By Tracey Khan

Award-winning hairstylist, educator and entrepreneur Stasha Harris spoke her future into existence long before she understood manifestation. Growing up in South Trinidad, Harris told anyone who would listen she would become a hairstylist, not as a dream, but as a declaration.

Teachers questioned her certainty and encouraged her mother to frame hairdressing as a fallback plan. Her mother refused.

“She listened to me,” Harris said. “She didn’t shrink my dream or try to make it safer for other people. She let me believe fully.”

More than 25 years later, that belief has evolved into a thriving beauty empire built on mastery, faith and cultural pride. Harris is a New York state–licensed natural hair instructor and master stylist with more than two decades of experience, and the founder of Magic Fingers Studio and Magic Fingers Institute, a growing beauty education facility dedicated to training the next generation of professionals.

Raised with discipline and limited resources, Harris said her early life shaped her work ethic. She walked miles to school and often ate her first meal of the day at lunchtime. At 17, after graduating high school, she migrated to the United States, unsure of what awaited her.

Her break came during a visit to Brooklyn, when she braided a client’s hair and was immediately offered a salon chair in Cypress Hills.

“That chair changed everything,” Harris said. “I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the beginning of my purpose unfolding.”

By 21, Harris opened her first salon, relying on instinct, prayer and lived experience. She didn’t enroll in her first formal business course until 2019.

“I didn’t have the language for entrepreneurship back then,” she said. “I just knew how to work, how to serve people and how to trust God.”

Her reputation for precision, professionalism and respect attracted a loyal clientele, many of them men, a demographic she said is often overlooked in natural hair spaces. Her work later expanded into editorial and celebrity spaces, including a seven-year run as creative director on a recurring hair series for Cosmopolitan magazine. Still, Harris remained grounded.

“Your everyday clients are your foundation,” she said. “They’re the ones who build your business when nobody’s watching.”

Education emerged naturally. When Harris finally agreed to teach a braiding class, it sold out within an hour. Requests for licensing soon followed, prompting her to open Magic Fingers Institute in 2022 after years of regulatory delays and financial strain.

“I paid rent on a building I couldn’t even use yet,” she said. “But I knew what God told me to do, so I stayed the course.”

Since opening, the institute has graduated more than 170 students from its licensed programs in natural hair styling, nails and waxing, with plans underway to expand into cosmetology and aesthetics. Harris said the curriculum is intentionally designed to go beyond technical skill, equipping students with real-world knowledge in business structure, taxes, branding, saving and long-term financial planning.

“I had to learn all of that the hard way,” Harris said. “I don’t want my students struggling the way I did when they leave here.”

That same commitment to preparation and excellence extends to the Magic Fingers product line, developed in collaboration with Shine n Jam and informed by Harris’ more than two decades behind the chair. The professional-grade collection includes braiding gels, mousse, scalp oils, tools and the recently launched ProBraid Gel, created specifically for long-lasting protective styles.

“I made these products for stylists who are tired of white residue, flaking and dryness,” Harris said. “They moisturize, they hold, and when the braids come down, the hair is still healthy.”

For Harris, beauty is inseparable from identity. Chemically relaxed from childhood, she said she did not experience her natural hair texture until adulthood. Today, she teaches students the history and cultural significance of braiding across the African diaspora, emphasizing pride, knowledge and preservation.

“This is about knowing who you are,” she said. “When you understand your hair, you understand your roots.”

Grounded in faith, Harris measures success not by accolades, but by impact.

“My students are my legacy,” she said. “When they win, I win.”

Magic Fingers Institute stands as proof that when purpose leads the way, beauty becomes more than a business,  it becomes a testimony.Magic Fingers operates from two distinct locations serving different parts of Harris’ growing beauty ecosystem. Magic Fingers Studio, where Harris continues hands-on work behind the chair, is located at 5319 Church Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11203. The educational arm, Magic Fingers Institute, is based at 178-02 Jamaica Ave, 2nd Fl, Jamaica, NY 11432, where students receive licensed training in natural hair styling and beauty services.