JOSEPH FAMILY COMES TO AMERICA CIRCA 1958 (Dr. Mike, Dr. Richard, TJ, Pearl and little Adj)

•      Pearl gave up her thriving business in Port of Spain, Trinidad to join my father in America.  The Josephs settled into a lively West Indian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.  My warm blooded mother never got used to the New York winters so she packed my brothers off to college, scooped me up and headed for the warmth and glamour of the west coast.

•    When we moved to Los Angeles my mother was one of the first beauty instructors certified to teach chemical hair relaxing to hairstylists.  She pioneered the practice of graduated relaxing, leaving in some degree of curl texture so the hair would remain healthy.  Through the years I had picked up quite a bit of hair care knowledge from Mom and I began writing a series of hair care articles.

•    After dabbling in modeling and acting--writing, my true calling beckoned.  My first published article was an 8 page pull out guide, "Everything Your Ever Wanted To Know About Hair." in the center of the January 1979 issue of ESSENCE Magazine.

Timeline:

•    1979 -- associate beauty editor of ESSENCE Magazine, NYC

•    1982-- creative director of Johnson Products Company. (Ultra Sheen, Afro Sheen, Classy Curl, Precise, Bantu, Gentle Treatment etc.), Chicago, Illinois

•    1983--Studied Hair Chemistry at Pivot Point Academy 
               Contributing Editor ShopTalk magazine

•    1984 --Founding Editor Sophisticate's Black Hair Styles and Care Guide Magazine

•    1985 --Fashion and Beauty Expert Burrell Advertising (Hanes, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Ford, Martell)

•   1986 --ABC Television fashion and beauty reporter "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee", "AM Los Angeles," "Donahue," "Hour Magazine" "The Home Show" etc. (Over 300 television shows)

•   1993--Completed Film School, Wrote, Produced and Directed, "It's In The Bag" an award-winning film about a homeless woman who finds a coupon for a free beauty makeover at a Beverly Hills salon.

•    1994 --Emmy nominated Documentary "Making Lives Over." Winner of PBS Television's "Prized Pieces Award."  (Makeover day at a real homeless shelter intercut with my fictional character's makeover).

•    1995 -- Finally got Mom to hand over her secret hair growth formulas.

•    1996 --Launched African Wonders Botanical Treatment Line of Hair Products through a television infomercial.

•    1999 --Opened the African Wonders web site and online store.

•     2000--Combined African Shea Butter and Amazonia Nut Oil with an alkaline mineral relaxer to create a conditioning natural hair relaxer, The Naturalaxer Kit In Jar™.

•     2001 --Launched SuperCurly.com a hairstyle e-zine for supercurly hair.

•     2002 -- Opened the first African Wonders Hair Care Store, Inglewood, California.  
      (222 W.  Florence Ave., 310-677-1600)

•     2003 --Producing Feature Film based on the novel "Nappily Ever After" by Trisha    
      Thomas starring Oscar winner, Halle Berry.

On The Horizon:

Publishing my first book HAIR-1-1: ALL YOUR HAIR CARE QUESTIONS ANSWERED