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Winnie Awa
Two things → I help people with textured hair achieve their goals + help haircare brands create data-informed products | Founder & CEO at Carra | Speaker | InnovateUK Women in Innovation Award Winner
Winnie Awa, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Co-chair at British Beauty Council
Winnie Awa is the Founder and CEO of Carra, a beauty technology company.1 She is also the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Co-chair at the British Beauty Council.5
Some key facts about Winnie Awa:
- She frequently posts about topics related to textured hair, beauty tech, and innovation on her LinkedIn profile.23
- Awa has been vocal about addressing the texture gap and hair loss issues in the beauty industry.4
- She recently joined the Creative Industries Federation in the UK.5
- Awa leverages data and intelligence to drive innovation at Carra.6
As the DEI Co-chair at the British Beauty Council, Winnie Awa is working to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the beauty industry in the UK.
Highlights
Earlier this year, I was thrilled to join Creative Head Magazine as a keynote speaker at their 2024 Salon Smart event.
I kicked off with a hilarious yet poignant anecdote of when I wasn't able to get through the automated Eurostar gates as I kept getting an error to 'remove my hat' which I could not do as the 'HAT' in question was in fact my hair.
Frustrating as this experience was, it really speaks to the importance of inclusive testing. Had the Eurostar conducted tested widely, the automated systems would have recognised that hair is not homogenous. This same idea is applicable to testing new products and active ingredients in beauty R&D - most especially where textured hair and multicultural beauty is concerned!
In this talk, I explored how hair care brands & salons can embed inclusive thinking in their new product development pipeline to better serve textured hair consumers.
If you are a hair brand or salon looking to excel in this category, we'd like to help. Learn more here: https://carra.co/labs
I penned an opinion piece on BeautyMatter Matter on why hair relaxers are gaining popularity once again, despite the well-documented health risks.
Hair relaxers, used to permanently alter the curls in textured hair saw a dramatic drop in sales at the height of natural hair movement, reporting a 26% decline in sales in 2008. Fast-forward nearly two decades, and a surprising trend has emerged on TikTok with a new wave of devotees are advocating for a return to hair relaxers.
I find this utterly fascinating as in 2022, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found a correlation between frequent use of straightening products and higher rates of breast and ovarian cancers.
In this article, I explore what could be driving this trend. Whether it is still a matter of societal pressure, economic convenience, or a lack of better options.
Full article is linked in the comments. Curious to hear your thoughts!
#TextureGapReport #TexturedHair #HairRelaxers #InclusiveBeauty
