That was only the beginning. In 2007 she landed a coveted partnership with Redken, which has been going strong for 13 years now. In 2009, she experienced one of her favourite career moments to date when she did Drew Barrymore's hair for the cover of W Magazine. "We bleached her hair for 10 hours from brown to blonde, and it was just so incredible," she said. But every job she works on threatens to be even more memorable than the last.
Just last month, Cunningham flew to the Dominican Republic to do Jennifer Lopez's hair. She had finished a job the day before at 5 AM, had another client a few hours later at 9 AM, and then flew to J Lo that night. "After not being able to go nowhere for a year and a half, it was so cool."
All of that said, it might come as a surprise to learn that Cunningham second-guesses herself even now. "I doubt myself still. . . a lot," she said. "I always think what I do isn't good enough." In those moments, she tries to remember all that she's accomplished and all of the hard work that she's put into her career.
"You don't just get to be me overnight. You have to put in the work, and you can't give up before you're 30," said Cunningham. "I think it's so cool that you can rise so quickly with Instagram, and there's so much of an audience for hair, but you really have to pace yourself."
Image Source: Courtesy of Tracey Cunningham / Getty / Illustrations by Keila Gonzalez