Wine Down Wednesday: Monáe Everett

Wine Down Wednesday: Monáe Everett

Aired: June 30th, 2021

Audio and Photo Source: Monáe Everett and Instagram

Episode Summary

You know the deal! It’s that time of the week where we sip wine and talk travel with our special guests from all walks of life. This Wine Down Wednesday our Founder and CEO, Orion Brown wines down with Celebrity Stylist and Texture Stylist Awards Founder, Monáe Everette.

Our biggest take away? Your talent can take you places… LITERALLY! Y’all she’s done it all! From sweating through altitude sickness with Usher to flying halfway across the world to style Kuwait royalty! She’s built a beauty biz that dreams are made of. Monáe shares her tips for traveling solo safely, the “weirdest” place she’s gone for a gig, and so much more.

After you’re done here, check out The Texture Style Awards. Want more of Monáe? Head over to her website! 

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A post shared by BlackTravelBox ® Clean Beauty (@blacktravelbox)

Episode Transcript

Wine Down Wednesday: Monáe Everett - Your Talent Can Take you Places

Orion Brown (00:01):

Hi everyone. We are Back. We are back. Yo, we are back with Wine Down Wednesday. I, oh my gosh. Y'all I need this glass of wine needs. I needs it. Look at that. Cheers. Hey, thanks for joining. Hold on, for the, for those of y'all who don't know me, it's Wednesday, hold on a second, Hm, here we go. For those of y'all that don't know me. My name is Orion Brown. I am the founder and CEO of BlackTravelBox. And this is wine down Wednesday where we have glass of wine or whatever you have. It could be Pepsi. It could be Kool-Aid. But I prefer a good Pinot Grigio where we just take a minute to simmer on all things, travel, to get that beautiful feeling that you get. You know, that feeling that you get when you book your trip, reading about it. And you

Orion Brown (01:02):

Think about the hotel and you thinking about where are you going to go and what you're going to do? Even if it ... It doesn't matter if it's six days, six weeks or six months. You're like excited about it. Hey, miss Monae, how are you?

Monae Everett (01:14):

I am so happy to be here. I got a last second client. I said, okay, I can fit it in, but I'm going live at 7:30.

Orion Brown (01:22):

I love it. I love it. I love it. I'm just introducing everybody to wind down. We've got so many people coming in. It's so exciting to have these conversations each week. It started out during COVID of just being like, I miss travel so much and realizing that y'all miss travel too. And so we're going to take time. We're going to talk about some travel. We're going to get into beauty, cooking, all kinds of stuff. So this is going to be fun. Fun, fun. Now, where are you? You're hanging out in the car. Are you in a safe location? I

Monae Everett (01:58):

I hope so. I'm in Brooklyn, New York right now where I live, but I'm not in my neighborhood. So yeah, I hope I'm in a safe location. If it's not safe. Y'all everybody will peep what happens.

Orion Brown (02:09):

Um, I meant more like pulled over, you know.

Monae Everett (02:11):

Yes, absolutely! Pulled over and hands free!

Orion Brown (02:15):

Love it. Love it. Love it. Thank you so much for joining us. We typically do. I don't know if you've seen a lot of our wine downs, but we typically do just an intro. So tell everybody who you are, where you're from, where you live, even if it's the same place, um, what your day job is so we can know who your client was. Well, we don't know who your client is, but, and um, how many stamps do you have on your passport? Roughly.

Monae Everett (02:44):

Okay. That was a lot. Okay. So my name is Monet Everett. I am a celebrity and editorial hairstylist and also the creator of Texture Style Awards for the very first, um, awards that are based around celebrating all four textures of hair and the stylist who slayed them. We will have a ceremony this Monday, July 5th, at 8pm at texturestyleawards.com. So clearly that is consuming me right now. Um, some of my work you may have seen, I work quite often with Dominic Fishback, who was the star of Judas in the black Messiah. She was the leading lady I've worked with Viola Davis, Taraji P Henson, many Disney's stars. I'm trying to think of other names, but of course they escaped me, Merle Dandridge, Lynn Whitfield, um, Paige, H.E.R leading lady on, um, Ghost Book Two. Uh, so you know, I get around a bit. Um, my clients, I do a little thing.

Monae Everett (03:44):

Um, my client today is a politician. That's about to go live, I think on CNN, talk about politician stuff. Uh, I love to travel, especially before COVID it was not unusual for me to be in three different cities in a week. Um, yeah, girl, I was, I was out here and I still travel quite a bit. Um, that is just picked up in the last few weeks. Uh, I would say my passport stamps, I got to get more stamps. I know I've been to Kuwait, Canada, London, Toronto. Um, actually the very first place that I went out of the country was Kuwait and it was amazing.

Orion Brown (04:24):

Wow. And, and your, your work took you to Kuwait or that was just something that you were interested in?

Monae Everett (04:29):

Yes, My work took me to Kuwait. I have this, like, if we got the time, I'll tell the story. It's an interesting story.

Orion Brown (04:37):

I want to know, like that's, that's definitely a unique one.

Monae Everett (04:42):

So, um, well, since you already know, I ended up in Kuwait, but here's the deal. When I first got on Instagram, um, this lady had DM'ed and she was like, Hey, I really liked the way you do hair. And I'm going to come to New York from Kuwait and eight months for my 60th birthday. Can you do a photo shoot? I was like, or you can hit me in seven months. Cause I didn't know if it was a scam, you know, I didn't understand. She tracked me down. Um, and she was like, she called me and you know, like on a shaky line, she was like, I think you think I'm a joke. I'm not a joke. I'm a real woman. I'm turning 60. I want you to do my hair and makeup for a photo shoot. I want you to put the shoot together. Tell me where to send you money so that you can put it together.

Monae Everett (05:23):

And I was like, oh, okay. I guess she's real. Put the shoot together. She was one of my favorite clients. She would come to New York multiple times a year. Like I would just look for her. And one day she's like, if I asked you to come to Kuwait to do a wedding, um, would you come? And I was like, of course she was like, but our weddings are not like American weddings. Um, and I was like, of course I'll come. I got an email and was like, this is your flight itinerary. It was right before Christmas. Okay. I went there. It was absolutely beyond anything I could possibly thought possible. And this woman, if I were to show you, most people thought she's Caribbean, but she's not. She's Kuwaiti. And quite as kept, I don't say this very often, but when I got there, I learned that I was doing a wedding for the Kuwaiti Royal family out there.

Orion Brown (06:15):

That's what's up. That's what's up.

Monae Everett (06:17):

I had no idea.

Orion Brown (06:19):

And people, so this is a lesson. You never know who your clients are. You never know who the people are that reach out to you whilst, you know? Wow. Of course being cautious and making sure that nobody's getting your social security number or anything like that. There's cause that's real. Cause that's real talk. Um, that's amazing that by showing just a little bit of kindness and an open mind and planting that seed in one place took you halfway around the world and into the space of royalty.

Monae Everett (06:51):

It was a life changing opportunity. And I was sitting there thinking like all this time, I'm wondering if people want to scam me, you are more in danger dealing with me than I am with you. It was amazing. She's like, oh, you know, when you come, you can stay at my house. I was like, or I can stay at a hotel. She said, okay girl, she picked me up. I saw her estate. I was like what is happening here, her in home salon. And then she's like, oh, this is my friend's hotel. It's right across the freeway. This was a life changing.

Monae Everett (07:29):

This was a life changing opportunity. Do you hear me ? I never thought I would be in the Middle East. I didn't know so many of our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters look like you and I. There internet is completely different from ours. So when you search stuff over there, versus when you search it here, it's very different. It was just a wonderful experience. It taught me I can go anywhere. I can do anything and my talent took me places. A lot of people just simply don't respect those in the beauty industry. My talent has taken me up over and across the world multiple times. Wow. Oh, I forgot that. I spent time in New Zealand too.

Orion Brown (08:11):

Iit.love it. Out the gate, out the gate, you came through with an amazing story. Like, like I love this. So because your talent has taken you around the world, how do you approach travel in terms of your own experience of these places? Like, are you just working, working, working, do you take time to take it in? Like how do you kind of keep sort of the experience with you besides the fact that I know you love you, you know, you love beauty and you're, and you're making these people look amazing. Like what are some of the things that, that you do to kind of keep that full experience and get the most out of

Monae Everett (08:51):

Well, it's cool that you asked that question because I have, um, been talking myself more about taking it in. I am definitely a work, work, work person. And then I thought about it. I was like, all I can describe about some of the states I've been to is their airport doesn't really count or the inside of their hotel room. And I'm like, well, the hotel was the same in every city. I don't know that that really counts. So what I'm doing is making myself take the time. Like when I was in London, I made myself, um, just even drive around and get out and walk around a little bit in New Zealand. I made myself, um, walk around a bit, Kuwait. I was a little lazy, but they also were like, we don't want you walking around here in Kuwait, just for, just for the reason that like, no for no reason other than what we thought.

Monae Everett (09:36):

But it was, um, it was pure. It was a lot of sand, it was a lot of water. And they were like, it's just really easy to get turned around. And I felt like I was there representing somebody and I did not want to possibly make a wrong move. But, um, yeah, when I go out of the country, I make myself move around, but I'm not so good at doing that when I'm in the US. So, um, I think to at bare minimum 35 states, so pretty soon I'll be able to say I've been to every state and I'm like, I need to enjoy it more. But I do put out on the internet, like, Hey, I'm in this city who wants to link, but I find like, people always think that I won't really link up with them. So like the day comes and they're like, oh, I didn't think you was really going to come. Yeah! I'm trying to meet people, go places, do things. Like let's make it happen, you know?

Orion Brown (10:25):

Yes. Yes. And that's the thing like that's, especially with as many states as you've been to having, like, I mean, it's almost like having a little community everywhere you go.

Monae Everett (10:36):

That's the intent. Absolutely. I think I took too long to understand the importance of that, but that is wholeheartedly my intent. Now

Orion Brown (10:45):

I love that. One of the things that I like to do, if nothing else, if it's a work week in a, in a place, um, is try to get in a brunch or lunch and bring all the people together and like knock it out. I mean, that's kind of bad, but I try to knock it all out. So tell us a little bit about what it's been like being a woman of color, going into all of these places. Um, and especially coming in as a boss to some extent, right? Like you're coming in to do a job, your professional, like what has, what has been your experience in some of these places? What have been some of the highs, what have been some of the, not so highs.

Monae Everett (11:29):

I like to tell the truth. I am pretty truthful. I have not had a lot of racist incidents that I have had some whether it's, you know, showing up to the celebrities, very high end hotel and not being able to find anybody to help me magically they're there helping someone else or I'm being seen as simply the help, you know? Um, so that's not that, that hasn't been great. And I have to say, honestly, it is my concern. Every time I traveled somewhere, I am generally always alone. I am very aware that if something were to happen to me, they would say, well, why'd you go there by yourself alone? You know what I mean? Like you didn't take safety into consideration. And I feel like black women are always held accountable for things that happen to them. You know, it's never, well that person maybe shouldn't have jumped out the alley and knocked her upside the head it's well, why was she at the alley? And she was there alone. And what was she wearing?

Orion Brown (12:26):

What was she doing there? Yeah. So

Monae Everett (12:30):

I definitely take that into consideration. I have been a little, um, I don't know the best word, envious might not be the best word of my male counterparts, who are in the beauty industry who travel everywhere by themselves. And they go to the club by themselves. They go, um, you know, weed is legal in some states. So some of them might enjoy smoking weed or getting high or doing things that would be considered inappropriate for a woman to do. And they have fun and they wake up the next day and they go on about their business. But I know as a Black woman, that probably would not be in my favor. I don't smoke, but I'm just throwing it out there, how open they are about things that may be considered a vice to some. And they still go out and party. They puting up I'm partying tonight in this city. Where am I going? And they are able to do that. And I don't feel like that's the same thing for me as a young Black woman to go out and be like, Hey, I'm partying with complete strangers. Let's get it. You know?

Orion Brown (13:28):

Yeah, yeah, no, that's a really, that's a really big point because it's not even about, it's almost not even about the location. It's really gets so centered around you, that you could be in the center, you know, in the middle of nowhere. And somebody could be like, well, why were you in the middle of nowhere? You can be in the middle of a big safe city. It wouldn't be like, why were you in the city by yourself? What time was it? So that's a really interesting thought. Are you like, what measures do you take when you travel to kind of keep yourself feeling safe and comfortable in your environment, as opposed to like maybe what other people might expect?

Monae Everett (14:08):

I have learned this from my celebrity clients. One, I people think I put a lot of my personal life online and I don't. Um, but the biggest thing you do, um, that I learned from them as you can post anything you want about your life after you're already done with it, you can post any restaurant looking like you're having a phenomenal time two days later, you know? So people think that they know where you are and what you're doing, or like how people will post, like out of town living this, that and the other. Yeah. I posted that from my couch. Cause I went few days ago, you know, just a lot of different things like that I do. And um, some of it is purposeful and some of it is because I'm busy having the experience at time, but I, I am very unlikely to post what I'm actually doing at that time.

Orion Brown (14:57):

And that's, that's a gem y'all for those of you who are like, but I want to do it for the gram and I want to tag the place, do it later. And it just gives you a little bit of a layer of insulation. You're not only in the location you're in, but you're home.

Monae Everett (15:14):

Oh my God. You don't know who was looking. I remember years ago when I was first interested in online dating and this guy, um, I guess we didn't hit him, but like, there was no thought to me about this guy. I, I don't know. You'll see the reason why. And I was in the salon one day and they said there was a cop up here who wants to talk to you? And, um, I worked on Capitol hill and that was not uncommon because I worked on Capitol hill in DC and I was the salon manager. And this guy was just looking at me weird. And he was like, I told you, I'd find you. You don't want to get back to me. I told you, I found that he was fully armed in a cop uniform and was basically saying that I had talked to him online, but I don't even recall the conversation.

Monae Everett (15:58):

But if you're standing there with a full assault rifle, talking to me, I felt it was very threatening. The way this ties in is you don't know who looking at you. So you don't know who's keeping tabs on you. So I can go to another city, like say I'm in, oh my God. I just wanted to throw out a place. That's not very popular and say, I'm in Austin, Texas. Um, you don't think anybody cares and Austin or Sam and, um, you saw Utah. You're like, nobody's checking for me. And you taught, you don't know. And you show up in that person's city and they sit there waiting on you. Or they think that you have something to give, like, um, you know, like I see people who are promoting their own brands during our lives. You don't know when I go to their city, what they think I can do for them.

Orion Brown (16:47):

Y'all can hit us up in the comments and all of that good stuff. But you know, keeping, keeping an understanding that from the side of the person who may be crossing boundaries, that we're human beings, we're human beings that people with lives and responsibilities and other things. And just because, and I had to teach myself this in certain situations, because I hadn't realized I had internalized, you see somebody space enough. You almost kind of feel like..

Monae Everett (17:14):

You think you know them. You think, oh, I've done that. I know it's not done on her. Oh my God. I'm full of stories. It was one of those girls from America's next top model. I want to say Eva. I was, I was in, um, doing a runway show. Right. And all the models were coming and everybody was registering. And I saw her from across the room. I was like, oh, a face. I know. And we made eye contact and it was great. And I was like, if she came across the room to me, I was like, oh good. So good to see you. I haven't seen you in such a long time. And she was like, and I was like, yeah. I'm like, you look nice, I like , your haircut. She was like, looking at me like, I'm crazy. And I'm like, well, why'd you come over? You came over to meet like what's happening. And she's like, yeah. I needed to know where to go to check in to let people know I was here. I really thought we were it wasn't Eva. But it was one of those girls. I really thought we were friends. And I'm thinking like, no, like you had the red couch at your house. Your hair was different because of freaking reality TV.

Orion Brown (18:19):

Knowing all of thier business. All of their business.

New Speaker (18:25):

Remember!? You was crying about your baby daddy, your sister, didn't call you back. I remember! And now I look like the crazy person.

Orion Brown (18:34):

Well, so, and so we can all relate to it. And I think that's where we have to bring back the humanity to this idea of celebrity or just even social. Because I don't, you know, I, I would, I'm not a celebrity, but like I'm on social a lot. So people, I know you and I'm like, um, but I've done the same thing I was at this y'all my nerd is showing, but I was at San Diego. Comic-Con Chadwick, Boseman starts walking towards me and he's got four guys around him. And I have to say this. All I see is like a sea of, well it's, I would say it's fairly culturally diverse, but you know, it's just a sea of nerds and this one Black fpace, like coming through the crowd. And I was like, wow. And he just kinda was like [inaudible]. And I was like, why do you look so upset? And it was just for a split second. He was a familiar face, like an old friend. Oh, do we lose sound? She can't hear me. Maybe I can hear you. Okay. There we go. Yeah. So it was, it was one of those things for like a split second. I thought I knew him like that part of your brain that recognizes faces. It's like, oh, that's cousin, Tommy that ain', cousin, Tommy. No,

Monae Everett (20:02):

But you know, it's, it's played out to the advantage. That's the part of the reason why we go live. We have classes, we do photos. You know, we do things like that. And especially for celebrities, like that's what makes them a household name, you know? So it just it's the up and the down part of it.

Orion Brown (20:18):

And that's the challenge. That's really the challenge. The, the flip side to that is, is, you know, being aware of how much you're putting out there, because you said something really interesting. You said, people think that I give a lot of my personal life to social and I really don't. And I think that's true for a lot of people, but then it's almost like the type of content becomes more intimate because people want to see more of that. But it may not necessarily be true that person or like their every day, like you're not seeing everything. So you can't presume that you understand that person soup to nuts.

Monae Everett (20:54):

Yeah. They think that they're owed your personal life and you know that that's not true. Like, hell how come you, don't never post your man. Cause I'm just as embarrassed as you are if we break up and I'm like, you know,

Orion Brown (21:11):

Yes, we all, we all, we all are in that same social boat, no matter where, what we're out there doing in the world. And I love that the idea of kind of traveling somewhere and then kind of being able to curate that experience from your couch. Cause that does, I mean, you know, if nothing else is one of the reasons why I don't put like people's phone number that I have business relationships with on my phone, just in case someone but dials or something and I'm out somewhere and like you just, I'm, I'm definitely afraid of accidentally butt dialing, drunk, dialing, texting somebody, the wrong person. And so for me, there's something really nice about this thought of take all the pictures if you want to, and then come back and curate the moment. Yes, yes. Yeah. And I also love that you said, or I'm just not taking pictures like that. I'm really just experiencing the experience.

Monae Everett (22:13):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, you know, I think my biggest lesson was, uh, the Kardashians, how we looked, we thought we knew everything about them and we missed an entire, uh, sex change situation. I don't care whether you think that's right or wrong. My point is, we thought we knew everything and something was hidden in plain sight right in front of us.

Orion Brown (22:35):

Yes. Yes. Cause it's, it's curated, it's curated and there's nothing wrong with that. It's entertainment. But we have to remember that reality is, is not TV. Reality is reality is what's real. Yeah, absolutely. So tell us about, um, I want to hear a little bit more about your travels and particularly some of the places that you thought I need to put the phone down. I need to just like, wow, let me put the phone down and just be in this. Like, what are some of those highlight places that you've been and what made them really special?

Monae Everett (23:07):

I would say in Kuwait, uh, I was forced to do that. I was told, um, people at certain levels don't tell film everything. And that if I, um, wanted to enjoy the situation, I had to put my phone down or they would offer to hold it for me.

Orion Brown (23:29):

I mean, you can't go to a Dave Chappelle uh, concert without putting your phone away. So I met him. Yeah.

Monae Everett (23:36):

So I learned that the hard way. Um, or some of the things I just wasn't able to fully capture, like in New Zealand, I would look at beautiful sunset or horizon and try to take a picture. And it wasn't the same or, um, there's this place that I went to with Brittany Howard, the singer, it is on the border of Colorado and New Mexico. Where if you're in a certain valley, one way it's snowy mountains. The other way is a Sandy desert. Yup.

Orion Brown (24:06):

That's a great, I live about three hours from there.

Monae Everett (24:08):

Oh my gosh yes! You know exactly what I'm talking about!

Orion Brown (24:11):

Yes, the sand dunes. Yeah. It's the largest sand dunes in north America.

Monae Everett (24:14):

You can't capture it the way it looks to your eyes on the phone. So after a while I just gave up and was like, no, I just, I guess I just have to experience this. You know,

Orion Brown (24:25):

I've definitely had that moment where I'm like so frustrated, whether I'm trying to use a DSLR or use my phone and I'm not capturing it. And then I have to just say, wait, stop. Just, just stop and enjoy it and stop and take this in. We don't have to have our phones up for everything. And that's, that's kind of a beautiful moment to have as well. That same area is gorgeous at night. I don't know if you were there cause there's, there's no light contamination. So when you're down there and even further south towards Royal Gorge and these other places, um, you know, you rent a little, I don't want to say a camp cause that's not right. Like it's, they're very nice, uh, cabins that you can rent even small ones that are very, very nice and well appointed and sit outside under the stars. You'll never get the picture. You'll never get the picture, but there's nothing like sitting and looking out and seeing like the galaxies and the stars and the shooting stars and all of that stuff. Those are some amazing moments.

Monae Everett (25:24):

Yeah. It's I would say when I do go places and I want to share, it's not because I want to show off it's because I don't come from a world where this is common. You get what I'm saying? I'm a sharer in terms of, I don't find myself to be extraordinarily unique. So I want anybody that I love to experience the same thing and it's difficult. Like I want my mama to see, I want my sisters to see. So I like that, but it's funny. Like I literally, cause I was just on the phone with the phone company. I literally in my phone alone have over 15,000 photos and videos.

Orion Brown (26:03):

Oh my gosh.

Monae Everett (26:05):

I'm not nearly posting all of those. Yeah. But I guess the old parts of me does call my mom like, look, let me show you this. Let me say little sister, oh my God, you did this. You did that. Like my little sisters travel all the time and I don't get to go to their places and I really want to see. And um, there was a commercial where old people were putting the photos on a production, on a projector. And it was like, the point was, they're all, they're still using a projector. And then I thought about it one day. I was like, well I guess when I put them on the TV, it's the same thing. Cause I want to show, I want you to see, this is a different part of the world. And I guess it's another low part of, remember when said that being a hairstylist wasn't good enough. Remember when y'all said I wasn't going to be able to go nowhere.

Orion Brown (26:52):

Okay. I mean, that's the thing it's almost, I would almost capture, at least in my mind is less trying to prove myself to the world, but to the people who were most important to me.

Monae Everett (27:02):

Exactly. A hundred percent. Yeah. And wanting them to say like, oh my God, one day, I'm going to take my mom's Kuwait. It changed my life. I want her to go there. But I mean, it's probably weird maybe because I'm not married. Like I don't go places and be like, oh, well look at where I am. I am like a fiber, like, oh, I want to take my momma here. Oh my sister would love that. Oh, I wish my brother could come with me. It's I get to experience many amazing things. But I never dreamed that I would have amazing experiences solo. Yeah. You get what I'm saying?

Orion Brown (27:38):

Yeah. And so tell us a little bit about when you started to travel and how you started to get that exposure and that, that feeling of, Ooh, I want to bring my family, which I completely I'm the same way. I'm like, I wish my mom could see this. I wish my dad could see this, you know, there's reasons why they won't, but like it's still a really nice there's, there's almost, it's truly sharing. It's not disseminating content sharing it. I want you to have the same feeling that I'm having because we, our DNA never stood here in this spot.

Monae Everett (28:13):

Exactly. Yeah. I would say I've always traveled. Like I didn't, you know, there's different levels to traveling. We, we thought we was doing big things going from DC to New York. Cause we were always on the move. And then you saw a little North Carolina in it and then, you know, Miami, um, when I got a little older, but I think probably the first place I traveled to by myself was just to Oklahoma City to see a boyfriend when I was like 17 or 18 and it didn't occur to me. My mom, you know, my grandpa was like, oh, I'm scared of flights. And my mom was like, why would you go that far to see somebody? You know? So it didn't occur to me. I was doing stuff. And then, you know, um, when I got with my agency, it was like, Hey, we got this big job.

Monae Everett (29:00):

Uh, you know, in Dallas, um, your flight leaves tomorrow or you know, the first time I went to London, um, uh, first, only time I went to London, um, I don't know if we're in 2021, I guess 2018. I was in the middle of a job and got told, Hey, we really need you to cover this job. Um, you gotta be on a flight in six hours. Woo. Yeah. So I'm always packed. My kid is always ready to go. It's always fully updated. I've gotten to a point over the years from having, I wouldn't say that experience happens all the time, but it has happened enough to make me know. I need to stay prepared. Um, I'll drop some gems on staying packed really quick. I keep my personal always packed. I never have to add more personal. I keep my medications. I'm ready to go.

Monae Everett (29:50):

Those have to be, you know, reupdated time to time. Um, when my head is right, I keep underwear in the bag because if you got your personal ready to go and your medication, um, you can buy, you can buy clothes anywhere. You know? Um, I wear a unique underwear size, so I keep mine pack. But you know, you know that about yourself. You can go to any city you go to is going to have their version of a Walmart, H and M, wherever your budget is, you know, to find something. But I'm always ready. I'm never going to miss an opportunity because you know, I can't travel. So many of us have these things that keep us down. Like yesterday I was on the job and they were like, Hey, we want you to go to Austin tomorrow. Which is why Austin keeps popping in my mind. It, it canceled at the last minute because the head of the production was like, it's not possible Monae is ready to go. She can't get on a flight in eight hours. And they're like Monea does this all the time. An they were like no we're just going to reschedule. That wouldn't be fair. Monae was like, what time is my flight?

Orion Brown (30:59):

So they were like, we need Monae out here. Like yesterday, can she time travel? I don't think she could time travel. You were like, hold my wine.

Monae Everett (31:08):

It wouldn't be the first time. Why not? But let me tell you, it would not be the first time. I'd say LA, like I love flying west where they're like, okay, it's the night before we don't have anybody. We would love for Monet to come, but it's a 9:30 AM shoot. She can't get here in time. Monae is on a 6:00 AM flight, which lands about 8:30 AM LA time. And I will see you in the morning ,might be a few minutes late. Like maybe, but usually not. And if I fly with a carry on sis, ain't going to be late where you need me

Orion Brown (31:40):

About that. Pre-check and clear life. Huh?

Monae Everett (31:44):

Yeah. People get mad at me. My pre-check game is strong. I'm mad at freaking TSA right now because you wanted my money and y'all having a hard time with the lines. I will be on the phone with people and tell them, hold on. And B be through security. Sis ain't about that standing there for 30, 45 minutes. Like

Orion Brown (32:03):

Never, never that never that. And it sounds like, I mean, you're basically on call like a surgeon out here fixing people's lives all over the world.

Monae Everett (32:14):

People don't many, even hairstyles and makeup artists don't realize this is what you're working hard for. And let's be clear. All of it is not glamorous, but you can have fun with it. Yeah.

Orion Brown (32:26):

What's so, so we know you've done like New Zealand and Kuwait, what has been a place that was just sort of like, huh? Like that's a strange place to take, you know, that's take that your job has taken you, whether it be in the, or around the world.

Monae Everett (32:41):

I'm sorry to do it to you. I think the place that you said you lived in there. I, okay. So getting there, I want to say we had to transfer in Dallas and then fly into Santa Fe right there. Airport is like four rooms. I was walking around in circles because I couldn't find baggage claim. And I'm sorry. So the baggage claim, right? So you got off on a black top and then you walk in through a hallway and then it's like a rental place. And I'm like, where are my bags? The bag is playing. They closed the door and they put up a ramp and then they get your baggage down for you. I ain't never seen nothing like that.

Monae Everett (33:24):

Okay. And then we drove three hours to get to where we were going. It was nice. And I was like, I don't understand it. And it was weird because I was not dressed appropriately because once again, I only had 12 hours to get ready. And I was confused into thinking that 70 degrees was warm, but I did not know it was the desert. So that meant the morning was like 28 degrees. Yeah. And then the shirt that I had on from being in the sun, it had like little webs on it. Those were burned into me for two weeks because the sun was so string.

Orion Brown (34:04):

The sun is no joke in Colorado. And especially with the elevation, you don't realize the elevation is there even before you've gone up a mountain. And then next thing you know, you're like, why is stuff so hot?

Monae Everett (34:15):

Yeah. Why am I burning? Why am I cold and burning

Orion Brown (34:19):

Yet at the same time? Is this hypothermia Jesus? I don't know what that is.

Monae Everett (34:30):

Absolutely. Yes, yes. Yes. So I would say that the weirdest plays, I'm trying like the name, the, where we go for the festival I'm in Utah. I don't know why the name keeps jumping out of my head. That's somewhere. That is a lot to handle.

Orion Brown (34:45):

Like Burnining Man?

Monae Everett (34:45):

Sundance Sunday.

Orion Brown (34:48):

Oh, Sundance. Yeah. Yeah.

Monae Everett (34:49):

That is a lot. Yeah. That is not a fun place. Like...

Orion Brown (34:56):

Where did you stay while you're there?

Monae Everett (34:58):

The first time I went, I stayed seven miles away. And there was no, there was no service. We couldn't get anybody to pick us up. The Ubers just wouldn't come. It was bad each year. It got better for me. But each year it's like,

Monae Everett (35:13):

Okay, you're going to do this again.

Monae Everett (35:17):

Hopefully in each year gets better. So each year you're like, I hope it gets better, but

Orion Brown (35:26):

I stayed there once. Not for Sundance. And I know one Sundance is like in full swing. It's like any city that has a festival except Park City's really small. It's a small, for those of you who haven't been Park City, Utah, it's basically a small ski town. Um, yes, it'd be nice if you're really focused on like one activity, but overrun by, you know, several thousand people for a festival. Cause it's celebrities there and all kinds of stuff. So then it's just people there to be around them. And then there's people that's actually there with tickets. I can't even imagine. Um, cause they do have like dive bars and saloons and things like that. But that being said, um, I stayed at Montage, um, right up the hill from like the downtown area or I don't even call it downtown. Like the town would be the word and it was a beautiful, beautiful hotel. It had amazing views. Y'all my favorite. My favorite feature of this hotel was you can lay in the bed with the remote control, open the curtains, turn off the lights, light the fireplace, turn the TV, change the lights in the bathroom. I said, I'm never getting up. So maybe that's why I didn't mind the town so much.

Monae Everett (36:43):

I love it. And you know, I'm not a skier. So every year that I've been there, um, we will find stuff I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off from easily 5:00 AM to at bare minimum 3:00 to 4:00 PM. Um, but every time the group of people that were associated with every year, somebody breaks a leg or a hat or something on the results. So it's kind of like why we here what you can, but sometimes it's on the slope. Sometimes it's walking around because y'all know it's like a foot or two of snow. Sometimes that people might act like they don't see it. And like, yeah, we still need you here at 5:00 AM. Really? Cause it's 12 degrees. Oh this is normal. Okay. Let me put on my thermals.

Orion Brown (37:33):

Note to self ski cities and ski adjacent cities are not your jam, but that's okay. The

Monae Everett (37:41):

Code is not. And you know, I can generally do the heat New York. I, I moved back to New York 10 years ago and New York because they don't have climate control. Well, so something, so New York just happened. A guy literally came all the way across the street just to spit on my car. Um, uh, oh my goodness. But something like about New York is everybody doesn't have climate control. So is outrageously really hot? Like the heat can be lower than like when I lived in Northern Virginia or DC. But because generally the city is just sweltering, heat, like nobody's business. Oh my God. And when that trash it's always trash day. Always trash day. Yeah. That's why New York is survival of the fittest. If you cannot survive, you do not fit.

Orion Brown (38:43):

Amen. That it's, you know, I, I, I generally avoid like New York in August because it's just too much heat, too much humidity. And then the waft in the air of, of people trash and other things. But yeah, it's, it's remarkably hot.

Monae Everett (39:03):

Certainly 99 degrees. I think it was like 1 0 5 today.

Orion Brown (39:07):

Sun we've had the craziest heat wave *cough* climate change. Um, craziest heat wave. I mean, it was a hundred degrees here several days in a row, over a hundred degrees. Just casually, just overnight. What's that? What was it at night? Um, I would say low eighties, maybe high seventies, low eighties. I mean, it was just like, I mean, the good thing is, is because of the elevation here, we have far less humidity. It's a much dplace. So when it's a hundred degrees, yes, it's hot, but you don't feel like you're dying the second you walk out the door and you're like, man, that's real warm out here. I wonder what the temperature is and your iPhone has passed out.

Monae Everett (39:52):

Yeah. your Iphone is like, don't, don't involve me in this. I'm I'm done. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I haven't dealt with he stroke, but in Park City, um, running around when I like, when I tell you guys running, I don't mean that casually. I mean like sometimes I'm both with so many back to back that like once I'm sorry, stories that come to mind. So one time to work with Usher and I was very excited. Right. Very excited. Um, and so they say they booked me with him for 35 minutes. Normally you get an hour for just in case, but it was down to the minute. So I knocked on his room door. I did his makeup. He was very nice, very kind. And there was somebody else on there with him because you know, he doesn't know me. Why would he want to be in private with me? We Kiki'ed and ha h'eda. But I was thinking like, as we were talking, I was like, oh my God.

Monae Everett (40:51):

So I leave his room and I was like, I like usher, but not this much. So I was like, okay, let me go and sit down somewhere. Like, cause I I'm sweating profusely and then I'm getting embarrassed because I can't catch my breath. And I'm a hotel guide guard came over and was talking to me or whatever. And he was like, yeah, how's your day. So we're talking and he's like, yeah. How about you come downstairs with me real quick. Apparently I had like an altitude attack.

Orion Brown (41:25):

Altitude sickness.

Monae Everett (41:26):

And I didn't know. And they were so accustomed to it. Like their first floor was really fifth floor high, you know, Park City is such the high altitude and they took me like 10 floors underground. Wow. That's a regular one. And they were saying like, when you travel you're you can't go from New York at sea level to Park City. Of course no one told me this before, but I was like, what an interesting experience. So they took me down there, call me down, call me Uber put me in. And it was like, okay, she's got to go back down the hill. Like she can't be up here right now. Yeah. So I guess Park... Park City is at the top of my list for unique experiences.

Monae Everett (42:15):

I didn't even have issues like this in Kuwait, New Zealand, uh, you know, Toronto, none of those but Park City.

Orion Brown (42:26):

So, so tell us, I know we only have a few minutes left. You're on the run all the time and we know you're on call surgeon Monae, but where's the, what's the next place that you are looking forward to that, you know, you're going either for your own travel or for your business?

Monae Everett (42:44):

Well, I know I be in next, um, in DC next week for some major, um, family events that I'm really looking forward to. Um, the week after next is Dallas, uh, for a project that I'm looking forward to, can't speak about quite yet. Um, that's all I know thus far, but you know, my focus are on the Texture Style Awards. This is really the first time that any award system has ever come to celebrate the beauty in all four hair textures and the hairstylist to slay them. And I am just so happy that I'm shining a light on this and you know, representation matters. We, we need to be seen in every aspect.

Orion Brown (43:20):

Yes. And where can we find that? So

Monae Everett (43:22):

You can watch the Texture Style Awards. It's going to be a night full of humor, diversity and accolades at texturestyleawards.com on July 5th at 8:00 PM, EST. So that's texture style awards. July says at 8:00 PM, E S T.

Orion Brown (43:39):

So while y'all are like done, just finishing off the Ridge, you're like, okay, let me cut the TV on or let me, let me go look at the computer, go find the Texture Style Awards, and kick back and see all of the curly. Coily wavy beautifulness. That is texture style. And where can we find you where we want to get our face beat? Are you now? So amazingly stellar that we could never get to you or with the right cash and the right of right timeframe, we could get you.

Monae Everett (44:10):

Let me tell you I style all hair, right? Cash right event on there. Just make sure it's the right cash right event. And I'm there.

Orion Brown (44:20):

I love that. So where can we find you online so we can follow your two day late escapades through the world and see what you're doing next.

Monae Everett (44:29):

@monaeartistry on my Instagram. Um, you can check out my classes because I do teach hairstylists how to do what I do at themonaelife.com and Monea is M O N A E. So that's themonaelife.com. I'm themonaelife.com.

Orion Brown (44:46):

Hey Monae. I'm so sorry that you didn't have a glass with you, but I'm going to, I have a glass for you.

Monae Everett (44:54):

I've got a snapple girl I was running!

Orion Brown (44:54):

It counts, it counts. It counts. You got to hydrate yourself. But my goodness, this was so much fun. It was so great to see how your business has taken you around the world, because we don't always see how that can happen. Especially in the beauty industry. And you kind of touched on now, what you going to do? Yeah, we can do these things. If it's on your heart to do it. If you're open, if you, you know, you treat your clients, well, you never know where it can take you. And I love that. You shared that with us. I will be avoiding park city, four minutes, sorry, park city. But now like, I, you know, you was trying to be on my list, but now you can't. I mean, you making people sick out here, just acting

Monae Everett (45:40):

No more parking. No, no, no. I'll probably be back next year now. Cause you know, that's, that's some yeah. But uh, park city is, has been interesting to me. Oh I didn't. I was so pressed to get in here and have this interview with you. I didn't even close my door all the way and didn't realize it. I was like, we got to talk I'm here because anytime I say I'm gonna do something, I always do it. I never let anything get in the way of me keeping my word. 

Orion Brown (46:08):

I love that. I appreciate that. This was so much fun. Chatting with you next time you through Colorado holler at me. But this has been so much fun. Everybody. Thank y'all in the comments. Y'all been like lurking. Some of y'all been waiving. Some of y'all.

Monae Everett (46:23):

Yeah. Let's give her, give her some hard. She worked hard to put this show together and you know, with the, uh, you know, a ribbon, I always forgot to go regular rhythm without both hearts. And Mike's, nobody's going to watch, you know, how she worked hard. 

Orion Brown (46:38):

What's up. I'll take the plug. I take the blood. And I know a lot of you came over to see Monae just in case. You're wondering who the hell I am because I just interviewed, I just, uh, introduce myself at the beginning. I will Ryan Brown. I'm the founder CEO of black travel box. We're personal care products company for travelers of color. So if you got melanin in any amount and you like to travel, come hit us up. This is our, our IgG black travel box. And you can find us online@wwwdotblacktravelbox.com. In the meantime, I hope that why down Wednesday gave you a nice little break. We kept it short. We kept it fun. We kept it focused. And so the rest of your week, you've made it past hump day officially. You've made it past hump day y'all I'm so glad you joined us Monet. Thank you. So hydrate sleep, take care of yourself, girl, and keep going out there. 

Monae Everett (47:36):

Will do. And I'm looking forward to this gift box. Maybe you'll send me one and we can like do another unboxing or something. Cause I'm like, oh. So I slept in the guest box. Now you're going to be sitting on the edge of my feet.

Orion Brown (47:52):

So we, so we have, um, we've just started out, but we have a deluxe gift set. We're actually going to be it's between me and just y'all we're going to be on Macy's dot com in a few months. Um, we have our beautiful bag. I'm going to show you, you're going to see our stuff, but our audience y'all know the hearts. I see y'all we have a beautiful bag. We have our shampoo co wash and conditioner that are all in bar form. So when you fly in, you don't have to have any of that foolishness. We have body balms. So you don't have to deal with ashy lotion. Like how are you going to have lotion that puts Ash on you? Yes.

Monae Everett (48:29):

Yes.

Orion Brown (48:31):

And there's a lot more coming right now. It actually, that just reminds me because I'm terrible at, I just like, I just came here to drink. Y'all I'm sorry. I came to drink to talk to cool people, but we're running a campaign on I fund women. If you go to our profile, you'll see the link. We're running a campaign on iPhone women raising 50 K there's more to be done. But man, we got some dope products in the pipeline and I'm just thinking about the stuff that me off when I travel. I hopefully it you off too. And we, we can meet that need. And so that's something that, yeah, girl, I would definitely get you, uh, you know, hit the DMS and, and get, get us that address. And we'll make sure that we hook you up. Right. Um, since you are on the road, cause you like to stay ready instead of getting ready and I'm here for that. Yeah. Yeah. Cause

Monae Everett (49:13):

When you get ready, you forget something. Okay.

Orion Brown (49:16):

Every time I can't tell you how many times customers have DMD desk or even called it. And if God forbid, somebody knows me, they will text me and they'll be like, so I'm about to get on this plane. And I forgot we send product to hotels. I mean, yes,

Monae Everett (49:40):

Nothing but prosperity on this. This is amazing. Thank

Orion Brown (49:44):

You so much. And thank you so much for gracing us with your, your beauty, your, with your experience. And I'm proud of you says I, you know, it's weird when people say they proud. Cause it's like they had a piece of, it's not saying I have piece of it. I'm proud that you're out there doing what you do. I think that that's a wonderful thing. You representing us. Even if you didn't sign up to represent us, you representing us and you're doing it. We

Monae Everett (50:05):

Are both representing our community. But you know, I had somebody correct me with that. So now I'm like, I am, I'm so happy for you. Yes. Okay. Now I can be hard. And I was like, all right, you got a little point because I'm not surprised that you were, that you're prosperous, but I'm happy for you. I can't say nothing back now.

Orion Brown (50:31):

You getting your shine girl. Thank you so much for joining! Everybody else, thank you for joining. It was wine. It was great. I'm a call it a night. Bye.

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