Dior Sovoa has been one of the leading hairstylists in the game for years, but he’s so much more than that. He’s also a businessman and a storyteller. His career spans far beyond just glam, and he shared with Parle Mag his secrets for confidence, success, and how to do it all while looking glamorous.
A Washington, D.C. native, he’s left his mark on looks that have covered Elle, Vogue, People, Harper’s Bazaar, Billboard, and more. Additionally, as the lead stylist for icon Mariah Carey, Dior has been a trusted partner in cultivating her visual journey and curating looks for more than a decade. Still, there’s so much more to his story.
Check out the full Dior Sovoa interview below.
Parlé Mag: You’ve worked with huge icons like Mariah Carey for over a decade. What’s something that you would say people kind of completely misunderstand about what it takes to kind of maintain that level of an image?
Dior Sovoa: The dedication and the work that you have to put in to stay afloat, to stay in a business, to look a certain way, to leave the house a certain way, to keep a certain ambiance, to stay poised. It’s a lot, but it’s something that I think I was prepared for and the people that God has brought me around definitely prepared me for it as well.
Parlé Mag: When you first started out what was your ultimate goal and how do you think you’ve kind of stayed that path and also gone on to do different incredible things?
Dior Sovoa: I didn’t have an ultimate goal in mind. My ultimate goal was to definitely show my kids that you can follow your dreams. I have two twins, of course. And that was my ultimate goal, just to tell them that you don’t have to be stuck in one place to go out and live your dream and do it the best that you can. And I think I succeeded in that, definitely. Showing my kids you can live out your dream.
Parlé Mag: I also love storytelling and you kind of describe your work as storytelling in a sense. What do you think the story is that you’re telling through you, and then through your clients as well?
Dior Sovoa: For me, I definitely think that when I’m telling a story, it depends on the outfit and what mood we’re in and where we’re going. I like to keep up with the ambiance of how everything flows together. So if my client is wearing a flowy dress and they’re feeling extra fabulous we might go with a little bit of volume, bigger hair or something like that. You just want to create something that’s going to be cohesive with every look that you bring.
Parlé Mag: You have been in the room with some of the greatest people in the world. What’s something that you feel like you’ve learned about just kind of style and confidence and image and how have you kind of helped shape that as well?
Dior Sovoa: That we’re all just human beings trying to live our life and be as great as we can. No matter how big you are, we’re all just, we have one unified goal in life and that’s to be greater. And I realized that sometimes you think that you’re not supposed to be in these rooms, but if you’re in these rooms, God put you in there for a reason and there’s something that you can learn and something that you can always teach somebody else.
Parlé Mag: Do you have a specific look throughout your career that you’re most proud of or for different reasons for how it came out, for how you accomplished it?
Dior Sovoa: Yes, I love when I do the curly-rhyme. Everybody goes crazy when I do Mariah’s hair curly. So that’s one of my amazing techniques. And I just love the hair when I’m walking around and my clients are like, this is the softest my hair has ever been. It feels so good. It’s flowing in the wind. Those things make me happy and stuff like that. So to know that my clients feel healthy, happy, and have healthy hair when they’re leaving the salon, it makes me feel good.
Parlé Mag: You have a new product line, tell me all about it.
Dior Sovoa: Yes, so I’m starting off with a hair serum. This is definitely for hair growth for my girls who are wearing a lot of units on their hair wigs, as you would say, and their edges are gone because they’re using too much glue. So I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to formulate something that’s going to bring the edges back. So that will be my first product that I am bringing out for my wig girls.
Parlé Mag: There’s so many different products and different things. What do you think, if you were to give one message or one thing that you want people to get from yours, would it be the edges?
Dior Sovoa: That is definitely about haircare. Everything that I’m going to be bringing out is about haircare and how to get your follicles to the best extent that they can. It definitely helps with growth. I’m going to work with the shampoo and conditioner as well as the edge control, edge serum, that would definitely be for growth. You can put it all over, but it would definitely be for your edges as well for the most part. But it’s definitely something that I always say, it doesn’t just take the outside products that you’re using. You have to find out what works for you inside. It may be…
You might be eating the wrong type of foods or something, maybe medicine you’re taking or something like that. So you have to figure that out as well. It’s not always just the hair care. It’s about internally and externally.
Parlé Mag: Where’s your line going to be available?
Dior Sovoa: We’re gonna start putting out the pre-orders by the end of May.
Parlé Mag: What knowledge would you like to impart to your fans?
Dior Sovoa: Somebody’s always gonna overlook you, but when you look at the mirror, are you looking at you? Do you see who you are? And do you see how bad you can be and how beautiful your soul is and how the world needs to capture that? Don’t let nobody stop you from being great. When you look in the mirror, tell yourself, I’m that bitch and it’s time for me to move on with life and let the people know that I am that person.
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