An Inspired Chat with Renata Hall of Germantown

We recently had the chance to connect with Renata Hall and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Renata, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Have you stood up for someone when it cost you something?
I have.

I stand up for textured-hair Black people.
For Black voices.
For Black stylists whose genius is often borrowed, renamed, or erased.

And yes—sometimes that stance costs you the “opportunity.”
The collaboration.
The seat at the mainstream table.

But integrity is its own table.
And I don’t shrink my purpose to make others comfortable.

When you carry a mission rooted in culture, truth, and craft,
you learn quickly that every “lost” brand deal
is really protection.
Every closed door
is a filter.
Every silence
is a spotlight waiting for the right room.

I stand where I stand because my community deserves representation
without dilution,
without distortion,
without apology.

If it costs me something—
then it wasn’t meant to hold the weight of my purpose anyway.

This is the work.
This is the calling.
This is Get Reborn.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Renata J. Hall, and I am the founder of RK Hair Loft and the Get Reborn™ brand ecosystem.
I’m a licensed cosmetologist, educator, creative entrepreneur, and storyteller based in Philadelphia. For over 20 years, I’ve specialized in natural hair, locs, scalp health, and transformational styling rooted in culture, care, and artistry.

What makes my work unique is that I don’t just style hair—I restore people.
I call it hair therapy.
My approach blends technique, education, wellness, and ancestral understanding of texture, identity, and beauty. Every service, class, and creation is centered on helping people feel seen, affirmed, and reborn.

RK Hair Loft has grown into more than a salon. It’s a movement.
I’m developing the RK Hair Loft Institute, a natural hair education program that prepares the next generation of stylists with both technical excellence and business mastery. I’m also expanding the Get Reborn™ brand, which includes community events, children’s books, creative projects, sponsorship collaborations, and a holistic vision for culturally rooted beauty spaces.

My story is one of resilience, reinvention, and service.
I’ve endured, rebuilt, and transformed—and I pour that same energy into every client, student, and project. I stand firmly for textured hair, Black voices, and the future of Black stylists in an industry that often overlooks our genius.

Right now, I’m working on expanding my educational programs, launching new creative content, securing partnerships, and building a legacy platform that uplifts my community through beauty, culture, and storytelling.

In short: I help people look good, feel whole, and get reborn—one crown at a time.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My babes did. My grandmother.
My mother did.
My father did.
My family—because that’s where you learn how to be seen before the world learns your name.

I started doing my grandmother’s hair when I was just a young girl.
She had Huntington’s disease—debilitating, unforgiving—and yet, when I touched her hair, something in her softened.
It was my first lesson in what it means to restore dignity, to witness beauty where pain is present, to create healing with your hands.

My mother was the first to say, “You can do this.”
Before I ever called myself a stylist, she let me create on her.
I walked into the salon and got to “watch, Billie Girl”—
a style, a moment, a memory—
and she did my mom hair with pride. Because of her I learned do hair. Not long before I had the confidence to believe in myself.
May she rest in power and peace—organic, beautiful, and forever my first person I learned from.

My family didn’t just support me—
they mirrored me.
They reflected back a version of myself I hadn’t yet grown into:
a creator,
a healer,
a stylist with purpose,
a woman destined to build a brand that honors our culture, our crowns, and our resilience.

That’s the truth behind RK Hair Loft and Get Reborn:
I was seen early.
Loved early.
Trusted early.
And that foundation shaped everything I am and everything I create.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
Do I even have fear?
Some days I’m not sure—I’m still questioning myself for the honest answer.
Because as a Leo, my fire is always burning… even when I’m unsure what direction the flame should take.

But if I’m being real, my biggest fear isn’t.
It isn’t starting over. It isn’t being misunderstood.

My fear is being known too late.
I don’t want to be celebrated in death more loudly than I was honored in life.
I don’t want people to wait until the eulogy to recognize what I poured into this world—my craft, my love, my community, my art, my healing.

See me now.
Celebrate me now.
Give me my flowers while my hands can still hold them, while my voice can still say thank you, and my heart can still feel it.

That’s the truth—
not from fear that freezes me,
but from a desire to live fully,
to be acknowledged while the fire is still burning, and to know that my purpose is witnessed while I’m here.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
If you ask about me, you will know.

The public version of me isn’t a performance—it’s a preview.
What you see is rooted in something real:
my integrity, my craft, my community, my fire.
I don’t shapeshift to be palatable.
I don’t dilute to be digestible.
Who I am in the world is simply an extension of who I am at home—
the daughter, the healer, the stylist, the creator, the Leo flame that never dims.

I’m not hiding.
I’m consistent.
And if you ever wonder who I really am,
ask the people who’ve sat in my chair,
who’ve been loved by my hands,
who’ve heard my voice offstage and off-camera.
They’ll tell you the same thing:

Renata is Renata everywhere.
What you see is what you get—
and what you get is real.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. When do you feel most at peace?
When do you feel most at peace?
In love.
In writing.
And in the scalp.

Peace finds me in three places:

In love —
when I’m softened, seen, and safe…
when the world slows down enough for tenderness to speak first.

In writing —
where my spirit unravels and rebuilds itself
line by line,
metaphor by metaphor,
turning my life into language I can finally understand.

And in the scalp —
the sacred ground where my hands do their truest work.
That quiet moment when I part the hair,
touch the root,
and feel someone exhale in my chair.
That’s where I hear God the clearest—
where healing feels like muscle memory
and purpose feels like breath.

Peace isn’t a place for me.
It’s a rhythm.
And those three moments—love, writing, and the scalp—
are where my soul syncs back into itself

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rkhairloft.styleseat.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rkhairloft?igsh=Y2hvcXg5ejJidmxk&utm_source=qr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/me?trk=p_mwlite_feed-secondary_nav

Image Credits
My credits