Today we’d like to introduce you to Zechra Radawn.
Hi Zechra, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey started long before I became a 3x award-winning celebrity hairstylist, educator, salon owner, entrepreneur, and community leader. Honestly, it started around five years old. I was the little girl cutting my Barbie dolls’ hair and using scrap fabric from my grandmother, who did a little sewing, to create tiny skirts, shirts, and outfits for them. Beauty, creativity, and fashion have always been a part of who I am.
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to own my own business. I just didn’t know exactly what it would be yet. Entrepreneurship was something I saw firsthand through my father. When I would spend weekends, summers, or spring breaks with him, I watched his work ethic closely. He was gifted with his hands and incredibly creative photography, music, and so many different talents. Watching him build and create planted something in me at a very young age. I also knew early on that I valued freedom. I didn’t want someone else determining when I could take a lunch break, go on vacation, or how far I could dream. I wanted to build something of my own.
After high school, I initially took general business courses because I knew entrepreneurship was the direction I wanted to go in. Around that same time, I was already doing hair for family and friends and styling cheerleaders’ hair after school in middle school whenever my teachers allowed it. I was always “that friend” wanting to do everyone’s hair, makeup, and help put outfits together. Before I ever became licensed, I had turned a little room in my grandmother’s house into my own mini salon. Looking back now, they would probably call me the “bootleg hairstylist” of the family because everybody was coming to me for curls, styles, and hair appointments before I even had credentials behind my name. But even then, I was building confidence in people without fully realizing that this was my purpose.
At the time, I honestly thought doing hair was just a hobby because back then people didn’t really talk about cosmetology as a lucrative or respected career path. Everything changed when a stylist introduced me to the opportunity to shadow her in a salon. While learning different techniques and observing the industry, she asked me a simple question: “Have you ever thought about going to cosmetology school?” That question shifted my entire life. I enrolled in cosmetology school, graduated at the end of 2001, worked in a salon shortly after, and have now been a licensed professional cosmetologist for over 23 years.
Over the years, my career expanded far beyond hair. I’ve had the honor of becoming a salon owner, educator, mentor, and celebrity hairstylist while building brands rooted in confidence, healing, and empowerment. Through my company, Bawsey Brand, I help women elevate their image and confidence by teaching them how to create luxury looks while mixing high-end and affordable fashion without overspending. My philosophy is simple: confidence is the dress code. It’s not optional.
What makes my story personal is that confidence didn’t always come naturally to me. I was once the young girl who struggled with self-worth because I didn’t grow up constantly hearing how valuable I was. Through faith, healing, therapy, personal growth, and being surrounded by the right community, I began to truly understand my worth. Now, I use every lesson, every setback, and every insecurity I once battled as fuel to help other women heal from the inside out.
One of the most full-circle moments in my career has been becoming an educator at the same college where I graduated from cosmetology school. Being able to pour back into future cosmetologists, mentor students, and help them believe in themselves is incredibly rewarding for me. Beyond beauty and business, I’m deeply committed to serving my community through outreach, mentorship, and volunteer work with organizations like Matthew’s Hope and other local initiatives where I donate free haircuts and my time whenever my schedule permits.
Today, I see myself as more than a hairstylist. I’m a mother, educator, entrepreneur, mentor, speaker, and servant leader. I truly believe God has used every part of my journey the highs, the hardships, the healing, and the growth to allow me to help others walk confidently in who they were created to be.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey has definitely not been smooth. I’ve experienced a lot of challenges, loss, setbacks, and obstacles throughout my life that helped shape me into the woman I am today.
One of the hardest parts of my journey was experiencing so much loss at such a young age. My mother passed away when I was only two years old, so I was raised by my grandparents, who became my foundation and safe place growing up. Then by the age of 24, I had lost all of them my mother, my father, and both of my grandparents who raised me.
At 21 years old, I found out I was pregnant, and just four weeks later, my father passed away during a time when we were finally building the relationship I had always wanted with him. That season of my life changed me forever. I was grieving, becoming a young mother, and trying to navigate adulthood all at the same time while still healing from wounds I didn’t fully understand yet.
Growing up, I was always told how smart I was, but I was also constantly told that I “talked too much.” For years, that made me second-guess myself and shrink my voice at times because I didn’t fully understand that my voice was actually one of my gifts. Looking back now, I realize God was preparing me for the spaces I would eventually speak in as an educator, mentor, speaker, and leader.
Financially, I experienced success early. In my 20s, I was making six figures as a hairstylist and salon owner, especially during a time before social media made visibility easier. But although I knew how to make money, I wasn’t taught how to properly manage it. So a lot of my lessons came through experience, mistakes, rebuilding, and learning the hard way. I’ve opened salons, closed salons, moved around, started over multiple times, and had seasons where I felt like I had vision but lacked clear direction.
A lot of my life has honestly been self-taught. I had to learn business, finances, confidence, healing, boundaries, leadership, and personal growth through real-life experiences. There were moments where I was operating from survival mode, trying to force things to happen instead of truly slowing down and listening to what God had for me.
One of the biggest shifts in my life happened when I got quiet with God and stopped trying to figure everything out on my own. Through faith, healing, therapy, community, and personal growth, I started understanding that my journey was never just about beauty or business. It was about purpose, healing, and helping other women see their value too.
Now, everything I do through Bawsey Brand, mentorship, education, community work, and serving others comes from a real place. I know what it feels like to rebuild. I know what it feels like to not fully know your worth. And I know what it feels like to overcome.
So no, it hasn’t been a smooth road at all, but every obstacle taught me resilience, every setback strengthened my faith, and every challenge helped shape the woman I am still becoming today.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a licensed cosmetologist of over 23 years, a 3x award-winning celebrity hairstylist, salon owner, educator, entrepreneur, speaker, and the founder of Bawsey Brand and Beyond BeYoutiful Inc. Over the years, my career has evolved far beyond just doing hair. Today, my work focuses on beauty, confidence, personal image, mentorship, and helping women fully step into who they are called to be.
In the beauty industry, I specialize in healthy hair, silk presses, precision cuts, short hair styling, transformations, and helping women feel confident when they leave my chair. I’m probably best known for my short hair work and creating polished, luxury looks that still feel effortless and wearable for everyday women. My clients have always appreciated that I focus not only on how the hair looks, but also on maintaining the integrity and health of their hair.
Through Bawsey Brand, I expanded into personal branding, wardrobe styling, creative photoshoot coordination, and confidence coaching. I help women especially entrepreneurs, women in transition, mothers, divorcees, and professionals elevate their image without feeling like they have to overspend. One thing I always teach is that style is not about wearing the most expensive brands. It’s about how you put pieces together, how you carry yourself, and the confidence you exude when you walk into a room. That’s where my motto comes from: “Confidence is the dress code.”
I’m also very proud of becoming an educator at the same college where I graduated from cosmetology school. That has truly been a full-circle moment for me. Being able to mentor future cosmetologists, pour back into students, and teach them not only technical skills but confidence, professionalism, branding, and entrepreneurship means a lot to me because I know what it feels like to need guidance and someone to believe in you.
Outside of business, I’m deeply committed to community work and service. Through my nonprofit, Beyond BeYoutiful Inc., and partnerships with organizations like Matthew’s Hope, I’ve been able to donate my time, provide free haircuts, mentor women and youth, and create safe spaces centered around healing, confidence, and empowerment. I truly believe beauty is deeper than appearance. It’s connected to identity, healing, self-worth, and how people see themselves.
What I’m most proud of is honestly my resilience and the impact I’ve been able to make through my story. I’ve experienced loss, setbacks, rebuilding, and moments where I had to rediscover myself, but I never stopped showing up. I’m proud that I’ve been able to turn pain into purpose and use my gifts to help other people heal, grow, and believe in themselves.
I think what sets me apart is my authenticity. I don’t just teach beauty or confidence from a surface level. I’ve lived through the healing process myself. Whether I’m behind the chair, speaking at an event, mentoring students, styling a client, or helping a woman reinvent herself through fashion and branding, my goal is always the same: to help people feel seen, valued, confident, and empowered from the inside out.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Honestly, I wouldn’t necessarily call it luck. I truly believe the opportunities, connections, growth, and resilience throughout my life have been God’s grace, favor, and covering over my journey even during the hardest seasons of my life.
Of course, there have been moments where people may have looked at certain opportunities and called it “luck,” whether it was becoming a celebrity hairstylist, working on television sets, building successful salons, becoming an educator, or creating community impact through my brands and nonprofit work. But behind every opportunity was a lot of hard work, sacrifice, rebuilding, faith, consistency, and perseverance that people didn’t always see.
I’ve also experienced what many would consider “bad luck” loss, grief, setbacks, failed business ventures, financial lessons, divorce, having to start over multiple times, and moments where life felt uncertain. But even in those moments, I can honestly say those experiences shaped me, strengthened me, and redirected me toward purpose. Some of the things I thought were setbacks were actually God protecting me, refining me, or positioning me for something greater.
Faith has played a major role in both my life and business. There were seasons where I was operating off my own understanding, trying to force things to happen, and then there were seasons where I truly surrendered and allowed God to lead me. That shift changed everything for me mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and professionally.
I believe favor happens when preparation, purpose, obedience, and faith align. So while I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve received, I credit God more than luck. I truly see myself as a vessel, and I believe every connection, opportunity, lesson, and even every challenge has been part of a bigger assignment attached to my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zechraradawn.com
- Instagram: IAMzechraradawn
- Facebook: Zechra Radawn
- LinkedIn: Zechra Radawn Williams
