We were lucky to catch up with Alycea Adams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alycea , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

As a young African American woman in Generation Z, I was on the platform TikTok and Instagram as social spaces to connect with family and friends, but it quickly turned into a platform for me to vocalize embracing my natural hair and the challenges that come with that. Growing up I was often confronted with questions about my hair that focused on whether or not it was real. I realized that our society paints Eurocentric beauty as the standard and as a black woman, I wanted to carve my own narrative to show the world that there is beauty in natural hair. My platform on TikTok has blossomed into over 340,000 followers, which has opened doors for me to collaborate with mainstream hair companies such as Camille Rose Naturals, Carol’s Daugther, and Redken. More importantly, I have been able to build a social media form for women of color to discuss the reality of hair discrimination that we endure from childhood to adulthood. My content has a deeper meaning behind it because I wasn’t always confident about my crown, I had to learn how to embrace my curls by educating myself on proper haircare for it to thrive. I am studying for a degree in B.S. Information Science with a minor in entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At Carolina, I am also a member of the UNC Cheerleading Program where I am able to be an ambassador for my university. I want to be a role model for other young black women to know they can pursue their goals and aspirations. This past March, I was able to have a segment at a women’s empowerment conference for aspiring entrepreneurs, led by an organization called the Fortitude Collective, in Atlanta, Georgia. The name of their annual conference is “I Brought My Chair: Unbossed, but Bothered”, and I was able to speak on my experience with hair discrimination which fostered my interest in becoming a content creator. This event was a monumental step in my mission because of the number of women who could relate to the issues I vocalized and many of them face these issues on a daily basis in the workplace simply because of their hair. Some people may think hair is just hair, but for me and many others, it is a form of self expression, which everyone deserves.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Beginning in August 2022, I started recording videos on TikTok about how I take care of my natural hair. Throughout high school and now in college, I was always asked about how my hair got so long or how did I find the time to manage it. One morning, I woke up and one of my videos surpassed 1 Million views, I was in complete shock. Since then, I have now surpassed over 340,000 followers on the platform, where I create content as a natural hair influencer and show people how I embrace my crown. Navigating the social media world has been quite the rollercoaster of teaching myself about social media algorithms, branding, and partnerships, but it’s a ride I’d never want to get off. By building a platform, I have opened doors to collaborate with several mainstream hair companies such as L’Oréal Paris, Camille Rose Naturals, Redken, and Miche Beauty. These collaborations have allowed me to showcase my creativity and my authentic self.

As a content creator, it is a revolving door of brands that want to collaborate with you and I juggle everything on my own. Being young in this line of work, I have tried to grow my platform to align with who I am and show the life of a college student-athlete. I am most proud of the campaign I was involved in for Black History with Procter & Gamble and Harris Teeter for their “Aisles for All” campaign. Also, in March 2023, I spoke at the Fortitude Collective “I Brought My Chair: Unbossed, but Bothered” Conference about my platform and why I created it. It was eye-opening to speak to women about my own experiences with hair discrimination and why I want to build awareness around this issue.

I want people who come across my platform to feel confident wearing their crowns, no matter the shape, size, or length. I attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where being a cheerleader has been a dream come true! As a cheerleader, I love when little girls want to take pictures with me because I know how important representation is for our future generations. Also, I am interested in a career in technology, and this summer I landed an internship with Delta Airlines as their Business Strategy Information Technology Intern in Atlanta, Georgia. When I was growing up, I knew I wanted to be a cheerleader, but it was difficult feeling confident in my goals because I didn’t see many young black women on the sidelines of a college football or basketball game. I want to be the blueprint for other young black women to embody their confidence and pursue their dreams unapologetically.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Like other people my age, I was using social media since I was 12 or 13 years old, and I didn’t think I could be a social media influencer because I didn’t see other women who looked like me being embraced by hair companies for their natural hair. I built my presence on social media by simply uploading a hair video and letting social media do the rest. TikTok is an interesting platform that allows someone to blow up overnight, and that’s exactly what happened to me. From there, I continue showing my followers how I took care of my hair and answered their questions surrounding the conversation about natural hair. I would advise someone interested in building a social media presence to find something that is unique to them. Think about how you could showcase your authentic self. For example, I could’ve tried to become a content creator doing TikTok dances, but dancing is not something that comes naturally to me, but doing my hair does. I love everything about hair care and styling my hair because it’s been a lifelong journey figuring out how to take care of my hair and learning new hairstyles. As partnerships with major companies began to roll in, I had to figure out that using my social media as a resume is what I needed to do to reel more in. I use my creativity to create campaigns with collaborations to display my personality and simply be myself.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being creative is seeing my ideas come to life. I am truly a visionary and I love having meetings with different companies to discuss my brainstorming ideas. With the power of social media, I am able to showcase my creativity and who I am as a person. It is rewarding to receive comments and messages from other black women who love my videos and applaud me for being committed to my natural hair journey. Seeing other people begin to embrace their natural hair and incorporate my advice is the best reward of it all. I enjoy helping people, especially young girls, because our society can be cruel, so it is important that I be a role model for anyone who feels like they don’t have one.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carolinayouth.org/alycea
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/alycearae?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alycea-adams-8a983522a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChf8akYfgJtPsVK7dkcA3CQ
• Other: https://opal.ils.unc.edu/~alycea/601.task02/

Image Credits
Cam Traylor (Cheerleading picture showcasing white uniform)