With this year’s Black History Month’s theme being #SalutingOurSisters, University College Birmingham explores the journeys of some of our incredible black female alumni and puts a spotlight on their achievements.

Here we’re putting the spotlight on Ruth Bizirhi, owner of DolledbyRuthX.

As a bridal hair and make-up specialist, Ruth set up her business after graduating from BA(Hons) Specialist Hair & Media Make-Up in 2022. Combining her knowledge of working with black hair and wigs with the skills taught on the degree, Ruth’s lifelong passion has led to her to running a full-time business having had instrumental help from the Creative Futures Incubator in partnership with the University of Warwick. She is now looking to the future of the hair and make-up industry and how she can be a force for change in the training of new skills in the years to come.

Hi Ruth, can you tell me a bit about where your love for hair and make-up came from?

So I've always been doing my hair and make-up, since Year 9, but I never thought I could actually go anywhere with it full time.

For me, I started treating it more as something that I do for fun, some extra money on the side, but I really enjoyed doing it so I’ve always been doing hair and make-up. But then things got difficult with my part-time job and I had things going on, which I think was for the best because it pushed me to then become self-employed.

I was already working in hair and make-up full time alongside my part-time job and being a mum as well, I was like, you know what? I'm getting loads of clients. I'm booked every weekend. I might as well become self-employed! So I quit my part-time job, used all my skills that I learned from my degree and I just put it all into hair and make-up. Then I went into the bridal industry because I'm more comfortable on that side doing bridal hair, bridal make-up, styling.

You were the first cohort of the Creative Futures incubator. How did that help you launch your business?

The incubator actually helped me with my social media because I wasn't good at posting and captivating clients. We did a lot on social media presence and that helped boost clients coming in and it’s now my main source of clients - 95% of my clients come through my Instagram! They also helped me with my business cards and changing my logo, and helped us financially with a grant to help us start up our business. That money helped me to do my business cards, get my lighting, top-up make-up and new things for my business, and that’s how I was able to become self-employed.

What are you hopes for the future?

So I definitely want my business to grow bigger and get people on my team. But I want to teach. I want to come back to the University and become a teacher, teaching hair and make-up because my specialism is in Afro-Caribbean hair and bridal hair – two areas that would be great to see more of in the curriculum. There’s a lot of money in these two areas of the hair industry, so I think everybody should have these skills.

Find out more about the Creative Futures Incubator, or explore our courses within the Department of Creative Industries.