00:00Many of you saw your timelines light up when the clips of a Today Show segment went all the way
00:09wrong. The idea was to show summer hairstyles that could be done in under 60 seconds, but when
00:13the stylist got to the black model's hair, the after ended up looking worse than the before.
00:18The stylist has since apologized and even released a YouTube video where black women educate her
00:22about natural hair. But now it's time to hear from the model herself. Please welcome Malia
00:27McNaughton to Essence Live. Hi Malia. Hi, how are you? I'm great. You know, you and I actually go back
00:32about a year, year and a half ago. You were so gracious to bless me with some of your jewelry
00:36pieces, which we're going to get to in a moment. But I remember when you posted on your social media
00:41that you were going to be on the Today Show and how excited you were. And then it went awry. So
00:46tell me in the middle of the segment, did you know that, okay, this may not be the right do?
00:51Absolutely. I felt it. I was like, we weren't supposed to do a side ponytail. I felt that it
00:56didn't look how it was intended. And I could just feel from like the pulling on the curls.
01:01I was like, oh, you don't pull curls. So I knew then that like it is not going right. It's not
01:07going to look the way we wanted it to. Now, had you done any previous test runs before?
01:11Yes, absolutely. Right before the show, we did two test runs on the style and it actually was
01:16really, really cute. And I even said like, oh, I want to try this when I get home. So we definitely
01:21did try it. I just think with like nerves and the time crunch, I just think the nerves got the best
01:25of her. No worries. And that happens from time to time. So you're in the middle, you're smiling,
01:30you were looking absolutely beautiful and very gracious. You feel that things might be going a
01:34little awry. And then cameras go off, you leave the stage. What happens next? So I leave the stage
01:40and there was a Facebook Live segment right after. So I didn't get to speak to her directly after.
01:45But a little bit after that, we spoke and she thanked me for, you know, being able to come so
01:49last minute because I got called for the show the night before. So she was, you know, thankful for that.
01:54Um, and we just, you know, spoke and we said we would love to do another segment, um, for like
01:59makeup or something like that. So she's extremely sweet and we connected afterwards. So at that
02:03point, neither of you had seen social media? No, no, no. I didn't, I went home and I still didn't
02:07see anything. And then I would say about late that night, it was like a firestorm and she was like
02:12messaging me like, Hey, people are really like coming at me really bad. And I'm like, where? And I'm
02:17like, Oh, that's where, that's where. So you didn't. So for personally, did you think it was
02:22as bad and I'm using the term as bad as social media responded? No, I didn't. Um, not until I
02:28saw it and I was like, okay, I can see why, you know, they, they reacted so bad because even on
02:33set, I was like, Oh, it doesn't look how we want it. But I saw people's anger was like, Oh no,
02:37she did that on purpose. She messed her up. And that was, that wasn't at all the intention.
02:42No, I didn't get the fact that that, that it was intentional, but how do you feel in terms of
02:47that you can, there was an Asian model, you were the African-American model. There was a Caucasian
02:51model. Um, the expert for these types of segments needing to be skilled or well-versed in all types
02:57of hair that they include in the feature. Absolutely. I think representation is the first part. So I'm
03:01very grateful for the today show and the producer for wanting the segment to be inclusive. So that's
03:06why initially I was brought on. Um, and I think that it was a great move because we do black women
03:12contribute to the beauty industry at high levels. So we should be represented. And I do think that
03:16if you are going to do a hair segment, that is summer hairstyles, black women should be included.
03:20Um, and I do think that the expert on set should be willing and open like Deepika was to do natural
03:28hair. Um, and I think that that's a conversation that should continue that we should want these,
03:32um, platforms to show diversity all the way around. Definitely. And now did you experience any
03:38breakage? Like was your hair damage? Because some people on social media, like she ripped her hair
03:41out. Right, right. You know, what happened? Yeah. My Kois was, my Kois was still intact.
03:46They look steady. Um, I went to H2 salon in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. They hooked me up. They brought
03:50it back to life. Um, but directly after, no, my hair didn't sustain any damage. I was good to go.
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