August 22, 2022
LaTisha Chong, Hairstylist to A-list Stars Serena Williams, Tracee Ellis Ross, Dies at 32
LaTisha Chong, the hairstylist to A-list names like Serena Williams, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Telfar Clemans, has died at 32 from metastatic breast cancer, Vogue reports.
Chong was the hairstylist behind Williams’s recent Vogue cover featuring her daughter Alexis Olympia where the tennis champion announced her retirement. Chong also worked with Ellis Ross for big Hollywood events, including her Met Gala appearances and Pattern Beauty campaigns.
“I met LaTisha in September 2021 when we worked together for my Harper’s Bazaar cover, styled by editor in chief Samira Nasr and shot by Renell Medrano, and she created some epic curls for that editorial,” Ellis Ross told WWD of Chong.
Ellis Ross praised Chong’s artistic ability through hair and beauty.
“LaTisha had a real love of natural textured hair and that is what brought our work together,” she said. “I am so grateful for the contribution she made to my own hair story and the hair story I’m telling through Pattern. Sending all the love to her son, family, friends & loved ones.”
Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Chong relocated to the U.S. at 6, Daily Mail reports. At19, she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force before receiving an honorable medical discharge in 2014.
Chong became a celebrity hairstylist, using skills she perfected from childhood. Chong got her start sweeping salon floors in Flatbush, Brooklyn, at the age of 10.
“Black hair is a family thing in our neighborhood,” sister Afesha Chong told The New York Times. “Everyone comes to the salons on Saturday, and you learn to nurture the hair but also the soul. Latisha picked that up quickly.”
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Chong’s last Instagram post was of Serena’s iconic Vogue cover. Fans and loved ones have been sending their prayers and condolences to the celebrity stylist in her comments section.
“Tish forever. There was no world in which this cover happened without her,” fashion editor Gabrielle Karefa-Johnson wrote. “We needed her– still do. Her talent, her skill, her passion. She lives forever through her incredible legacy and art.”