How Kierra Lanice Wray went from Sexton to the BET Awards

Before she was a regular on the Hollywood awards circuit, makeup artist Kierra Lanice Wray used to make money sewing jeans at Sexton High School.

“I used to turn people’s bootcut jeans into skinny jeans for around $ 20,” said the 27-year-old Lansing native. “My parents are wondering, ‘How do you make $ 200 a week? They don’t know, I’m doing this for the faculty. “

Wray’s talent for tailoring has made her a go-to source for fashion advice at Sexton, whether it’s a little stitch or makeup for the entire support team. At 16, she got a makeup job on a lookbook for an old fashion line and then was sold to Lansing Mall. After graduating, she earned her bachelor’s degree in cosmetology at the Douglas J. Aveda Institute in East Lansing, then began chasing concerts in Texas and Los Angeles.

Last month, she worked for her fifth BET Awards, this year as a makeup artist for rapper Rapsody, who performed at the ceremony.

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Oliver Brown and Sheila Fisher, longtime friends of Wray who work as a fashion consultant and hairstylist respectively, said the talent runs through his veins.

Wray’s mother, Kifara, had a healthy adoration of shoes while Wray was growing up. Her grandmother, Inetta Wray, is a local seamstress. Wray’s great-grandmother worked as a celebrity makeup artist and hairstylist in Los Angeles. Her Aunt Monica, a makeup consultant in Chicago, worked for Martha Stewart’s bridal magazine.

“At first I pretty much learned everything on my own,” Wray said. “I love to paint, so I kind of use that and try to understand the dynamics of how I can translate that on the skin.”

From Lansing to Hollywood

For Wray, a week at the BET Awards was a full career moment.

She first attended the awards on a whim in 2015, when a friend had a ticket plus one. Before the trip, she partnered with a celebrity makeup artist who was planning to hire her as an assistant for the weekend, but the artist canceled her last minute to take on another job.

Stuck in Los Angeles without a job, Wray showed up with her kit at the Marriott serving as the basis for the awards, came to the front desk, and was introduced to a member of the BET production staff who needed a makeup artist in a pinch. She worked one day and has resumed her contract four times since.

“I cried and worshiped and thanked God and cried some more,” Wray wrote in a blog post detailing the experience.

At subsequent BET Awards, Wray met Rapsody while working on the station’s talent trailers. They kept in touch and Wray texted the rapper a week before the June 27 awards show reminding him that she would be in Los Angeles to host the event. The message went unanswered for a day until Rapsody’s assistant responded, asking Wray to fly two days earlier to work with Rapsody.

It was then that Wray learned that Rapsody would be performing at the show, covering songs by Queen Latifah as part of a Lifetime Achievement Award tribute with Lil ‘Kim, Monie Love and MC Lyte.

“I knew it before the others,” said Brown, who Wray called after receiving the offer and who watched the performance from home. “I get to see a lot of behind the scenes (preparation) and what’s going on behind the big moment. Seeing it (all together) is mind blowing.”

The experience was also surreal for Wray.

“It’s really emotionally overwhelming to sit there and watch someone that I’ve built a great relationship with – to see their career rise in this way, but also to be among (so many ) of kindness, ”she said.

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Wray admits he was struck by working with Rapsody’s fashion team, which included pioneering hip-hop stylist Misa Hylton, who worked with Lil ‘Kim and Mary J. Blige throughout their careers and who performed in the 2019 documentary “The Remix: Hip Hop x Mode.“

“She went through this documentary, talking about being the first stylist of the ’90s – how designers didn’t loan designer clothes to young black artists, and so she had to create stuff,” Wray said.

That same week, Wray also put on makeup for a virtual performance hosted by Essence Festival and Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation called Ladies of the Roc. She also did Rapsody makeup for an album release night.

Back in Lansing, Wray takes a break from the BET concert to focus on personal care, therapy, and product sorting at his Potter’s Mill studio, an artists’ space in REO Town.

There, she teaches emerging cosmetologists the ins and outs of makeup.

“I can tell you what the ingredients are in (a particular product), why that ingredient is effective, what it’s going to do, the benefits, what it pairs well with,” Wray said. “I’m not an influencer. I have influence, but I’m very careful about partnering with brands.”

Bringing the opportunity back to Lansing

Wray isn’t the only practitioner in Lansing to catch large clients. She recently teamed up with Brown, a local stylist and fashion consultant, and Fisher, a local hairstylist, to adorn Dawn Richard for an appearance on the Wendy Williams Show.

“It was a great experience when you go through a lot of things in your life – struggles – and then going through something like that was just tears of joy, laughs,” said Fisher, who operates FS Salon on the side. west of Lansing.

The trio had previously worked with Richard in January for a photoshoot in New Orleans, his hometown. Brown put on her outfit, Fisher did her hair, and Wray did the makeup. Their work later appeared on a Times Square billboard promoting Richard’s album.

The trio work cohesively, Fisher said, bouncing ideas to perfect a look.

They reunited once again in June to prepare Richard for his appearance on Wendy Williams.

“Working with Dawn was my very first time with a celebrity,” Fisher said. “And with (Wray) knowing how, she would teach me in the moment to look for certain things.”

Wray also sent her clients Fisher’s Path for Hairdressing, Fisher said.

Brown said the trio are part of a larger community of black creatives in Lansing sharing opportunities with peers in similar industries.

“There aren’t a lot of studios or places for models to build their portfolios, and bringing that to Lansing is huge,” he said. “We want to stay on board with these workshops and camps (to help) people understand the fashion and beauty industries.”

The trio are proud townspeople and hope to start a creative agency in Potter’s Mill or another location where young people can learn about cosmetology, fashion and technology.

“If you have knowledge, why not pass it on,” Fisher said. “If there’s anything we can teach someone, just do it.”

Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at (517) 267-1344or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @KrystalRNurse.