Ep 159 – Shalita Grant, Founder and CEO of Four Naturals Hair

In episode 159, Erik and Kerel talk with Shalita Grant, Founder and CEO of Four Naturals Hair, a company designed to care for type 4 hair, about her upbringing, how it made her tough and resilient, eventually taking her to a full ride at Juilliard at 17, going on to Broadway and nominated for a Tony, to becoming a series regular on NCIS: New Orleans. She also shares her on-set experience of her hair becoming more and more dry and abused by ill-equipped hairstylists eventually leading to leaving her TV show, and how that has brought her business Four Naturals Hair to fruition.

Shalita shares how she researched, experimented, and saw incredible results from the plant ingredients and practices she gathered from India and North Africa and has made it her mission to help those with type 4 hair. Four Naturals Hair is all about education, being yourself, and improving the lives of Black women, men and children’s lives with their hair.

“At the end of the day, if you want a better life, you have to do stuff to get it. And you have to be open to opportunities, and you have to be ready. And it is unfair, because you never know when the opportunity is coming. But that’s life, baby, like use what you got.”

Timestamps

:30: Shalita Grant, Founder and CEO of Four Naturals Hair, shares about her childhood, child of teenage parents, moving around to different towns, locations, and families, and a mention of a Tony nomination for her time on Broadway

2:23: Shalita tells her experience living in multi-generational homes, having teenage parents, how she grew up faster than a lot of kids around her, and getting into Juilliard

5:29: She dives deeper into her experience up to Juilliard, the story about getting kicked out of school and eventually taken to her audition, and her choice between Juillard, NYC, and University of the Arts

10:38: Shalita shares her time at Juilliard, the intensity, how things changed when she was there, and how it prepared her for real life

13:10: Her biggest lesson attending Juillard

15:02: Going from Juilliard to moving to LA, auditioning over 100 times, and joining the television show, NCIS: New Orleans

17:25: Shalita’s reaction to being a Tony nominee

18:52: Her grandmother’s experience with hair growing up, how her hair became a limitation as an actor, and her journey to eventually leaving NCIS because of the issues

25:11: Shalita shares her frustration with quitting NCIS due to her hair limitation, but realizing it was the right decision for her

27:41: Her journey between leaving NCIS, experimenting with her hair, seeing what others were doing, finding plants that helped her hair become undeniably curly and healthy, to starting Four Naturals Hair and stepping into being an entrepreneur

36:22: The type of work-life balance Shalita keeps with herself and her partner

39:19: Similarities and differences between acting and entrepreneurship or owning your own business

40:22: What’s in Shalita’s music rotation right now

43:25: What’s in Kerel’s and Erik’s music rotation right now and Kerel’s classic new vinyls

46:14: How to stay in touch with Shalita and Four Naturals Hair

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