The Wright Stuff

Profile on Beauty LaunchpadFrom the Windy City to the City of Angels to Capital City, the multitalented Johnny Wright can do no wrong.

Above: The comb stretch: Wright applies the finishing touches to three-time NAACP award-winning actress and BET.com redcarpet host Terri J. Vaughn for June’s BET Awards.

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He can’t talk about her—and we’re not pushing. Besides, there’s much more to Johnny Wright than simply being Michelle Obama’s stylist.

The artistic style director for SoftSheen-Carson (a division of L’Oréal), Wright has a likeable, easygoing quality about him—but don’t take that to mean he’s unmotivated. On any given day, you’ll find Wright coiffing A-listers including Vivica A. Fox and Michelle Williams; working backstage at premier fashion shows such as Baby Phat; and styling singers like Janelle Monáe for music videos. Or maybe he’s dishing styling advice on the radio (Wright says that he wanted to “bring the chair to the air”), leading educational courses and working on a pilot for his own reality show. “My mom wonders the same thing,” this native Chicagoan laughs when we ask him when he has time to breathe. “She got mad when I told her that I’m going to work with [CNN anchor] Soledad O’Brien on a documentary on being gay in America. I had to reassure her that it wasn’t like I was going to film the whole thing in a month!”

Amy Dodds

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