day spa owned by a Black woman, which won multiple awards. But the stress she was under was antithetical to the message she was offering her customers.

Miki took a break from the business before taking several corporate positions at Ulta. And after she stopped doing hair, an award from Bronner Brothers made her reconsider the decision. But this time around, Miki is coaching those who work directly with clients to do business better.

However, the death of George and the subsequent social justice reckoning caused her to consider how to make a difference. She noticed that the work of Black creatives in the hair industry was going unnoticed and set out to tell their stories via her podcast. She has interviewed legends as well as talented up-and-coming beauty professionals. Her hope is not just to highlight the greatness within our community when it comes to beauty but to document our history and business success so that the next generation doesn't need to reinvent the wheel.

This week, I welcome Drs. Drew and Joya Lyons of Smile Savvy Cosmetic Dentistry to the show. I wanted to explore the link between the field of cosmetic dentistry and beauty. That's because you can't really talk about beauty without considering how your smile and teeth play into the equation. That's both aesthetically and vocationally.

I talk to the duo about how they each came to be dentists, why they started a practice together, the challenges of working with one's spouse, and the specifics about their work, and the impact they hope to have.

Did you know, for example, that there is a difference between smiles based on age, race, and ethnicity? That the camera judges our smile more than we could imagine? That being self-conscious about our smiles can hold us back in other ways? Why is it important to remove barriers so more patients can access their services? The doctors share why having a practitioner who understands these issues can make all the difference. The duo share why their commitment to giving back to underserved communities with smile makeovers via The Lyons Share is important.

We discuss the work Dr. Joya and her sister, Dr. Janelle Davison, expose middle and high school girls to doctors across disciplines to ultimately bring more Black women into STEM via their non-profit, S.C.O.R.E.! And why there must be more Black women in cosmetic dentistry.

Dr. Edward Dickerson, founder of Fayetteville Plastic Surgery Specialists and Cape Fear Aesthetics is among a small group of 25 Black doctors who are double board-certified in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. On this episode, he shares how he journey on a path from Peekskill, NY, where he grew up, to West Virginia State University (where a number of generations of his family have studied), to Morehouse School of Medicine as part of an ROTC program to building his plastic surgery and aesthetics practice.

Dr. Dickerson shares why it was important to study at an HBCU and how it prepared him for his career as a doctor. He also shares one of the biggest lessons he learned in the Army, which he describes as the biggest corporation in the world. That is, to know the value of your "ships" aka your relationships and leadership. Dr. Dickerson says both are essential to his success since he started his practice after a career in the army as an ENT surgeon.

Dr. Dickerson shares the difference between treating Caucasians and a broad spectrum of patients with skin of color. He breaks down the Fitzpatrick scale in flavors of ice cream and points out that he works with all flavors and shapes. He also explains why it is not just the skin's appearance that factors into Fitzpatrick ratings, but how skin reacts to treatments and environmental factors. He touches on the power of melanin and explains why "Black don't crack" is not the whole story.

He notes that the most popular nonsurgical procedure requested by women of color is wrinkle relaxers and fillers and teaches listeners not only to understand how and where they should be used. And he talks about the importance of instilling confidence as one of the most important parts of his work.

Hear about that and more on this episode of Start Right.

Dawn Fitch was living her best life as a graphic designer at Sony Music. But one day, as she walked down the street, she lost all feeling in her legs. Her body was sending her message, and while it took several years for her to be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, she decided to look more closely at the products she used. Dissatisfied, she started making her own as a hobby, and the seeds of Pooka Pure and Simple were planted. And at the urging of friends, she took her products to a local festival and sold them all, and after that happened over and over, she decided to look turn her hobby into a business.

With nearly two decades as an entrepreneur, Dawn certainly has some valuable insights to impart. An important one is that entrepreneurs have to be willing to put their pride aside. If she hadn't decided to supplement her income with a job as a restaurant hostess, she would never have made the connection to open her first store. If she hadn't accepted an invitation to bring her products to a showcase at Sony, she would have never gotten her products in more than 60 Whole Foods.

Dawn also shares how the mailing list she began to cultivate at festivals is one of her best selling tools and how the Facebook Group she created, The Best Life Tribe, was the community that helped her pivot during the pandemic. She also shares how she came to have the best Christmas sales number in 2020 due to a grant from HSN/QVC, which allowed her to sell Pooka on the air.

Also, Dawn shares how she and her partner, LaShonda Tyree, have taught more than 1,000 Girl Scouts entrepreneurial skills in a program they created called Beauty That Cares. Learn all of this and more in this week's episode.

Makeup artist and Educator Mimi Kamara went to college intending to be a psychologist. Before she graduated, she decided to take her love of makeup and decided to make it her profession. And she succeeded. On this episode, Mimi shares her career ups and downs and the lessons she's learned along the way.

She was so determined to work in the beauty industry that when she presented her makeup portfolio to the store manager at the MAC outpost in SoHo and was told that the only thing available was a cashier position, she gladly took it. She explains how working at several MAC stores was like going to school. But it was also akin to "Showtime at the Apollo," where your talent matters. She started her freelance makeup career because one of her clients saw something in her. And it grew from there because each satisfied customer referred someone else. That is how she came to work with Keke Palmer, among others. Along the way, she quietly assisted a well-known makeup artist to hone her skills even further.

Mimi explains what she learned from working in beauty retail, why she continued to do that work even while becoming known as a celebrity makeup artist. She thought about things like health insurance and 401ks as she made her decisions. "I stay in my own lane because the traffic is better." But even though she excelled at her work as a store manager at a luxury beauty retailer, she also had to deal with microaggressions and other unconscious biases. The social justice reckoning inspired her to speak up at her then company.

Now that she has set out on her own, Mimi is determined to carve out her career on her terms. She explains that it was important for her to be real with herself and cut out the noise to discover what she really wants. If you want the real deal about being in the makeup game, this is the interview for you!

Follow Mimi on Instagram @mimikamara.

What does it mean for a society to be truly inclusive? And why is aging left out of that conversation? These subjects are at the heart of my discussion with the model, producer, and pro-aging advocate Karen Williams. Karen was discovered by a photographer in a Toronto airport and began modeling at 13-years-old. She considered herself to be on the periphery, with lots of jobs for Seventeen and brands like Clairol. At 5'9", she wasn't considered tall, and there wasn't a Kate Moss exception at the time. She admired many of the other Black models from afar but never had the opportunity to work with them because she was never hired as a runway model. Through it all, Karen remained a student and continued to model until she completed graduate school. From there, she went on to have several successful careers.

At age 54, Karen was lured back to modeling by her former agents, who saw a gap in the marketplace. WIth stunning gray hair and an eye on the industry, she has a platform through which she can talk about how the US, and other countries, have made ageism one of the last 'ism' to be dismantled. And to make a case for positive aging advocacy. After all, it is a privilege to grow older.

During this episode, we question why there isn't a Black, Latin, Asian, or Indigenous version of Carmen Dell'Orefice. Why the beauty industry is reluctant to ban terms like anti-aging (even though the beauty bible Allure did), why tackling aging could positively impact our country's infrastructure, how we lump together all people over a certain age (when we don't do that for younger generations). Karen also brings up the idea that older women are rendered invisible and question how hiding factors into that reality. We discuss the stigmas and fears attached to going gray, why fashion and beauty companies seem reluctant to embrace consumers of a certain age, and why some of them are more interesting in performative support than actually being allies.

One way Karen used her advocacy is to tell stories of women over 40 via the "I Am Conversations", a digital interview series she produced and led with photographer Angelika Buettner as part of the I Am Movement. This episode is a rich conversation that should not be missed.

When it comes to dermatology, Dr. Cheryl Burgess of the Center for Dermatology & Dermatological Surgery in Washington, DC., is in the 1%. She is among an elite group of key opinion leaders in the entire field with affiliations that range from the American Academy of Dermatology to her role as a board member of the Skin of Color Society. She is also a clinical research investigator and holds four patents for a technique that she perfected almost twenty years ago. Not bad for a woman who wanted to be an artist. But she even found a way to infuse her love of art into her work with patients.

She shares that it was a summer research project at the NIH (National Institutes of Health) while she was at Howard University's Medical School, where she got to see what Accutane could do that piqued her interest in the field. She shares how she worked at Kaiser for several years while simultaneously building her private practice.

Dr. Burgess talks about how important it is to have dermatologists of color, not only because patients prefer it but also because of the cultural competency that comes along with that. Her patients don't have to explain their nightly haircare rituals, she understands. But she also points why younger derms of color must look at clinical research investigation. The FDA will not approve a device or procedure as safe for use on darker skin if it hasn't been tested on it. And doctors of color are well-positioned to ensure that the right precautions are taken to try products and procedures on BIPOC patients safely.

She shares that dermatology has become one of the most competitive residencies. Hence, we have to start preparing students in high school to excel in medical school and their first board examinations.

Hear about all of this and more in this episode!

If you've ever wondered what it's like to work in marketing communications, aka comms for beauty and other CPG brands, then this conversation with Liv Lewis, Senior Vice President of Client Experience at Egami, an award-winning multicultural agency, will answer many of your questions.

Liv had her heart set on working in fashion when she first arrived in NYC. However, she couldn't envision a future being in a room full of racks of clothing. She quickly pivoted to beauty p.r. via a temp job that quickly turned permanent. There she helped launched Eternity Moments, one of Calvin Klein's blockbuster brands. But she followed the advice from one of her colleagues, who told her that working at an agency would help her learn and grow more quickly. Liv landed a job at a boutique agency and, from there, moved to a mid-sized agency. At the latter, she got a 360-degree view of creating a successful strategy for a brand versus a focus on pitching and placement.

After having her children and taking a brief sabbatical, Liv looked for a role she could sink her teeth into, and she found that at The Egami Group, where she has worked with some brands that also have a purpose-driven mission. One of them is P&G, which has the "My Black is Beautiful" initiative. They also charged Egami and some of their other partners to make them uncomfortable, so the spot "The Talk" was created, followed by "The Look." We discuss how that meaningful work continues in this age of reckoning.

Liv believes that anyone who wants to lead a team in this new "comms" world needs to know how to "do" first. Only then will they fully understand the time and commitment that is needed for the work. And those who want to enter the industry now need to be hungry, quick on their feet, and flexible.

Check out these tips and more in this week's episode!

Cheslie Kryst, Miss USA 2019, won the first pageant she entered as a freshman in her high school. But she also had her share of losses before she was crowned Miss North Carolina USA. But she kept coming back because she knew that she deserved to win. And so she did. By the time she won, however, she was a practicing attorney at a firm and juggled the demands of both until she became Miss USA 2019, which became her full-time job.

Cheslie explains that Black representation in the winner's circle was so sparse that it seemed we were conditioned to expect that if a Black contestant won, that another couldn't for some time. She points out that it is time to normalize Black representation and winners in the pageant world. She also notes how the once PC world of pageants could no longer ignore what was happening in the world, particularly when it came to social justice.

Cheslie became a lawyer because she is nosey, but it is that same curiosity that helped land a position as a correspondent on the television show "Extra". Once again, it is her job to ask lots of questions so she can get to the answer. Cheslie offers her thoughts on how a renewed interest in the Black Lives Matter movement impacts her work at "Extra" as well as the beauty industry.

She shares why she would never want someone to blindly follow in her footsteps. Instead, she feels strongly that everyone should carve their own paths. Plus she shares her hopes for the pageant industry of the future.

When you hear the brands that Lorrie King has worked on it a who's who of legendary beauty brands. From her side gig at YSL Beauté, while she worked in finance, to John Frieda (before acquisition), Chloé Fragrance (with Mr. Lagerfeld), Elizabeth Taylor Fragrances, and those are just the start. Lorrie had a stellar career on the corporate side of beauty before she began working with beauty startups. She launched the skincare brand Sio before joining with her partner, Celeste Lee, to conceive and launch Caire Beauty, a line designed for the specific skincare needs for women over the age of 40! On this episode of Start Right Here, Lorrie shares some lessons from her career path, why she decided to become a beauty entrepreneur now, and why it's important to build relationships and support.

Lorrie shares that entrepreneurship has been a passion since the fourth grade when she sold sandwiches to her teaches at her East Orange, NJ elementary school. She had a jewelry line while she worked in finance too.

But the beauty industry was a detour, or to put it better, a right turn for her. Her part-time job at Bloomingdale's was to make extra money, but it exposed her to a more exciting career path than she had found in finance. She also shares how her time at Howard University prepared her for career success.

Lorrie explains why she and Celeste focused their business on menopausal skin, why skincare can't be one size fits all, and how approaching these subjects doesn't have to be depressing but a tool for empowerment. She also shares how she has built relationships that have helped her grow her business, including some that helped Caire be selected for The Entrepreneur's Roundtable Accelerator Program.

In addition, Lorrie points out how the beauty industry can benefit from having more women in leadership roles as well as why it is critical for companies to not only recognize Black consumers but Black women within their ranks who can help them find success.

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