How Two Friends Built Highbrow Hippie on Trust, Grit, and Shared Vision - Kadi Lee and Myka Harris

2025-10-30

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After decades in beauty and brand-building, celebrity colorist Kadi Lee and entrepreneur Myka Harris have created something refreshingly intentional: Highbrow Hippie, a Venice-based salon and lifestyle brand where artistry, wellness, and conscious living intersect.In this warm and unfiltered conversation, Kadi and Myka reflect on the long road from blog to brick-and-mortar, the failed investor partnership that taught them...

After decades in beauty and brand-building, celebrity colorist Kadi Lee and entrepreneur Myka Harris have created something refreshingly intentional: Highbrow Hippie, a Venice-based salon and lifestyle brand where artistry, wellness, and conscious living intersect.

In this warm and unfiltered conversation, Kadi and Myka reflect on the long road from blog to brick-and-mortar, the failed investor partnership that taught them everything, and the intuition-meets-data mindset that guides their business decisions. They share how they built a community long before products, and how that trust became the foundation for a loyal global following.

From the quiet luxury of their five-chair atelier to the holistic rituals behind their hair health line, the duo opens up about creating culture, hiring slow and firing fast, and funding a beauty brand on their own terms. They speak candidly about the realities of entrepreneurship as Black women, the exhaustion of the grind, and the unglamorous but necessary balance between creativity and financial fluency.

With humor, honesty, and hard-won wisdom, Kadi and Myka remind us that building something enduring isn’t about chasing perfection; it’s about alignment, resilience, and the courage to keep going when no one else sees the vision yet.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[02:37] How a Venice salon became a sanctuary where beauty and wellness truly intersect

[06:44] The holistic insight that turned hair health into a wellness story, not a vanity one

[09:52] Why pairing intuition with data changed everything in their product development process

[12:26] The reason community came before product and how that built lifelong brand trust

[15:03] What it takes to lead with values and speak truthfully, even when it polarizes people

[18:32] How two longtime friends turned complementary strengths into a thriving partnership

[20:10] The hidden cost of the grind and what “balance” really looks like for women founders

[23:14] Why creatives must master business to sustain their artistry long-term

[32:18] How losing the wrong investor opened the door to raising money on their own terms

[36:52] The single mindset shift that helps them push through every obstacle