Businesswoman Antonia Okonma Shittu, the founder and CEO of A-List Lace Hair, says her company isn't just about selling wigs: 'We're helping women reconnect with themselves,' she tells Metro. Her own experiences with hair loss have shaped the company's mission. Before launching her business, bleaching initially caused her hair to fall out. Later, while undergoing chemotherapy to help treat her MS, it fell out again.
'I know what it feels like to lose your hair because of something that's out of your control,' Antonia explains. 'It changed the way I related to our customers.'
From humble beginnings to a celebrity-loved brand
Today, the 44-year-old uses a wheelchair after being diagnosed with MS when she was just 26. Talking about how she went from growing up on a London council estate to building an international brand worth more than £20 million, the mum-of-three says: 'When you come from humble beginnings, and you haven't grown up with a lot of resources, it makes you far more resourceful. For me, it gave me a drive because I knew I wanted a different life. I didn't want that to be the end of my story.'
'I was forced to be academic because I come from a Nigerian background, which means you have to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant or engineer. Those are your four options. But a corporate job wasn't really for me.'
Instead, Antonia found herself drawn to creativity. At 20, while studying at university, she landed a role on an ITV prime-time show, Bad Girls, from 2004 to 2006. 'My dad was livid,' she recalls, explaining that he wanted her to finish her degree. But when the programme aired, her father's reaction changed. 'He used to tell everyone, “My daughter is on television, my daughter is a star!” He was really, really proud.'
Spotting a gap in the market
Working in acting made Antonia spot a gap in the market for natural-looking wigs. 'Most people don't realise almost every piece you see in a movie is a wig for continuity,' she says. However, Antonia could spot it a mile off and believed she could do a better job.
So, while working in a call centre between acting jobs in 2008, she came up with the idea for A-List Lace Hair. With no investors, funding or large network, she started small, buying just three pieces: one straight, one curly and one wavy. 'I convinced three friends at the time to buy one, and I used the money from that to buy my next pieces,' Antonia remembers. Those three wigs became six, then 12. Creating a Facebook group, she advertised on Gumtree and began selling hair products door-to-door.
While her business slowly got off the ground, that same year, Antonia's life changed dramatically when she began experiencing strange symptoms. One day, her shoe fell off while she was walking down the street and she did not realise. Another time, she dropped a pot of stew her mother had cooked because she had lost grip in her hands. Doctors eventually diagnosed Antonia with multiple sclerosis (MS) in November 2008, warning her she may be in a wheelchair within a year.
'It was very scary,' recalls Antonia. 'I was just in denial. I remember when the doctors told me, I thought, “you can't be talking about me.”' With the support of her now-husband, Richard, she was determined that her future would remain hopeful and kept working towards her goals for her business.
Overcoming health and financial hurdles
Antonia had her eye on setting up shop in Kensington, due to the affluent clientele in the area. 'But I just didn't have the money for the lease,' she remembers. 'We didn't have money for staff. It was just me — answering the phone, making the appointment, turning up at people's doorsteps, selling from the boot of my car.'
However, Antonia's graft slowly began to pay off, and within the first year the business turned over around £222,000. In December 2009, Antonia opened her first salon in West Kensington. 'I had no previous track record of leasing a commercial property, so understandably the landlord saw me as a risk. So I had to provide the first quarter's rent plus a deposit equivalent to a further six months,' she explains. 'That was a huge amount of money for me at the time and probably one of the first major financial hurdles I faced.'
Success was not immediate or guaranteed. Antonia was robbed during the early days when a customer took a product without paying, leaving her around £300 out of pocket, while another scammed her with a series of refunds, costing the business another £2,000. It was a worrying time, even more so when Antonia was diagnosed with heart failure after attending a prenatal appointment, following the birth of her eldest child in 2011. Doctors told her she was 'a walking heart attack' and admitted Antonia to hospital for six weeks.
'It was a huge shock because I hadn't gone into hospital expecting anything to be wrong,' she remembers. 'It was frightening; it put life into perspective. When you're ambitious and building a business, it's very easy to feel as though everything is urgent and that you have to keep pushing no matter what. That experience taught me that my health had to come first. Until then, I'd been very hands-on with everything. So being forced to step away taught me quite early on that I had to trust the people around me.'
The turning point with Serena Williams
Antonia went on to have two more children in quick succession, which meant she was juggling work with three children under the age of three. Her big turning point came in 2016 when Serena Williams discovered A-List Lace Hair and DMed them on Instagram, saying she was in London for Wimbledon and wanted to see the pieces. Antonia was blown away, but filled with self-doubt. 'I remember calling my mum saying, “I'm not sure I can do this. I'm not Tokyo Styles. Why would she want me?”'
Describing the meeting as 'insane', Antonia styled Serena's hair, and the tennis player loved it so much that she asked her to do it again for the Champions Ball after winning a Grand Slam. 'It was such an experience, she's been buying from me ever since,' says Antonia. As demand for the wigs grew, by 2017 the business had expanded into online sales and was making more than £3 million in revenue.
'The goal for me has always been financial independence. Being in business allowed me to create something for myself, and something bigger than me,' Antonia explains.
Today, her customers include celebrities such as Naomi Campbell, Solange Knowles and Nicki Minaj, as well as women dealing with hair loss caused by a variety of reasons. One customer who had lost almost all her hair due to alopecia told Antonia that her wigs make her feel like she recognises herself again. While another, who had suffered hair loss from chemotherapy, 'burst into tears' of happiness with her new wig.
'Knowing that something I started from nothing has restored confidence to thousands of women around the world is something I'll never take for granted,' adds Antonia.
Black British Business Awards 2026
Antonia is a finalist at this year's Black British Business Awards. 'To hear I'd been chosen and remembering my journey was incredibly emotional,' she says. 'I hope it encourages other people, especially those who may feel overlooked or limited by their circumstances, to believe that where you start doesn't have to determine where you finish.'
Founded in 2014 to spotlight exceptional Black talent in the UK, the awards highlight achievements across sectors including STEM, Fashion, Beauty & Consumer, Arts & Media, Entrepreneurs, Financial Services, Professional Services and a new category this year: Retail & Hospitality. The winners will be announced on October 9, 2026.
