Vanita McClendon

Vanita McClendon founded Knotty by Nature, where she serves as CEO. Her professional start dates to 1995, when she joined NAPPS, a natural hair salon in St. Louis. She stayed there until 2001. McClendon has more than 30 years of experience in natural hair care and holds the roles of master natural hair care specialist and loctician. Her specialties are micro locs, two-strand twists, loc coloring, loc extensions, loc repairs, and holistic natural hair care. She leads workshops for clients and industry professionals on loctician training, loc extension creation, loc coloring, braiding, and Mommy/Daddy hair classes, and she has mentored aspiring stylists. McClendon also writes the Nappy Thoughts blog, which focuses on natural hair. Away from the salon, she works as a makeup artist, with credits that include music video productions featuring Nelly and the St. Lunatics.