Angela Christine Stevens

Drama and expertise meet in the Hollywood salon of celebrity hair stylist Kim Kimble, which is the setting for the new relality show "LA Hair" (Thu., 9 p.m. CT on WE). Kimble is known as the go-to stylist for high profile clientele including Kelly Rowland, Brandy and others.

The drama-filled salon and how has a Chicago connection with local extention extraordinaire Angela Christine Stevens, who has found making a new life for herself and building new clientele has not been easy LA.

Jerry Nunn sat down for coffee with Angela to discuss recent episodes and the real life hair show.

JN: (Jerry Nunn) Hi, Angela. So when did you move from Chicago to LA?

AS: (Angela Stevens) Almost two years ago.

JN: Do you like it there?

AS: I do. It is a bit treacherous.

JN: The weather is better.

AS: The weather is beautiful, nothing like the people.

JN: I was stood up for lunch there and everyone just said, "That is LA."

AS: They do that. Everybody loves everybody but as soon as you walk away it is nasty. It is definitely helping me develop tough skin. I remember who my friends are versus associates. You learn how to categorize people a lot faster and a lot easier.

JN: You did hair in Chicago before you moved there, correct?

AS: I still do. I come to Chicago once a month. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in November and is about to do radiation so I am in town for that. I have been here every month to see her and take care of things for her.

JN: There are fundraisers out there that combine hair and breast cancer.

AS: They do. I want to be involved in that. That is very near and dear to my heart. It was before but it really is now watching my mom go through everything. I am here today because she is graduating and got her masters degree while she was undergoing treatment. I am so proud of her. She didn't let it get the best of her.

JN: Tell her I said congratulations.

AS: I will.

JN: How did you get involved with L.A. Hair in the first place?

AS: I moved to LA and got a job working at Kimble Hair Studio the same week I moved there. I didn't know anyone there. I didn't have any connections to anyone. I went out there on prayer and talent and got a job. I worked there for about a year and Kim came to us and told us she had been approached by a production company to do a reality project. I thought it would be good exposure and I am a very outgoing person. You can see from the show that I always show my personality on it. I thought I would be great for TV. I wanted to show my skills and where I am from representing Chicago. That is how I got involved. As soon as we shot the pilot we were picked up for a whole season. It was crazy. We had just done a sizzle reel and not even a whole pilot. I guess they really took a liking to all of our personalities. About six months later we shot the show and now it is here.

JN: The programming on WE tv has really grown.

AS: It really has. I hadn't watched a lot of it until our show was picked up. Now I have watched The Braxtons and Mary Mary. It is positive television. It is about women empowerment and voicing their opinions.

JN: A lot of gays watch it, too.

AS: Hey, a shout out to them! Tell them, "I love you."

JN: There are several gay men on the show. Anthony seems very interesting.

AS: You would love him.

JN: He has a great sense of style.

AS: He's fabulous. I told him he will get a bowtie line and lip gloss line!

JN: I wonder why there are so many gay stylists?

AS: I think the two main fields for gay men are hair and fashion. I am creative like the gays. I sing, dance, I do hair. I am very visual. I like fashion and to decorate.

JN: We have to talk about the episode where you style rapper Eve.

AS: Drama, drama, drama!

JN: I always think of Eve having short hair but she had long hair when you styled her.

AS: She likes to change it up, even her color. She doesn't really go too dark. She mainly sticks to blondes and light hues. She came to me and wanted to go darker for an event. So I colored her hair and for an event with Kelly Rowland and the Essence Black Women in Music event. I basically reached out to her and wanted to style someone on television. I had worked with her before through Kim. I made that clear on the show that I never meant to steal Kim's client. My intention was to just work with her and draw attention to myself working with someone high profile so people can see my skill set. Besides Eve they hadn't showed my finished work on anyone else. There was strategy to that but unfortunately it backfired on me. I didn't know it was going to be such an negative thing with me not communicating that I was going to style her. That was my bad, my mistake. At the end of the day her hair still looked great so it was a testament to my work.

JN: Is Kim better with it now?

AS: We haven't had a chance to talk. She is very busy right now. We did talk around premiere time and I have seen her a few times since. She is trying to get everything finalized with a new salon now. She travels a lot. I think that is why our relationship isn't at the place where we are comfortable with each other is because of the lack of communication. That is what people don't understand. Although we are giving an inside look at salon life, we really had to be around each other more than we would be. So it made us focus on issues we had yet to address.

JN: Your focus is on extensions, correct?

AS: Yes, I do famous braiding. I am focused on healthy hair. Many people attribute thinning hair and balding to weaves and that is not the way it should be. You are supposed to add extensions to grow your hair, kind of like let it hibernate. When you take it out it should be just as healthy as when you put it in. If you watch America's Next Top Model Tyra will say a weave gives you a facelift but that means it's too tight, honey!

JN: Charity was so cute on the show.

AS: She's a goner. She couldn't handle the pressures of being new and the cameras. She was trying to understand the cultural differences.

JN: Too much going on.

AS: Exactly. Not everyone can handle it. I am resilient. I know how to jump in there and do it.

JN: I love that you feel asleep in the shampoo bowl. That means you are working too hard!

AS: I literally live in the salon. I am growing to have friends now but before work was my life. Some days I would work from 7 am until midnight. Then I would take a flight and come here to do fifteen to twenty people in a day. That particular day that I dozed off and leaned back and was out.

JN: I knew it wasn't that big of a deal.

AS: They made it into a big deal. That's okay. If that is what they want I will be that person. The hair industry is grueling. You not only have to do great work but talk to the client the whole time almost and you have to look the part. Being on camera is another two whole hours that I take out to make sure I look good.

JN: You need to get a spin off called Chicago Hair.

AS: I would love that. Let's start a group for that Team Angela's Spin Off Chicago Hair!

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