When Susan began working with prominent brands years ago at massive ESSENCE festival activations, she never imagined that one day she’d be leading her own—this time, for a company she helped build from the ground up. Fast forward to this summer, and that’s exactly what happened.  If you haven’t yet heard of S.T.R.A.N.D., allow us to introduce you to this game-changing company. S.T.R.A.N.D.—short for Stylist Training and Researching and Networking with Dermatologists—connects

When Nadra Smiley opened the email, she knew something wasn’t right. A former student had forwarded her a bill—HB3356—with a simple question: “Did you know about this?” The bill proposed to remove the hair braiding license in Illinois, a license that Nadra, her late mother, Amazon Smiley, and countless others had spent years fighting to establish. “We have to do something,” Nadra remembers saying. She went into action immediately.