News to Know!: She advocates for keeping those chemicals off your hair and your child’s hair.
The Steve Harvey Morning Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Melanye Maclin (Dr. Mac).
A celebrity dermatologist and founder of Innovative Hair Technology. Dr. Mac shares her journey of balancing motherhood, caregiving, and entrepreneurship, while passionately advocating for health awareness in the Black community—especially regarding the dangers of chemical hair straighteners. The episode is both inspirational and educational, highlighting resilience, purpose, and the importance of inner and outer wellness.
🧭 Episode Outline: 1. Introduction
- Rashawn introduces the show and Dr. Mac.
- Emphasis on living your own success story.
2. Dr. Mac’s Background
- Founder of Innovative Hair Technology (1999).
- Developed science-based hair supplements and products for men and women.
- Known for her “Ask Dr. Mac” segments offering free dermatology advice.
3. Career Pause for Family
- Dr. Mac discusses stepping back from her career to care for her daughters and later her mother, Dr. Watson, after a stroke.
- Her brother, Dr. Melvin Macklin, helps care for their mother.
4. Legacy and Inner Beauty
- Advocates that “outer beauty is a reflection of an inner you.”
- Focus on mental wellness and beautifying the brain before the body.
5. Health Advocacy: Hair Relaxers and Cancer
- Dr. Mac has warned for 25 years about the dangers of chemical hair straighteners.
- Discusses the FDA’s proposed ban and the link to hormone-related cancers.
- Shares alarming statistics about Black and Latina women’s exposure to harmful products.
6. “Good Hair” Documentary
- Dr. Mac’s involvement in Chris Rock’s Good Hair.
- Her advocacy caught the attention of producers and led to a pivotal interview.
7. Turning Down “The Doctors”
- Dr. Mac declined a co-hosting opportunity on The Doctors to prioritize her family.
- Emphasizes that success can be paused and resumed.
8. Closing Reflections
- Rushion and Dr. Mac reflect on mutual respect and shared mission.
- Encouragement to lead with purpose and give back to the community.
💡 Key Takeaways:
- Family First: Dr. Mac’s story is a testament to prioritizing family without giving up on long-term goals.
- Health Over Beauty: She urges women to reconsider harmful beauty practices in favor of long-term health.
- Community Impact: Her work is rooted in service—especially for those without access to dermatological care.
- Resilience: Even after stepping away, Dr. Mac returns with renewed energy and purpose.
🗣️ Notable Quotes:
“Outer beauty is a reflection of an inner you. True beauty begins within.”
“We are dying earlier—dying to be beautiful.”
“Is it straight hair today or grandchildren tomorrow?”
“I might have been suffering in silence, but I have tons of great support.”
“Keep those chemicals off of my baby’s hair. All the babies are my babies.”
“You can love your family and still come back and have a career and keep winning.”
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.6 | Hi, I'm Roshan McDonnell. |
| 0:06.5 | I host a weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. |
| 0:09.4 | The interviews and information that this show provides are for everyone. |
| 0:12.9 | It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and start living your own. |
| 0:17.4 | If you want to be a guest on my show, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations.com, |
| 0:23.5 | and click the be a guest button. Press submit and the information will come directly to me. |
| 0:28.7 | Now, let's get this show started. My guest, I've been known a long time. You know, an inspiring |
| 0:33.3 | person. Her name is Melanie, Dr. Melanie McLeanling affectionately known as Dr. Mac. |
| 0:39.2 | It's a celebrity dermatologist. Everybody knows I love my skin and everybody also knows I |
| 0:45.4 | never known how to really take care of it after so many dermatologists told me, Rashad like, stop |
| 0:50.1 | that. You don't know what you're doing. She's going to tell me again today. She found the |
| 0:53.4 | natural hair product development company, |
| 0:55.2 | Innovative Hair Technology in 1999. |
| 0:58.0 | The same year, Dr. Mack was the pioneer for branding Viscal science-based eye hair supplement |
| 1:04.0 | into the U.S. from Fendon. |
| 1:06.0 | She advanced that formula to Bella Nutri for women in 2004 and Bella Nutri for men in 2008. |
| 1:13.1 | She also develops products for other celebrities and beauty companies. |
| 1:16.7 | Her Ask Dr. Mac segments are celebrating 25 years of free tips without health insurance |
| 1:22.7 | and no dollars for dermatologist's office visits. |
| 1:26.9 | Please welcome to Money Making Conversations. I'm going to stick with our brain. Please welcome the Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Dr. Mack. How you doing, Dr. Mack? Hey, Ray, Rashon. I love you. Well, you know, first of all, you know, I've been trying to drag you up. You know, you'd be trying to motivate me. Where are you at? Where you at? I'm just telling you a little bit about this person that I know. She, you know, you know, this is a good conversation because of, you know, family, being a parent, how you can, like, put your career on hold. And so that's why I thought she was an important interview. We're going to talk about hair and and skin and all that but I also want to hear the women talk about how you get back in the game how you got you get back because sometimes you don't know how to it's like jumping rope you don't know how to jump rope you know because you be waiting it's my turn you don't want the rope to hit your side of the head or you jump in too quick and you trip and fall and bust your head. |
| 2:18.0 | And so, so you were like in 2009, which I would like to say was kind of like the peak for her because |
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