Nelms describes her work with Monáe as a dance. "Some days, she will have something specific that she may want to lean into, and then I may help her tweak it and find a way to execute," Nelms tells POPSUGAR. However, sometimes Nelms will come to Monáe with an idea. "We truly work and build together."
After meeting the star during the press tours for the movies "Moonlight" and "Hidden Figures," Nelms felt Monáe was ready to go in a different direction from their then-signature look but was initially unsure how to broach the topic. "It always gets tricky when you're being a part of a process change," she says. "So I was really nervous."
But those nerves are what Nelms attributes her creativity to in the hairstyling space. They're the reason she often doesn't plan the hairstyles she creates for Monáe. "The minute I'm not nervous, I'm scared, because it means I'm bringing more of myself to my styling sessions rather than being open," she says. She describes her hairstyling method as not too formulaic but instead, almost divine. When she creates, she likes to rely on "the hands, the mind, my God, and that's it."
While she doesn't plan looks, Nelms is inspired by objects, shapes, and even places — they are often what help her ideate when it's time to execute. She can look at something like a tree and immediately see how it would translate into a hairstyle. "While slightly unconventional, this process allows me to really enjoy what I'm doing as a stylist instead of falling into monotony," Nelms says. "When people message me ahead of a big event and say they can't wait to see what I come up with, a lot of times I'm thinking, 'Me too.'"
Each styling session is different for Nelms. "People have said it's like they can see an idea coming out of my head through my hands."