North Carolina Woman Flips Glamorous Mug Shot Into an Advertisement for Her Hair Business

Those of us who resolved to flip negative situations into positive ones in the new year might want to look at Charlotte, N.C.’s Shia Yearwood as an example.

As the Charlotte Observer reports, Yearwood’s year got off to a rough start after being arrested for violating a domestic protective order on Jan. 3 related to a child-custody case. The Twitter account, Charlotte Mugshots, then posted Yearwood’s booking photo—to which one Twitter user responded, “OK, but who did her hair?”

In fact, most responses to the photo were about how great Yearwood’s box braids looked. It turns out the 24-year-old Yearwood did them herself, and she was quick to let people know.

A day later, Yearwood retweeted the mug shot with the hashtag #BraidsByShia and the caption “can’t hold me back either.”

As of Monday morning, the tweet had been shared more than 4,000 times and liked nearly 9,000 times. Yearwood corresponded with new potential clients in the mentions, giving price quotes ($120 for box braids like hers, without hair), discussing appointment times, styling advice and even some details about her case.

“Nothing but respect for this marketing tactic, sis,” one Twitter user responded.

On Sunday, Yearwood responded to the outpouring of interest on her Twitter account.

“Y’all can’t stop my shine baby,” Yearwood wrote about her dramatic turnaround. “Ima always come back 10x harder.”

Read more at the Charlotte Observer.