Mandi's Life Update + How Celebrity Hairstylist Lacy Redway Turned $10 Braids Into a Six‑Figure Career

Mandi's Life Update + How Celebrity Hairstylist Lacy Redway Turned $10 Braids Into a Six‑Figure Career

From Brown Ambition by iHeartPodcasts

June 3, 2026 · 1h 10m

About this episode

This episode features a conversation with celebrity hairstylist Lacy Redway about her journey from braiding hair as a child to building a successful career in the fashion industry.

This week, we’re heading back into the Brown Ambition vault for a powerful conversation with celebrity hairstylist and image maker Lacy Redway. Lacy may not always be in front of the camera, but you’ve definitely seen her work. From red carpets to fashion campaigns and TV and film, she’s shaping the way Black women show up on screen and in the culture. In this episode, we get into: •    Growing up as a Jamaican immigrant, being the “foreign kid,” and learning to do her own hair after a bad relaxer left it broken and damaged •    Braiding classmates’ hair for $5–$10 in middle and high school and realizing, in hindsight, that she was already a young entrepreneur •    How she transitioned from doing hair in school to assisting in salons, working on photo shoots, and building a real portfolio in the pre‑Instagram era •    The behind‑the‑scenes reality of being one of the few Black stylists backstage at fashion week—and why Black models would literally wait in line for Lacy to do their hair •    What it actually looks like to take yourself seriously as a business…

People in this episode

Host: Mandi

Guest: Lacy Redway

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Jamaica

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