Let's Talk with Leaha & Rhonda

Join hosts Leaha Crawford and Rhonda Nolen as they delve into the world of hair and skin care with the industry expert, Kimberly Morris. Kimberly shares invaluable tips and tricks for maintaining healthy hair and skin, particularly in the dry Las Vegas climate. She also discusses her role as a hair and makeup artist for the Raiderettes and offers advice for budding cosmetologists. Plus, discover the importance of professional retail sales in salons and how these products can be a vital investment for clients. Don't miss this episode packed with beauty insights and industry wisdom!

What is Let's Talk with Leaha & Rhonda?

Leaha Crawford and Rhonda Nolen are business consultants that discuss the current struggles of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Each episode covers steps necessary for smaller businesses and business owners to grow and prosper.

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You're listening to locally produced programming created in KUNV Studios on public radio. KUNV 91.5.

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The following is a paid program sponsored by Crawford Management Group and Smart Time Consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you may hear do not necessarily represent the views of KUNV Las Vegas, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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system of higher education. Hi this is Leah Crawford and I'm Rhonda Nolan. Welcome to the Let's Talk with Leah and Rhonda show. We're here for you and we're ready to go. Let's do it! Good morning Las Vegas. How is everyone doing today on this bright, shiny, beautiful day? I hope you're doing well. Well, my partner in crime is not with me here today, so I'm doing the show on my own, but I'm so happy to be here with all you entrepreneurs here in Las Vegas. Well, let's talk about some things that are coming up this weekend and moving forward. So later on today, the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas is having a Know Your Numbers Blood Pressure and Diabetes Virtual Webinar. And you can sign up for this webinar by visiting Facebook.com, the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas on the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas page. The special guest speaker is Dr. Bennett Mitchell. And he's going to talk about some do's and don'ts to help you with your blood pressure and your diabetes. And again, this is the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas Know Your Numbers blood pressure and diabetes virtual webinar that's happening today at 10 a.m. right after our show. So you still have time to set up. Also we want to remind all the people who signed up for the virtual cooking class that is taking place on Tuesday the 25th of April. So if you signed your child up or you signed up yourself for the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas virtual cooking class, Tuesday is the day. So check your email box for information on that. Now let's talk about some grants. I know there's some small businesses out there who are looking for some additional funds to help with their businesses. And so there are a couple of grants that are out there right now. Verizon Small Business has a grant that's available. And the criteria is you have to sign up as a small business with Verizon. And then they have some courses you can take online to help better yourself, help prepare yourself for your business. And if you take a couple of classes, then you, too, can qualify for a grant for up to ten thousand dollars. So that is Verizon's small business area. Small Business Area and I'm going to give you the email address so you can find out more about it. It is, if my computer will open up quickly, it's called Verizon Small Business Digital Ready and you can find that at www.verizon.com. Again, this is for small businesses. They have grants right now and if you go to their website you can find that information about that particular grant. Also there's another organization that has grants available right now to women entrepreneurs and that is Hello Alice. If you go to HelloAlice.com they are now taking applications for grants for women in business from all different walks of life. Check them out at www.HelloAlice.com. So that's the grant business for this morning. Today I have a fantastic person in the audience with us that we're going to talk to today. She's been on our show before. Her name is Ms. Kimberly Morris. Hello Kimberly.

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Hi Rhonda. How are you?

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I am super fantastic. Thank you for joining me on this bright and early Saturday morning. I know I'm so happy you took out time from your busy day to be here. Kim starts working with folks very, very early in the morning on Saturday morning. So we're very, very happy to have her with us this morning for this little bit of time to talk about hair care, skin care, and personal care. Yes,

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everything is all about self-care and especially now we live in the desert. We have to, you know, handle ourselves a little bit differently than everyone else in the country because they have the blessing of humidity. So we have to take some real action into preparing for this hot oven like sun and heat in the next four months or else we will be as my friend Miguel says dry as a sun-dried tomato.

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Oh, we don't want to do that.

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Do not want to do that.

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So what can we do for our skin? What can we do? What products can we use for our skin to make sure that we are nourishing and moisturizing

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our skin? So the hair, skin and nails are the largest organ of the body. It's called the intugumentary system. And so it really tells a lot about what's going on on the inside. So if you know that your hands and your skin are dry, that means that you are dehydrated, more so than if you would say, oh my mouth is dry, I feel like I'm not drinking enough water. And you have to hydrate yourself. And our skin, especially our hair, is made up of protein, which is called keratin, and amino acids. And that's like 95% of our hair is made up of that protein.

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Oh wow.

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Yes, and so hair growth is dependent upon a couple of different things DNA Hereditary, you know, so Go back to you know, your mom and your dad whatever their course of their hair growth cycle was That's probably gonna be yours. There's a dominant one and there's a less dominant one, right? Gray hair all of those different things but hair growth starts underneath the scalp. There's a hair bulb, you have sebaceous oil glands, and all of those different things, and you have to feed that area in order for the hair to be, it's really alive under the scalp. Hair is a dead cell. So the hair that's out that you see is not alive. It's what you want to grow out of the scalp, underneath the scalp to be healthy. So you have to hydrate. I'm not trying to tell anybody what to eat but wheat bread instead of like white flour, you know, bleach flour bread is good. Green leafy vegetables, all the fruits and vegetables that have bright colors that goes for the color of the hair, the wheat and the bread and all that stuff that helps with the elasticity of the hair. It has to have give. If the hair doesn't have give, it snaps. Proper oils. So like all of your plant-based oils, your avocado, your olive, any of those things, sunflower, those are good. Flaxseed oil is actually good if you really want to hydrate your body or to help you produce more oils that are similar to your natural oils that you produce. You can put that in your oatmeal, three tablespoons or two tablespoons. It has no smell and it has no taste. But it helps to create those healthy oils so that your hair, your skin will be able to be supple and moisturized.

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See, I heard flaxseed oil also helps with your joints. I know a lot of people who take it and it helps them with their joints, their knees and things of that nature. Absolutely. So that's interesting. So I don't take that. So I think I need to start adding that to my diet.

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And you don't have to worry about taste or anything like that. That's good. Because for people that eat oatmeal, I don't like oatmeal, but I know that it's good for you.

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It's good for cholesterol, right?

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I love oatmeal. I don't eat it as much as I should. As a child growing up, that is something that my mother made for us almost every morning.

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Cream of wheat.

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Yeah, cream of wheat and oatmeal. I had that every morning before going to school and then we would have our eggs and bacon like on the weekend. Yes. We wouldn't have eggs and bacon every day.

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Right. Yeah. And so things that will take away from hydrating and will draw oxygen out of you. Look, sorry, smoking, cigarettes. I know that we live in a area of the country where there are a massive amount of casinos and people smoke inside. However, you will notice how your hair is lacking luster and also is dry if you are in a casino. You know, so it's good that you really cleanse your hair. A good clarifying shampoo is good to use to, you know, take those toxins out. You also want to make sure that you're using products that are fighting free radicals, all the different pollutants in the air, because that outside aggression of all these different things in the environment can also cause damage. It's not just heat, it's not just the sun, but all of those different things. Wind, brushing it too abruptly, the environment, if it's smoky, if it's you know just all those nasty things but hair skin and nails a vitamin a D and E are very important eating you know certain rice and beans for protein legumes all of those different things it's not just for your body it's for your hair your skin and your nails interesting zinc mm-hmm we use that to help fight to keep our immune system. It's also a very good additive for your nails.

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Is that right?

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Zinc.

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Okay.

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For sure. So I've heard that women who are pregnant, when they take all the vitamins, the prenatal vitamins, I heard that was good for skin and hair also.

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It is. with the post hair loss. It's severe. So they have to really continue to take, they really should continue to take them at least for the next six months after because your body has made such a transformation to hold this child and so now when you, you know, the child is gone, the child takes everything that you have. Whatever you have and whatever you put in, they all take it.

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So you need to keep putting in those vitamins for yourself.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Because at first you were taking them for the babies, but now you need them for yourself.

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You don't want to lose your hair, your teeth and everything else after the baby. They say the child took everything, the baby took everything. But yeah, those are really good. And water. So we live here in the desert, you need to hydrate.

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I would say at least 32 to 64 ounces a day. That's what I heard. That's about a half a gallon to a gallon a day of water. Yeah. In addition to what other coffees and

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juices you're drinking. Exactly. Yeah. You should really, yeah, be mindful of that.

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Sodas are really not good. I know we all love a good soda. I do. I know. I love, I love a good pop. Yeah. I just like the way it burns the back of my neck. I know. I know.

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The bubbles. Yeah, the bubbles. I like the bubbles. Yeah. If you can like go to like a ginger ale or like a sparkling water to try those dyes in it and those artificial sugars that are no bueno.

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So I like the Reed's ginger beer. Yes. Because I love ginger beer and ginger is like natural too. It's a natural digestive. It's a natural pop but it's a natural digestive. And so if you have digestive issues out there, always have some ginger ale, especially the Reed's ginger ale. It's really very tasty oh

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yeah yeah so citrus orange is really good for like the the healthy shine and luster of the hair mm-hmm rice you know when people talk about they rinse the hair in rice water you know I mean that that's a good thing to do but it's really you really want to ingest the things because it's the healthy hair that's growing out that makes it look healthy. Anything that I do behind the chair is just a topical cosmetic thing unless I'm using some kind of reconstructive conditioner or treatment that will break through all three layers of the hair or penetrate the scalp to affect hair growth going out. So yeah all those different things. Sun you have to find things with UV protectors. We are in an extreme part of the country where extreme sun exposure is damaging for your skin. For your face you must use a sunscreen. I know that you know the Melanin Sisters we normally don't like to you might have to go out looking like Casper. But they do have some really good Lancers. You can go to like Nordstrom or I think Nordstrom and Macy's. Lancers has a colorless sunscreen. You want to get the highest SPF as possible. You want to get a good eye cream that is going to help hydrate and replenish and rejuvenate the cellular production in that area. So I have a question for you.

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So if I'm a person, if I'm a young lady that wears a full face of makeup, do you put on your sunscreen

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first and then your makeup? Absolutely. You must prep your face. So a good moisturizer, a good And then sometimes a primer. So a primer is going to help to eliminate the pores that you would see. So it gives you more of like a velvet kind of a canvas to work with. And it also is gonna help to protect. But hydration. So as far as like makeup is concerned, just simple tips for when you're doing anything, especially when it's hot out, staying with a moisture, a BB cream, that's gonna be like more of a pigmented cream but cream based foundations are really gonna be helpful powders as we are mature as we say a more established in our age range powders make us look older. Is that right? Absolutely. You ever see those women that have that like supple kind of skin and it looks like they just moisturize their face? That is the look that is the most protection. And actually, to mix the trick, the tip and trick, which I learned from the makeup artist, because I'm not one, I just play one.

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On TV.

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Right, I just play one on TV, right. Is to mix your actual foundation with your moisturizer. Oh, really? And you can also do that, it was another tip I think that Nicole Murphy had that on, but it's a tip for the industry for years. Take your bronzer, a little couple of flakes of your powder bronzer, and put your moisturizer in it, mix it together, and put that all on your face. That dewy bronze, Mary J. Blige, by way of New York in Las Vegas look, that's the look you want.

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That is a great tip. Las Vegas, we are sitting here speaking with Miss Kimberly Morris. Hair and makeup extraordinaire. Kimberly has been doing hair for a long time, and she does all different types of hair for all different women and men from all different types of walk and life. So she does hair, she does makeup. She also is personal hair and makeup to the Raider Etch. She's been working with them for the last couple years. How's that been Tim? It's so

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it's so exciting. I just I'm so honored every time we're gearing up for our audition season. So Miguel and I are dealing with all the prep classes. We just had our last prep makeup and hair class on Tuesday night at the Raiderettes practice studio and just really trying to get the girls ready for the audition. Last year we had over 458 women who came to Las Vegas to try out for the Raiderettes team for last season. Wow. Yeah, they came from all over the world. I don't know if you know this, but every year, even the veterans, they all have to try out

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again.

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Wow. So it's not like you get a carte blanche. You know what I mean?

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What's the percentage of rated reps they keep every year versus getting new ones on the team?

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I'd say they keep probably 40%. Okay. But they've tried back out. Right. They have to. But with them, you know, getting ready for the audition, there's three different levels so they have the first major one and then they cut at least 90% Wow so by the time you get to the second round there's only 60 left right and then the final one will be on that Saturday so we're really excited about that and partnering with them how many

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rater at cheerleaders are there 32 to 33 oh I didn't know was that many and that's and I've been to the games I know but I guess there I guess they're in four different areas.

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Yes, they have.

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Yeah. So, whatever area you're sitting in, you see those in front of you, but you forget about

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the ones way across the field.

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Yes, line one, two, three, and four. You're right, four lines. Yeah. Yeah. And I like the fact that this coordinator, Tiffany McNiff, she really wants to have a very diverse group of women and helping them with their hair going forward for the season because we craft their look. We consult with them on their hair and makeup. We chart each one and they have a specific palette for eyes, lips, and for hair. And you know, we might need to change something, do some more highlights, change up the extensions or richen up their base color or something like that. But it's really a really intricate process that we use. But whatever look that they have when they are chosen and then they go forward and we do the photo shoot, the three day process at the stadium, eight hours each day, they have to keep that look for the next six months. Oh, wow. So.

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So if I have long hair to try out, I can't go cut my hair off. You cannot by contract.

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Walking in with a short do.

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No, you cannot by contract.

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Wow, okay. Yeah, because this is part of the image that you agreed to hold to represent the Raiders organization. But then going back to what we talked about, being in the sun and caring for their hair and skin so they have to look the same way that they look, so they have to take extra precautions. So we talk about hair care with them, how to make sure that they're keeping their hair up, because we have to do extreme styling when they're cheering and, you know, we're not there to do touch-ups. So when we leave, their hair has to withstand four hours of dancing.

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Ooh, that's a lot.

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Flipping around.

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That's a lot. Right.

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Yeah, so, yeah. It's really an exciting time. Have some, you know, other things working. Something exciting coming up with the LVACs. Oh, nice. So yeah, I'm really excited. Last year we did the media day for the Las Vegas desert dogs. You know, that's the, the professional, what is that? Lacrosse team that we have here in Vegas. I think it's Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash, former NBA players, so they own that professional team. So we did their their major media day for all of their stuff. You see that online. That's that's my work. I'm just trying to stack my resume before they put me, you know, in the old folks home, Rhonda.

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Sounds good. Sounds good. So listen, for those new cosmetologists out there who are thinking about, for the students who are thinking about going to the cosmetology business and for those who are coming

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out of school, what tips and tricks do you have for them? So I feel like I want and you know this for the last five, six years I've been beating the drums about this, I want this to stay a very professional industry and I feel like we've kind of let it waver to, you know, I'm an Instagram star and it really is about honing in on your craft, being very educated about what you do and executing it in that way. It's about creating an experience for your clients and also exploring all of the vast opportunities as a hairstylist. I remember when I started off, my mother did not want me to be a hair stylist. She wanted me to be an accountant.

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Wow.

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Like her.

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Right.

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You know, she did very well in that business as an entrepreneur.

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And she figured you already know what a debit and credit is. It's so easy. Why would you just not do that? Right. Like it's so transition right on. It just bored me. I would go to sleep. So I would say to them that you will have to be a forever student as a new stylist if I don't go to at least three advanced classes per year I feel like I'm void of something and so you do have to make sure that you hone in on all of your Foundational things that you do because the foundation will help you as trends change You will be able to pivot. You know, I'm Unestablished aged person and so I should still not be 32 years being able to pivot in this industry. I am because I have that foundation but I always keep up on trends that are coming up and always stay with educated and I would say explore other opportunities just instead of just being behind a chair. I'm an educator for a major manufacturer and so I use that and education it's sales through education. I educate stylists and salon owners on how to use certain products and how it will give them a good return on their investment and how further their business and create an experience for their clients and in return they purchase and we have you know a good sell-through for the manufacturer distributor and for the salon owner and stylist so that's another way that you could navigate yourself in the industry. You can be an independent mobile stylist. You can do weddings and events and

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you know different things. It's so much money to be made out there for a person who is a licensed cosmetologist doing hair, doing makeup, doing nails because this is the city where people come here for services. Correct. People come here to get married. People come here to celebrate their birthday. They want to have an experience. And they want to have an experience. They want to be pampered. So if you are in that business here in Las Vegas, you should be doing extremely well. And through this business, through my business and yours, word of mouth is key. Word of mouth is key. And then of course, Instagram and Facebook helps this industry. But yeah, if you are a person thinking about, a high school student thinking about what am I going to do next, if you're very, very creative and you like hair and makeup and those things, this is one profession you could think about. Or if you have been a hairdresser for some time and you're thinking about expanding and opening up your own salon, you know, as a business owner. You know, when I go into different salons, I don't know if people notice this, but people own salons but they also have other things in there for their customers to purchase. You know, they may have jewelry, they may have clothes, and of course they have hair products, you know, for customers to take and use when they are in home. So that's all part of the hair business, the business of hair, which is a great business to be in because everybody needs their hair done all the time.

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I think that one thing in the industry that I would like to, I'm going to concentrate on, especially with myself, but just with stylists and salon owners, period, going forward, we have to get back to being the professional that they refer back to for our products. So retail sales, in my training back in the day, that was the foundation for revenue. Your retail sales should pay your rent and then some.

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Wow.

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You're supposed to be able to pay your rent with your retail sales in one week.

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Oh wow.

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For the month. That's a lot of products. But they should be no one like you know I wouldn't care if your mother is on the corner selling it. If I didn't give it to you right then it's suspect. So that is the that's the relationship that's the that's the experience they should be having. You are consulting with them. You do a consultation. You tell them all about what you're Taking home the at-home care the robot us in

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You are right because every salon I've been to across the country in many different cities I've lived in my hair stylist have sold products and I have purchased those said products to use in between You know because you know some people get their hair done every week, but some people get their hair done every other week. And so they do their hair in between. So you're still using great products on your hair even though you're at home.

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Yeah, because it's an investment.

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It's not.

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It's an investment.

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It is. Oh, Miss Kimberly Morris, we thank you so much for being our guest today on the Let's Talk With Leah and Rhonda show. Kimberly has done a wonderful job in the hair business. She's been around here for some time. So if you're interested in speaking with Kimberly further, you can reach out. We will give you the information on how you can contact Ms. Kimberly. But hey, it's a big weekend this weekend. The Davis Garcia fight is tonight at 5 a.m. It's going to be happening, I believe, over at T-Mobile Arena. So it's going to be hot. I think, yeah, the fight starts at 5. And it's a closed circuit situation over there at MGM Grand. So for all you fight lovers, have fun at the fight tonight. Also, for all you small businesses, again, there are some other grants out there for you to fill out for your businesses. Please go online and just put in Las Vegas, Nevada grants, and all the grants in Nevada will pop up. Also this weekend is a big weekend for Tupac. The Tupac docuseries Dear Mama appears on FX this weekend. So if you get a chance to check it out you should. It's being produced by the Hughes brothers and one of my good good friends Jimmy Love Jenkins. And so that's happening this weekend on FX. The Tupac Also, if you have any students that are on their way to college or if you have any students that are in college, the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas has a scholarship. And they're giving out from $2,000 to $10,000 to multiple students here from the Las Vegas area for college education. So for more information on finding out about the 100 Black Men scholarship, go to www.100blackmenoflasvegas.org or you can also go to their Facebook page to get the information about the scholarships as well as all the other information I shared with you earlier. Well, it's been wonderful today. I do miss my partner, Ms. Leah Crawford. She is on vacation somewhere having fun, drinking pina coladas and I'm here working, but that's okay. Again, we want to thank our special guest in the studio today, Ms. Kimberly Morris for joining us in Las Vegas. Thank you for listening to Let's Talk with Leigh and Rhonda. I'm Rhonda Nolman, and we'll see you next Saturday.

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Peace. Peace.

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♪♪

Transcribed with Cockatoo