Caution Magazine 4th Issu

When I first sat down to speak with Vivica, I didn’t want to start out by talking about her fabulous A-list life. She has had a very long and highly successful acting career. Her fans can tell you that she has been seen in a combination of over 50 movie, television and stage productions. She is considered the elite among African-American Hollywood actresses. I have a movie list of fan favorites to talk about however, the only thing I wanted to talk about first was her amazing line of wigs!

We laughed and then she said, “It is so amazing to me because I started the trend and now everyone has caught on and I’m starting to see a lot of celebrities starting their own hair line too”, says Vivica. “I’ll never forget that when I first started doing this, I took over for Beverly Johnson because she decided she didn’t want to do it anymore. So, of course Amekok Industries, Inc. that carried her hair line were looking for a new face. My manager said, ‘Hey what about Vivica Fox?’ and at the time I was just coming off of the huge success of “Kill Bill”. “They said, ‘Oh my God do you think we can get Vivica Fox?’ My manager said, ‘Let me reach out to her.’ When she let me know, I said, ‘As much money as I spend on wigs and weaves, yes let me get a piece of that pie back.’ So I had a lot of motivation.”

Vivica has been featuring some of the best styles in wigs for over five years. At one point people were saying that her career was over and the checks would stop coming in. However, Vivica realized that this was the beginning of her starting to brand Vivica A Fox. “With all the many looks I have had over the years now people can have the same looks as well”, explains Vivica. “I have had so many women come up to me to say they are rocking my hair pieces right now and I would say, ‘Alright girl!’

Vivica is very involved in selecting the wigs and being photographed in them. Every year she does a new photo shoot for Amekor Industries, Inc who always make it a point to run things by her to see what she thinks about the new hair designs. It takes two days for her to shoot a new line of wigs. The company is very good about staying on top of things to keep the looks new and current. “At the photo shoot I have to model 70 different wigs”, reveals Vivica. “I am really happy that we have a style designer by the name of Kia McKinsey. She’s a sister from Philadelphia whose life was changed when they asked her to come onboard. They took her out of a beauty shop to create the latest styles and colors for the hair line.” Vivica is not hands-on when it comes to creating the wigs however, she definitely gives her advice when they ask her what she thinks of certain styles. She also promotes the wigs by selecting her favorite look of the week.

Things have really changed in hair care since my day as a hair magazine editor. Today the hair is very versatile, inexpensive and so natural looking. Vivica adds, “It’s great because it used to be so taboo back in the day to say you’re wearing a wig or weave. However, today girls want to know where you get your hair. What’s beautiful about my hair line is that its lightweight, curling iron safe, affordable, not super expensive, stylish with the latest colors and the latest looks plus we use bio cap technology.” I’ve always wanted to dye my hair a different color, but was always afraid to because of the damage it may cause to my hair. Now that Vivica has her hair line we can all rock various styles and colors in an instant. Never again will you be at the mercy of a hairdresser who doesn’t show up or can’t figure out what to do with your hair. Actually that did happen to Vivica on an episode of “LA Hair”. The hairstylist appeared to not know what to do with Vivica’s hair or the hair pieces that were given beforehand. It was a very unprofessional situation and you can tell Vivica was not a happy camper. Instead of screaming at the stylist she calmly went into the bathroom, lock the door and called a real stylist, Dr. Boogie to do her hair. She was too pissed to laugh then, but she laughed and said regarding that entire incident, “I felt like I was in the twilight zone or getting punked.” Some people who have only had a short time of the success may feel a sense of entitlement over a veteran. Early in her career Vivica revealed a good friend said to her, ‘Know your place, play your position and stay in your lane’. Those words of wisdom ended up being the keys to Vivica’s strong work ethic.

For those of you who don’t know the place she gives credit for having a wonderful upbringing, it goes to Indianapolis, Indiana. “It gets all the credit. I had a wonderful childhood,” says Vivica. “It was definitely before the days of social media, bullying and all the craziness.” She graduated from Alrington high school in Indianapolis, Indiana.

While pursuing her career goals after high school, she still had to go to collage first. “I received an AA in social science and I was also trying to model and get into show business. My mom was not letting me get out of her house without first having an education”, remembers Vivica. She kept her part of the deal with her mom and went on to fulfill a dream and be able to live out her wildest expectations.