Photo Credit: Jimmie Aggison
By: By Laura Onyeneho,
When Venita Graves launched her nonprofit Beauty Beyond Breast Cancer in 2010, she wasn’t chasing accolades or entrepreneurship. She was answering a calling.
A hairstylist and cancer survivor herself, Graves recognized a painful void for women, especially Black women, undergoing treatment.
“When a woman loses her hair, her eyebrows, her lashes, there’s a certain sadness that comes with that,” she says. “And I knew we needed a space where women could feel beautiful again,really feel it, not just pretend.”
Across from her suite at Salon Meyerland, Graves created a wig boutique. The walls are lined with vibrant wigs in every shade and texture, carefully selected to reflect the beauty and diversity of the women who walk through her doors. But what truly defines this space is the energy.
“We talk, we laugh, we cry, we pray sometimes all in the same hour,” Graves says. “I don’t just want them to grab a wig and go. I want them to leave here feeling whole again.”
The mission was born from Graves’s own experience navigating breast cancer as a stylist. She began volunteering at MD Anderson Cancer Center, helping women choose wigs and teaching them how to tie scarves with dignity. But over time, she noticed that many women, particularly women of color, left with wigs that didn’t match their aesthetic, culture or style.
“They were basic,” Graves says. “We like flair. We like variety. I wanted to give women wigs that reflected who they were before cancer,and who they could be after.”
Today, Beauty Beyond Breast Cancer serves hundreds of women each year, many of whom walk in uncertain and leave transformed.
Survivor’s Testimony
Angela Price-Hardeman’s breast cancer journey was as much emotional as it was physical and it nearly broke her spirit.
“I thought I was a brick house,” she says with a bittersweet laugh, “36G and confident. My breasts were my signature. So when doctors told me I needed a double mastectomy, I told them I’d rather die.”
Price-Hardeman was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, stage two, grade three, on Labor Day weekend in 2022. It was a shock, but not a total surprise. Her grandmother had battled breast cancer, and Price-Hardeman had already raised concerns about discomfort in her breast months before the official diagnosis.
“I knew something was wrong. I told the first doctor, but they brushed it off after the mammogram came back clean,” she says. “I pushed for a second opinion when I got a new doctor. Thank God I did. She insisted on more testing, and that’s when they found it.”
Her identity was once tied closely to her physical form, but it was stripped down. When she looked in the mirror, she didn’t recognize herself.
“I lost my eyebrows, lashes, my breasts, my weight,” she says. “I didn’t want to leave the house.”
But amid her lowest point, Beauty Beyond Breast Cancer found her. Price-Hardeman credits Graves and the experience with helping restore her outer appearance and sense of self-worth.
“Miss Venita made me feel beautiful again,” she says. “She gave me a wig that reminded me of me, the old me, the bold me. And she didn’t stop there. She prayed with me. She hugged me. She saw me.”
Redefining the meaning of beauty after breast cancer was a challenging journey for Kimberly Williams. Beauty once lived in the bounce of her curls, the strength in her smile and the confidence that came from simply being herself. But in 2021, a breast cancer diagnosis challenged everything she thought she knew about her appearance and her identity.
She had stage 3 breast cancer. Treatment would require 16 weeks of chemotherapy, lumpectomy, and radiation every day for 30 days. The process would be physically grueling, but for Williams, one of the most difficult parts was losing her hair.
“I was known for my hair,” she said. “It was a huge part of my identity. I didn’t think I was vain until I watched it fall out.”
At first, she tried to hold on, but eventually, the mirror forced her to make a decision. With tears in her eyes, she shaved her head.
“That day was one of the lowest,” Williams recalled. “I felt like a different person. I didn’t see beauty anymore, I saw sickness.”
Beauty isn’t what you see on magazine covers. It’s what you see when a woman looks at herself again with pride. When she says, ‘I still got it.’ That’s beauty. And that’s what we do here.
VENITA GRAVES, FOUNDER OF BEAUTY BEYOND BREAST CANCER
A cousin in Georgia mailed her high-quality wigs that resembled her natural curls. She began experimenting with makeup again, finding joy in routines that made her feel whole. She documented her journey in photos, sometimes glamorous, sometimes tearful, but always real.
“Even when I cried, I took pictures,” she said. “I wanted to see myself as I was, not just how cancer made me look.”
She also leaned into self-care, massages, skincare, journaling, prayer. These small acts helped her reconnect with a version of beauty that had little to do with outward appearance and everything to do with how she felt in her skin.
“I also took part in Venita’s calendar photoshoots for breast cancer survivors,” she said. “It helped me reclaim part of myself. She created an atmosphere of empowerment instead of pity.”
Photoshoots and Runways
One of Graves’ signature initiatives is the annual Beauty Beyond Breast Cancer Calendar, which features 11 survivors each year in full glam, hair, makeup and wardrobe captured in a celebratory photoshoot.
“It’s more than a calendar,” Graves explains. “It’s a keepsake. It’s proof to each woman that she is still here, still glowing, still radiant.”
The calendars serve as the initiative’s main fundraiser, helping to keep the space running and stock new wigs. But perhaps no event matches the emotional magnitude of the annual fashion show.
“It’s not your typical New York runway,” Graves laughs. “This is joy on display. This is women walking in power some after losing breasts, hair, even limbs. But honey, when they strut, they own that stage.”
When asked what she hopes Beauty Beyond Breast Cancer teaches society about beauty, Graves doesn’t hesitate.
“Beauty isn’t what you see on magazine covers. It’s what you see when a woman looks at herself again with pride. When she says, ‘I still got it.’ That’s beauty. And that’s what we do here.”
