- 43 minutes ago
The Buseum meets the mainstage. Kahh Spence and Brandi unpack the trends, the tension, and the timeless conversation around beauty and its role in community, beyond aesthetics.
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00:04Hello, everyone. How are we doing? I need a little temperature check. All right. How
00:11y'all doing? I can't hear y'all. Thank you. If you are in the surrounding areas, please
00:18come and join us. We're about to have a really, really cool panel called Museum. So the museum
00:27meets the main stage. Ka Spence and Brandy unpack the trends, the tension, and the timeless
00:33conversations around beauty and its role in community beyond the aesthetics. So please
00:40welcome to the stage Dr. Brandy Welch, Ka Spence, and Akilah King. All right. Round of applause.
00:50Come on. Give the girls some energy.
01:00Essence Fest. Give us some energy. How are we feeling? Looking good. Looking good. Essence
01:10Fest day two. How are we looking? We look good, y'all? Yes. Okay, good, good, good. Everyone's,
01:16you know, recovering from last night. Cardi B, all the girls. What a night. Right. What a night.
01:23But look at you two. Rays of sunshine right here. We're matching. We didn't even realize
01:27that. Y'all look amazing. Glowing. Love it. Well, I'm a big fan of both of you. So I'm
01:34so excited to moderate today. I mean, Ka, your journey has been amazing to watch. Brandy,
01:40loving your content as well. So let's get into it. We're going to talk about all the things.
01:47Starting off, both of you would love for you to tell us, before we get into it, a little
01:53bit about your journeys, what got you into beauty, and we'll start from there.
01:58Ladies and gentlemen. Okay. So you guys just met me, but once again, I'm Dr. Brandy. Like
02:05I told you all, I am a pharmacist by trade. So what got me into beauty, I think, starts with
02:11my childhood. As a little girl, I was always getting my hair done by my mom. So there was
02:16a lot of at-home salon sessions. And then in high school, I decided to go natural. And
02:22as you can imagine, over 15 years ago, we did not have all of the tools that we have today.
02:29So it was a lot of figuring things out, messing my hair up, getting it right, messing it up
02:36again. And that has pretty much been my journey when it comes to beauty, just trying things,
02:42seeing what sticks. And that's the same thing that what happened with beauty content creation.
02:47I posted a video, it stuck, and I've been doing it ever since.
02:52I know that's right. My setting of beauty, it started as a young boy, being around my mom
02:59in the salon all the time and being around all the women in my family. I grew up around
03:03that 24-7. And I think over time, I just grew a love for it, went to school. And then
03:09did anybody go to the concert last night? All the ladies on stage, I worked with them.
03:15You know, I did all the girls, all of them. So yeah, that's a little bit about me.
03:20Yes, amazing. And so today's concept is beauty museum. So to kick that theme off, would love
03:29to hear from each of you. If your approach to beauty were an exhibit in a museum, describe
03:37that for me, what would it look like? What would it feel like, et cetera?
03:42So I would have a very boring museum. It would be all black and white. And it would be white
03:49bottles, all black writing, black walls, white shelves. And the reason why I would want it
03:55to be that way is because when it comes to beauty, a lot of times we shop with our eyes
04:00and not with the actual purpose. So I would want to remove that stimulus and get people
04:06more involved and more informed in how they're shopping for beauty. And because of that, I
04:11would name it behind the bottle because you would be forced to turn that bottle around,
04:15read those ingredients, and figure out if it's actually going to be beneficial to you.
04:21Beautiful.
04:22Love that.
04:23Give her a round of applause.
04:24I doubt that would be boring though. You led with it would be boring, but nothing boring
04:28about you.
04:30Yes. And you, Ka?
04:32I think my beauty museum would be a beautiful Bordeaux tone. It would be like women draped,
04:40you know, looking like the Mona Lisa hair to die for, the face to die for. And I think we'd
04:47really get into the education behind hair products, makeup products, skincare, and really
04:51talking about, you know, how, how beneficial they are to living a cool, sustainable life
04:58and making sure that we're using products that are really good for us, as Dr. Brandy was
05:01talking about. The reason why I say Bordeaux is because that's the color of love. And I
05:04believe beauty and love are succinct, you know?
05:07Love that. Gorgeous. And then Dr. Brandy, for you, you know, your content is so heavily focused
05:15on the balance of science and haircare. And I think, you know, speaking of museums, you
05:21think of art, but a lot of people think that science and art don't necessarily go together.
05:26But I think you strike the perfect balance of science and creativity. In your words, how
05:32did the two of these coexist?
05:35So I think science, beauty, and art coexist. One, through the art of storytelling. To take
05:42a very complex topic like science and break it down to the masses in a way that they can
05:49understand and apply is a true art form. If you all saw my DMs with some of the questions
05:55that I get and happen to try and explain barn repair technology and keratin and a cortex in
06:03a way that someone's going to read, digest, and apply, oh, maybe that's the art form. And
06:09then the other side of it is how can they utilize that information to then beautify themselves?
06:16Because the information is only as useful as the application. So I gave you a lot of information.
06:21How are you going to do your hair? How are you going to style your hair? And how is that
06:24going to be sustainable to you? That's, that's all art.
06:26I love that. Exactly. That's beautiful. Yes. And then for you, Ka, we've seen you blossom from
06:33incredible celebrity hairstylist to now incredible, amazing brand founder of Samir Gray. Tell us about
06:42this pivot and what inspired it. And yeah, I want to hear all that.
06:47I think the pivot was more about, as I talked about yesterday, really figuring out what your
06:51purpose is in life and understanding how to get over that big leap of whatever it is that you want
06:56to do.
06:57I think I realized my journey throughout hairstyling, it took a toll on my mind and my body. And I
07:04wanted
07:04to be in a space and in a field that I think was really helping a broader audience as opposed
07:10to the
07:11singular clients that I was focused on. And so it's been a beautiful journey. It's been really successful
07:16so far. I'm loving it. Yes. And you're killing it. So it's amazing to see. And yes, you're reminding me,
07:25you can reinvent yourself at any time. Anytime. Yes. Y'all want to become an astronaut tomorrow.
07:30We go on astronaut school. You really can. Hello. Exactly. I love that. I love that. And then for both
07:37of
07:37you, when you reflect on black history and black beauty history, who inspires you to pivot or keep going
07:46throughout history? So this is going to be a little bit stereotypical, but I think one thing that reigns
07:53true in the black community is the love for your parents, specifically my mom, um, at the end of
07:59the day, that is a person that's always going to keep me going. Even when we have our differences,
08:04I know that she's always in my corner and I know she's a strong black woman. Anything that that woman
08:09puts her mind to, she does it. So that is who I look to, to keep motivated and to keep
08:15going.
08:16Let's give it up for Brandy's mom. Yes. Yes. Let's give it up for Brandy's mom.
08:22Oh, so beautiful. Dr. Brandy's mom. Yes.
08:26And then what about you? Any inspirations keeping you going when you reflect on black history?
08:33I think it'd be very similar. My late mother, um, I was super inspired by her work ethic and her
08:39love
08:39for beauty and her love for making sure she was well put together. But someone I also really looked at
08:44with Madam CJ Walker and how she really transformed what it looked like to build entrepreneurship in the
08:50beauty space. And one thing I'm about is getting to the paper. Absolutely. How can we get to the coin?
08:56I'm lost without a coin. Yes. Okay. Vocals. Okay. You might see, you can move into another profession.
09:05Literally. You can do it all at the same time. I love it. And then curious,
09:11what I think is again, going from a hairstylist to brand founder, what was maybe a hardship you faced
09:18when it came to formulation or the process of building your brand that maybe you were like,
09:24wow, this is, I'm in over my head. And how did you sort of overcome that?
09:29I don't think it was the formulation that was tricky for me. I think it was managing,
09:34moving from being more so on the talent side of things because yes, I was a service provider,
09:41but I think I was still treated as talent in some sort of way. And now being an operator is
09:47so
09:48different. There's more people answering to me. There's a lot of managing supply chain that I didn't
09:53understand and wasn't aware of. There's so many layers to running a business that I think a lot of
09:57people aren't aware of. I've managed about 13 different companies and there are about like three to five
10:03people in each company. There's a lot of people to remember names. Number one, remember names.
10:08I'm good at that. But remembering that, like it's, it's, it's a lot, but I love it.
10:12Absolutely. Well, you're doing amazing. And then Dr. Brandy, as a pharmacist,
10:18what are maybe some misconceptions about beauty or hair care that you constantly have to debunk
10:25when, you know, creating your content or speaking to other black women?
10:29Yep. I was just speaking about this previously, and it's anything regarding hair growth,
10:33just because that's a claim that's going to be reserved for medications. A lot of people think
10:37they can achieve that through over-the-counter cosmetic products. And unfortunately, that's not
10:43true. While it can maybe help, it can't promise you anything. And for those type of issues, you really
10:49have to get a medical professional involved. So I'm constantly debunking that and telling people,
10:56you have to go to the doctor. Absolutely. I think that's so important to remind people for sure.
11:04And then I know I sort of asked you what a challenge was you faced when launching your brand
11:11externally, but what was sort of an internal battle maybe with managing expectations from the industry
11:17and choosing your piece and a new passion? What was that tension or, or lack of like for you?
11:24I think the, the struggle for me was getting through the grief of the eight-year relationship
11:33with the client, some of the clients that I had, you know, I built such tight-knit relationships with
11:38these women. And with some of them, we shared hotel rooms together. We did a lot together. We
11:45operated like brother and sister. And so I think grieving those, like that tight,
11:50a close-knit circle of a relationship to where our relationships are now. I think that's been the
11:54biggest hurdle for me to get through, but I still love the young ladies. I was with them at the
11:59club,
11:59man. You know, still live a very fun life.
12:03Yeah, absolutely. I get that. There is a grief in change, but on the other side is beauty, new
12:10opportunities. So thank you for reminding us of that. And when it comes to, you know, for you,
12:19Dr. Brandy, what are some things that you feel like maybe are trends right now that have a lot of
12:27influence, but you're sort of like, maybe this, I know you mentioned hair growth, but are there other
12:31things you're seeing that you're sort of like, maybe we should rethink our approach?
12:37Bond repair technology, and then like UV protection. I feel like UV protection is
12:42really trendy right now when it comes to hair care. And not always, but sometimes it's just
12:49conditioners re-imagine. And I think when it comes to trends in general, I find that people are just
12:55buying things. They don't even know why they're buying the things. So before anyone hops on a trend,
13:01do you need the product? That's the ultimate question. Like it's cute, but do you need it?
13:07Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Getting back down to necessity versus just, you know, taking on what's
13:15cute and cool at the moment. So I feel like that's really key. Absolutely. And then for both of you,
13:22just balancing it all day to day, what are some things that are keeping you grounded right now
13:27through just busy entrepreneurship, content creation, pharmacy work, all of that? Like,
13:34what does the balance look like for each of you?
13:38I think for me, what keeps me grounded is seeing how many everyday women I'm able to help.
13:45I think what we don't realize is the beauty or beauty professionals, they're not always accessible to
13:52everyone. And although I am not a licensed cosmetologist, I can at least provide some
13:57answers to individuals that's accessible 24-7. Because what happens when you dye your hair at
14:05midnight, the beauty supply store is closed, and you got work in the morning? Who you turning to?
14:12You're not going to nobody's hair salon. So at minimum, maybe you can come to my page and I can
14:17teach you how to do a cute flexi rod set until you get to the salon. So being able to
14:22have that
14:23reach and then having my audience come back to me and say, hey, you helped me love my hair. You
14:28helped
14:28me embrace my hair. I'm now comfortable doing my daughter's hair. That keeps you very grounded.
14:34I love that. That's beautiful. Absolutely. What about you, Kai?
14:39I think getting comfortable with the idea that life's not really about balance. You know,
14:46like on Monday, we might feel okay. And on Tuesday, we might not feel okay. And I think getting
14:51comfortable with those ideas and realizing that if I'm not okay, the work that I do won't be okay.
14:56The energy that I put into the world won't be okay. So I think getting comfortable with that,
15:00but I try my best to read. I'm getting back into gaming. You know, I'm trying to do the silly
15:04things
15:05that keep me young, because you know, I want to stay looking this good. And to piggyback off of you,
15:11when I'm ready to launch my haircut brand, I'm coming your way. Okay, I'm gonna be right here.
15:15It might be coming. No time soon. No time soon. Don't hold your breath.
15:21I love it. I love it. And then, Ka, back to you. So you've also mentioned that your pivot into
15:29luxury
15:29fragrance world was sort of a love letter to your mother and the women who raised you. Why was
15:36specifically fragrance the choice there and luxury fragrance as well? And like, what message
15:44do you feel like choosing that path sends to the larger black community about being able to enjoy
15:51luxurious things as well? My initial entrance into beauty was being at my mother's dresser and smelling
15:59the white diamonds or the daisy by Marc Jacobs or the love spell by Victoria's Secret. And being in
16:04the salon and smelling the aromas of the blow dryers. And so I wanted to recreate that energy and that
16:09memory and take from those experiences. And the reason why I wanted to give this love letter to my
16:15mother was because I watched her struggle so much throughout my life. You know, when I was a kid,
16:20she had a stroke when I was five. She had an open heart surgery really young, passed away when I
16:26was
16:2621. And so like watching her deal with all of that in life, I really wanted to shed light on
16:31her and
16:31her story and the women who raised me. I was supported by all women. You know, the men wasn't really
16:36around.
16:37But I love the dads. I'm gonna be one one day. But I was raised by all women. And I
16:42want to give back
16:43to women in those ways. I've worked with women my entire career. And I know, I don't know personally what
16:48women go through what women face. But I've watched it. And I see it. And I want to just say
16:51I see all
16:52of you. And I see what you guys are doing. And how you guys are showing up every day in
16:55your work
16:56and in your everyday lives. We see you. We are with you.
17:00Oh, thank you. And we see you. And I know your mother would be so proud of you. Absolutely. That's
17:06really beautiful. Thank you for sharing that with us. And Dr. Brandy, you have something so dope
17:13called Office Hours. Tell us a little bit about that. It's a video series you do online. I would
17:20love for you to just tell us the inspiration behind that. Yes. So fun fact about me, I've always wanted
17:25to be a teacher. But I realized, unfortunately, in America, teaching does not always pay the bills.
17:32So I started a series called Office Hours. And it's almost classroom style, where we break down specific
17:40topics, three videos each week. So one thing we start with is like hydration and moisture is the
17:47foundation of understanding hair care. And the purpose of it is to give people the tools that they
17:53need to care for their hair independently. Unfortunately, a lot of times we don't know the
18:00why behind things. But with the current state of economy, a lot more people are doing their hair at home.
18:06So if you're going to do it at home, at least be informed about what you're doing. And that's what
18:11prompted me to launch the Office Hours series. I love it. Yes. I think it's incredible, too, because
18:18it creates more accessibility to information and true resources from a vetted source that we don't
18:26always get to have. And also bridging that gap between black women and black people and the medical system
18:32that sometimes we feel uneasy about. So yeah. And I think it's also important because you're
18:38speaking to people in a way that they understand. I could get on here and say, hydration, moisture,
18:43girl, water. Hydration is water. Let's just keep it real simple. And I think that's what helps people
18:49trust you, especially being a medical professional. I know people don't trust me, naturally speaking.
18:54They like, girl, you trying to kill me. Like, I don't trust anything that you're saying. But when
19:01you speak people's language, they kind of open up. And when they realize that you have their best
19:06interests at heart and you're going to be there with them on that journey, you realize it can
19:11actually become a beautiful relationship. Absolutely beautiful. I love that. And then circling back to the
19:19museum theme we have today. What is a historical black beauty era that each of you would love to
19:26revisit and why? I'm going to say the late 60s, early 70s. I take a lot of pride in having
19:35natural
19:36hair. That is one thing that I'm very intentional about. Even today, I opted to wear my natural hair
19:42because I feel like if I'm going to be given a platform, I want to celebrate natural hair. Growing up,
19:48a lot of times we were taught that our hair had to be straight for special occasions. And I didn't
19:54want to straighten my hair. So I want to go back to the 60s and the 70s where the afros
20:00were out,
20:01the crowns were high and big, because I believe black women, black men deserve to take up space.
20:07And I'm gonna make sure my hair occupies as much space as humanly possible. Yes, I might have to join
20:14you when you time travel back to that era, because I love it too. What about you, Ka?
20:20I'd probably say the 90s. You know, I love the door knocker earrings, the doobies, the, you know,
20:25the hairstyles of the women that I was raised around used to wear, the shortcuts, the pixies,
20:31all of that. I think that's really cool. I'm from New York. And so seeing all of that,
20:35being in Brooklyn, being in Harlem, being in Queens, love those moments.
20:38Yeah, absolutely. You really can't go wrong. Like, we've just always ate down,
20:43for lack of better words. New York's the best.
20:45Literally. Where are you from?
20:47New Orleans, Korea. Oh.
20:50Oh. We got family in this crowd. I'm just letting you know.
20:57We right here. We right here. I don't see them.
21:01I'm screaming. I love New Orleans.
21:03We love New Orleans so much. And, you know, we're dwindling down to really 10 seconds here.
21:10I could talk to y'all all day long, truly. But I would love for you to close out with
21:15what each of
21:16you hope your legacies will be, whether it's with your brands or just in general here today.
21:23I hope that my legacy is very simple, and that's making beauty make sense. I want everyone to have
21:30accessibility to the things that they want to have for themselves. So, as long as I can leave my
21:35mark and people say, you know what, that little blonde hair girl made it make sense for me. I'm
21:39good with that. I love it. I love it.
21:42I think what I'd want my legacy to be, I'm still figuring that out, but right now in this moment,
21:48choose you. Like, understand that you come first before anything, before anyone else.
21:54Choose you.
21:56That's powerful. Thank you. I have chills, honestly. Thank both of you for your vulnerability
22:02today, your honesty, sharing your journeys and your knowledge with us. It's really appreciated.
22:08And yeah, y'all are amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much.
22:12And thank y'all for the energy. Keep enjoying Essence Fest. Keep that energy high. Stay hydrated,
22:18all the things, and thank y'all so much. They hydrated.
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