Juanita

Juanita is a hair technician in training whose appearances connect two kinds of work at Hazel-May McCall’s gathering: hands-on hair care and recording a public reading. The novel gives little personal history beyond her vocational ambition, but her exchanges show a practical skill set and an easy place among the gathering’s attendees.

Identity and Work

Juanita says she is working toward a hair technician degree and is not interested in books or writing. Hair care is not merely an aspiration: at the gathering, she is already tending to people’s hair. She works on a girl’s scalp while the room’s attendees introduce themselves, continuing the task even as conversation turns to the lack of introductions.

The product being used is an unlabeled, homemade grease. When Malaika asks about it, Juanita confirms that it is homemade, then offers to do Malaika’s hair after finishing with Ebonee. Malaika declines the grease and considers braids instead. Ebonee praises Juanita’s protective styling, a brief endorsement that establishes her reputation for a specific kind of practical expertise without suggesting that every attendee wants the same treatment.

At Hazel’s Gathering

Juanita is present among the women at Hazel’s event in Bed-Stuy. She is seated behind a girl whose hair she is greasing, and she continues working as Nella arrives and awkwardly greets the group. When the attendees point out that Hazel has not introduced them by name, Juanita joins in the exchange. Her role in the room is both social and service-oriented: she participates in its conversation while remaining occupied with someone’s hair.

The scene also places her in a circle where hair care is shared knowledge. Juanita offers to style Malaika’s hair, while Ebonee’s praise and Malaika’s questions make the activity part of the group’s conversation rather than a private appointment. The homemade, unlabeled grease draws particular attention, but the scene does not establish that Juanita made it or explain what she knows about its effects.

The Reading and Its Recording

Juanita also records the reading at Hazel’s event. When Richard Wagner asks whether anyone filmed the young women reading and suggests that the footage could be used on Wagner Books’ website or social media, Nella tells him that Juanita recorded everything and offers to introduce them. Juanita is thus the person behind a record of the event, although the exchange does not show her making the decision about how the footage might be used.

These brief appearances give Juanita two distinct functions in the gathering: she provides hair care in the room and captures its reading on video. The evidence does not develop her relationships or a larger plot arc, but it situates her as a working participant whose skills contribute to both the event’s immediate social life and its possible public representation.