The beauty industry is a multi-billion dollar sector but black beauty entrepreneurs constitute for the most part marginal players of the sector. Angela Stevens wants to change that with her beauty firm Conscious Curls Hair Wig and extensions.
The Emmy Award-winning hairstylist offers a line of bundles, wigs, clip-ins, ponytails, and more for consumers to slay. On its website, the Conscious Curls Hair Wig said “we pride ourselves on providing textures that resemble our natural hair and cater to the diverse needs of our customers.”
The Chicago native’s interest in beauty started as a child. Stevens recalls experimenting with her dolls as a child and styling their hair. Her early career as a hairstylist saw her work with some of music and entertainment top influences including Rihanna, Keke Palmer, Rita Ora, 5th Harmony, Lupita Nyong’o, Keke Palmer, and Eve.
In 2012, she made a regular appearance on We TV’s La Hair series and made four season appearances. She has also made additional appearances on productions under VH1, BET, FOX, NBC and WE TV. What is more, she has been a featured educator for Mielle Organics, Girl + Hair, Cantu, and Camille Rose Naturals.
Her beauty empire goes beyond just styling and offering hair products for customers to slay. She is also an author of The Pretty Curls Club, a series of children’s books aimed at empowering Black girls to love and understand their hair. She plans to produce more educational materials to teach young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds the importance of self-confidence, diversity, and friendship.
“Conscious Curls is specifically for the girl on the go who wants to find quality hair textures that look like her hair,” she tells Coveteur. “We provide a lot of education on how to create a look in 15 minutes or less. And just giving women the option to feel confident but not feel like they have to spend three or four hours to achieve a look that they see on Instagram.”
Stevens is an Emmy Award-winning hairstylist for her current work on actress Eve on CBS The Talk daily. She also caters to clients in her west Hollywood Salon and sits on the advisory board of Bonnti, a beauty resource app for women of colour.
Before reaching celebrity status, Stevens was a Dancer for bar/bat mitzvahs in Northbrook, Illinois while pursuing her cosmetology education. Also, she was a cheerleading summer camp counsellor for many years.
Throughout her entrepreneurial journey, Stevens says her mother and grandmother are her biggest inspiration. “They are humble, happy, and giving women,” she told Voyage ATL.” Both educators had a love for family. My mom is a cancer survivor, she got her master’s while on Chemo, need I say more?
“Other inspirations are Maya Angelou, Madam CJ Walker, Nina Simone, James Baldwin, and Maxine Waters to name a few. I just appreciate the visionary brothers and sisters that paved their own way and made a difference in the lives of so many others at the same time.”
