Metropolitan College of New York alumna and entrepreneur,
Angela Pennyfeather featured in Essence!
Please join us in saying congratulations on the success of Cornrows x Curls!
Cornrows x Curls Festival Is Redefining Black Beauty On Our Own Terms
Article by Updated July 23, 2025
Brooklyn has long been considered a melting pot of culture. And on a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon in June, the borough made way for a new kind of cultural experience—one rooted in Black beauty.
At the heart of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Cornrows x Curls: The Hair Festival gathered community, culture and commerce under one roof—reminding us that, for Black women, hair has always been more than just hair. It’s history. It’s home. It’s power.
It’s not every day that you’re served cornbread with a side of curls, but that’s exactly the magic that Angela Pennyfeather and Karyne Tinord have cooked up. Cornrows x Curls is the brainchild of the duo who are on a mission to reframe the natural hair conversation. Pennyfeather is the founder of BK Natural Hair Fest, a gathering dedicated to embracing and educating around natural hair, and Tinord is the founder of the creative agency Kay de Très and the creator of Cornrows & Cornbread. This storytelling platform explores the intersections of hair, culture and cuisine.
Together, they crafted an experience that wasn’t just about hair, it was about home, heritage and honoring Black identity in all its textured glory. “The purpose of this event is to celebrate natural hair, celebrate community and celebrate Brooklyn,” Pennyfeather tells ESSENCE. “I grew up in the hair salon, so this event was also paying homage to those women and letting them know we haven’t forgotten about them.”
Read the full article HERE.
More About Angela Pennyfeather, MBA’09
Angela Pennyfeather is the kind of woman who walks into a room and makes it feel like possibility just arrived. As Chief Operating Officer of a leading security firm, she has spent over a decade crafting culture-shifting campaigns and securing multimillion-dollar partnerships with some of the world’s most iconic luxury brands—Gucci, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Saks Fifth Avenue, and LVMH, to name a few.
As the founder of the Brooklyn Natural Hair Fest, Angela didn’t just create an event—she sparked a movement. A celebration where beauty, culture, and community come together. Her impact was so profound, the City of New York honored her with a Proclamation declaring June 23 as Brooklyn Natural Hair Fest Day.
Angela is a curator of joy, a connector of people, and a bold visionary who believes in building tables—not just sitting at them. Whether she’s producing dynamic programs like Cornrows X Curls Hair Fest or developing brand activations that demand attention, Angela leads with purpose and an unwavering belief in the power of showing up as your full self.
She is a proud graduate of the Metropolitan College of New York School for Business, where she earned her MBA in Media Management in 2009.
