Winnie Awa is an entrepreneur on a mission to build the next frontier of textured hair care. Famed as the Founder and CEO of Carra, Winnie provides her expert advice on textured hair and how to care for individual hair textures. Disrupting the status quo of the £90bn hair care industry, Winnie is giving a voice to marginalised people within the hair care industry, cutting out the guesswork and providing access to licenced experts on textured hair. She has held several advisory positions across the beauty ecosystem, including as co-chair of the British Beauty Council diversity committee, a Glamour Power List honouree, a Pure Beauty Awards Judge, and one of the Stylus 2024 Changemakers. It comes as little surprise that Winnie is highly sought-after as a speaker for a range of corporate events, covering topics such as entrepreneurship, women in technology, diversity and textured haircare.
Having forged a highly successful career, Winnie’s career first began as an Analyst for IBM and later as a Senior Consultant for Ernst & Young. From that point on, Winnie worked with an exciting variety of start-up companies, helping to build cutting-edge consumer apps for the likes of ASOS, LVMH and NET-A-PORTER. Working as a Strategic Programme Manager for NET-A-PORTER, a Programme Manager for ASOS and a Product Management Consultant for LVMH, Winnie realised a passion for fashion and became the Co-Founder of andVerv, a London-based contemporary womenswear brand that premiered at London Fashion Week. Winnie is also the Founding CEO of Antidote Street, a global beauty marketplace for multicultural women that curates the best brands for multi-textured hair.
Determined to revolutionise the haircare industry, Winnie founded Carra in 2020, now working as Carra’s CEO. Honing her vision, Winnie created the hyper-personalisation platform that brings together expert advice and machine learning to offer custom routines for people with textured hair. Her latest venture, Carra Labs, is a multicultural intelligence platform that melds consumer behaviour with real-world data, powering global beauty brands with culturally relevant insights to transform innovation. Spearheading the launch of the Salon Manifesto for textured hair people, Winnie is also trusted by brands such as Professional Beauty, Dove, Tresemme, Unilever and GHD to share her expertise in creating haircare products for different hair types.
Recently named an InnovateUK Women in Innovation winner, Winnie has been recognised in various publications, cited in the book Palette and has contributed to Looking Beyond The Car In Front. She was shortlisted in the Sunday Times Style Disruptor awards, and her insights have been featured by BBC, Vogue Business, Harper's Bazaar, Sunday Times Style, WWD, Stylist Magazine, and more. Winnie's book, 'Global Hair Cultures', is set to come out in 2027 and explores the social, political, and aesthetic histories of global beauty practices, drawing on her lived experience across Nigeria, the UK, France, Colombia, and the UAE.
Now booked as a speaker for a range of corporate events, Winnie is trusted by companies for her authority on diversity and inclusive haircare. Working with global beauty brands and cultural institutions, Winnie plays both a strategic and creative role as a multicultural consumer expert and strategist, dedicated to sparking original thinking and helping brands create culturally relevant products and solutions. If you are looking for an empowering speech from a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, don’t hesitate to book Winnie Awa with Champions today!
Winnie Awa's official speaking topics are listed below:
Why your taste matters
In a world where everyone has access to the same tools, your aesthetic judgment, cultural intuition, and ability to trust what you find compelling becomes the deciding factor. This talk explores why creativity, intuition, and taste are the next frontier of competitive advantage
When beauty met algorithms
Beauty isn't just personal—it's political, cultural, inherited. This talk reveals why the most successful beauty innovations keep humans in the loop, how to build culturally intelligent products (not just "diverse" ones). This talk gives a whole different context to beauty trends, from ingredients to technology
Designing products people want
This talk is a compelling spin on consumer insight, exploring the new rules of product development, community-led growth, and inclusive innovation. Learn how to listen deeper, build with (not for) your community, and treat consumers as co-creators
Rituals > Routines
We dismiss beauty rituals as vanity. From my research across global hair cultures, I've discovered that rituals create meaning, signal identity, and offer moments of control in chaotic lives. How global beauty practices shape identity, culture, politics and why they matter for brands today
“Thank you so much, Winnie, you gave us such an incredible and truly inspirational start to the Across RCA multidisciplinary programme.” - Tom Snowden, Royal College of Art
“Winnie was a fantastic guest speaker for our client – a high profile haircare brand team. Super inspiring and engaging, she shared her fresh insights and expertise in beauty and tech innovations to inspire the team. Highly recommended and delightful to work with.” - Carla Dowling, Unilever
“10/10 to you! We really enjoyed the event and appreciated your hosting and moderating the panel.” - Samira Musa, Netflix
"WOW! Honestly, you were made for the stage! We’re still feeling the buzz from yesterday – our best ever Salon Smart! Winnie, your session was brilliant – so insightful, so thought-provoking, so enlightening. You were magic up on our big Salon Smart stage and provided attendees with stacks to think about. AND you were name checked by quite a few other speakers – from the stage – afterwards! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for giving up your precious time to join us at this sell-out event.” - Joanna Anderson - Creative Partnerships Director,
"In my role as Events Director of GLAMOUR, I had the absolute pleasure of working with and booking Winnie as a speaker for a number of different events. Most recently Winnie was a segment moderator for GLAMOUR's popular Black Beauty series and hosted The Black Hair Conversation. Not only was Winnie's delivery seamless, but she expertly captivated our in-person audience whilst simultaneously engaging our online viewers. Winnie also ensured our brand partners and sponsors were name-checked - as per the brief - whilst ensuring the conversation flowed organically. Equally, Winnie ensured the Creators being interviewed remained engaging and on topic. I thoroughly enjoy working with Winnie for events and speaker engagements, particularly as when she is booked to speak or moderate, I'm always assured that the segment/s will run smoothly." - Glamour
"Winnie was a fantastic guest speaker for our client - a high-profile haircare brand team. Super engaging, she shared her fresh insights and expertise in beauty and tech innovations to inspire the team. Highly recommended and delightful to work with." - Paraffin Ltd
- 2022 - InnovateUK 2022 Women in Innovation winner
- 2020 - Founder & CEO of Carra
- 2018 - Creative Partner of andVerv
- 2018 - Product Management Consultant Services for LVMH
- 2015 - Founder & CEO of Antidote Street
- 2013 - Programme Manager for ASOS
- 2012 - Strategic Programme Manager for NET-A-PORTER
- 2007 - Senior Consultant for Ernst & Young
- 2005 - Analyst for IBM Business Consulting Services
How to hire Winnie Awa
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Winnie Awa for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
