Ep. 309: ‘Be present – everything matters!’ Naeemah Lafond; hair artist, educator and founder of Texture on Set talks motherhood, being audacious and why the hair industry needs to change

Today I have an amazing guest, Naeemah Lafond, a true force within the hair industry.

A first generation Haitian American who grew up in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, Naeemah is well versed in hair at every level, as a stylist, artistic director, educator and someone who stands for change and real inclusion.

In 2021 she worked with Pinterest on the hair pattern function to improve the user experience for Black, Brown and Latinx people with textured hair in search of style inspiration and advice.

A year before, in June 2020, Naeemah created a guide about what needed to change when it came to Black creatives; from hiring black stylists to normalising Black beauty. While Naeemah’s focus was and is of course hair, her guide spoke to everyone in every industry.

In this episode we discuss how Naeemah got her start in hairdressing and how her work fits alongside being a mother. She talks about the gap she began noticing in hair education and points out why the onus falls on the system, not the stylist and she shares on that stunning global fashion moment when she created the hair looks for the Christopher John Rogers AW20 show.

By the way, there's a dedicated Substack on Naeemah's episode as well as a special video all about that epic Christopher John Rogers show over on my Instagram.

Follow Naeemah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naeemahlafond/

WHERE TO FIND ME

Substack: https://thecharissereport.substack.com

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@charisse_kenion/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charisse_kenion/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@charissekenion

Check me out on ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/beautyme 

Business inquiries: info@charissekenion.com