Dear Denise McKinley: Let’s Get The Band Back Together

Over ten years ago, when I was fully living in my beauty and fashion era, something special happened. I didn’t just find collaborators; I found my team and that’s when Denise McKinley entered the picture.

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At the time, Denise was a student at UGA here in Athens GA and came in as a hairstylist, but very quickly she became much more than that. She was thoughtful, intentional, and quietly dangerous with her talent. Around that same time, I was also shooting with and for Tabitha Fielteau and when the three of us came together, it was undeniable. We were the A Team.

The thing about Denise, and this is the part that still sticks with me, was how deeply she cared. I remember one shoot in particular. I told her a rough idea I had in my head. Nothing fully mapped out. Just a feeling, and she didn’t miss a beat. She went home… and made a custom wig for the model (shout out to Christiana Brown). Not because anyone asked her to. Not because it was required. But because she wanted it to be right. I remember when I saw it before the shoot, I remember thinking to myself:

“Yeah… this girl is a beast.”

That moment locked it in for me. That’s when I knew I wasn’t just working with a hairstylist, I was working with an artist.

Life, of course, kept moving

Denise stepped away from doing hair and focused on her career and her next chapter. Tabitha and I kept working together, building and creating. The work kept going, but the A Team? It was missing a piece. Just to be clear, this blog is not about shade, It’s not guilt, It’s definitely not pressure, It’s a love letter.

Because creative partnerships like that don’t happen often. When they do, you feel it in your bones. The trust, the freedom and the way ideas flow without over-explaining.

So Denise, if you’re reading this, which you should because I sent you the link. This is me saying how much that time meant to me, and how much you meant to the work and how often I still think, “Man… imagine if we all did this again.”

Not full-time.

Not forever.

Just for the fun of it.

Just because we know what happens when we’re in the same room.

So here it is, publicly, lovingly, and with a little bit of a smile:

Denise McKinley… want to make magic again?