How Rihanna's Hair Pro Yusef Mugler Balances Styling and Being a Ballroom Father: Inside His Incredible Career

When Yusef Mugler met Rihanna, he was already a star on the rise—just not in the hair world.

Mugler had already been working on the dance scene for three years when he launched his creative partnership with Rihanna at Paris Fashion Week in 2008. The competitions, launched by black and brown LGBTQ+ artists, include multiple categories such as vogueing, face and runway. Individuals compete under houses that are named after legendary fashion brands and consist of a select family.

As Mugler continued to work with Rihanna – cementing their innovative hair vision during the star’s 2011 “We Found Love” music video – he also climbed the ranks of the iconic house of Miyake-Mugler, rising to the role of Global Father of the international house in 2009. His responsibilities as the emotional anchor of the team, they include much of what a biological father would do: give advice, support, and encourage positive relationships among house members.

In June 2024, Mugler brought the world into the professional and personal life of his chosen family in a reality show House on fire. The series follows key members of the iconic house of Miyake-Mugler as they try to maintain their status in the ballroom while drama unfolds behind the scenes.

Somehow, Mugler makes it all work, balancing between executive production House on fireraising her Ballroom children and maintaining her hairstyling career. Here, he tells PEOPLE how he got started, what he loves about working with Rihanna and why Ballroom is for everyone.

Yusef Mugler, star of the new series House on Fire.

2024 ITV America Inc

PEOPLE: How did you get started at Ballroom?

Yusef Mugler: I proved to be a born leader. I grew up in a big family with 24 brothers and sisters. So it was pretty easy to show up and be able to expand with all of your skills and team building and talent. I was a singer and performer, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to walk on balls; I just wanted to help everyone. That was my thing in the beginning and so I quickly immersed myself in the culture.

PEOPLE: What was it like in your first days doing Rihanna’s hair?

YM: We had mutual friends and they were always picking on me, and when we finally got in the room, she said, ‘Oh my God, it’s you,’ and I said, ‘You’re Rihanna!’ And I went with her to Paris fashion week where she was supposed to make a splash and luckily we did. And from there it was a love affair. I was supposed to be there for two days. I stayed a week and we killed Paris.

It was an instant relationship where I had knowledge because I worked in Paris and worked on all the fashion shows she went to, so I had a relationship with the designers and what the look should look like and things like that. This was very important to her because she wanted to be in the company of people from whom she could learn and vice versa. And it just happened naturally and we’ve been together ever since.

Shortly after that, she was doing her music video for “We Found Love” and said, ‘Hey, can you do a video with me?’ We went to Belfast, and it was a lot of work because I had to transform her from that badass short-haired girl to this wild, slightly sleepy look. It was an era in which we had to go from one extreme to the other.

PEOPLE: How do you create Rihanna’s iconic look?

YM: We have those high-five moments where she’s like, ‘okay, this one’s a lot better. Wait, I like this one better.’ I think we have those aha moments all the time. Something as simple as shaving one side of her head was like, I can’t believe we did that. It changed the beauty and it made the girls feel more badass, that they could do such things. We simply surrender to the flow every time we sit down to create.

Yusef Mugler, star of the new series House on Fire.

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PEOPLE: What’s your funniest memory working with Rihanna?

YM: I talk a lot about the Brazilian Vogue cover, but also going back to work on “We Found Love” in Belfast. It was more than a week and a half of running around the place, fixing hair and changing hair in the middle of the farm. We still laugh at those moments when we just created something so magical with nothing in our hands. I was watching this stuff behind the scenes the other day and I was like ‘holy crap; this is what we did 15 years ago.’ Doing things impulsively and creating those magical moments was so great.

PEOPLE: What does your daily life look like, harmonizing the demands of an international house and your hairdressing career?

YM: When I turn on the phone, I’m like, ‘Okay, who’s going to hit me first?’ And usually work, my career always comes first. My family, they will be there. So I learned very early on how to juggle and balance the two. When I’m at work and on set, maybe a kid will call me and say, ‘Hey, I’m over it. I don’t like this.’ Or, ‘Oh, I want to walk this ball, what do you think?’

And I just try to be as available as possible, and when I can’t, I’m very open and have no problem telling them to leave me alone. Saying: ‘I’m putting out fashion fires and working on a 10-page fashion story for Vogue. I can’t talk now.’ I’m very honest with that. So you have to set boundaries and then you also have to find time to be available for the family aspect of it. And that could be my chosen family at Mugler my own blood family.

PEOPLE: What does chosen family mean to you?

YM: I think the amount of time I put in, both are really the same for me. I think building a relationship with my chosen family was a natural chemistry situation unlike blood family: we fight, we love each other, and we try to push each other to be our best. The only difference for me is the blood. And I think it’s hard to wear the crown when it comes to the figure of the All-Father. And I was put in that position, I mean, spiritually because I am who I am. I’m just ordained with this ability to basically have this nurturing part in me. And I think I learned that from my biological family to actually be there and to be selfless and to have so many brothers and sisters, it was never just about me. No matter how hard I try to be, I always have to think about the bigger picture.

I really have to step in and be a parent and really show them that it’s more than just showing up and saying, ‘Oh, I’m fantastic and the world needs to see me.’ I say, ‘Get up, put it back down. Get to the bottom and then I can send you to the wolves and you’ll be fully equipped to deal with anything that comes your way.’ So yeah, that’s really something I wanted people to see House on fire. It’s just not all about beauty and fairy tales. Not. You gotta earn that shit and then you can get on the Ballroom floor and show your colors and be a peacock.

Yusef Mugler, star of the new series House on Fire.

2024 ITV America Inc

PEOPLE: What worried you the most about representing the chosen family House on fireand what was the best part?

YM: I think the most important part for me was just protecting my house. There were so many times when people approached different houses and me saying, ‘Hey, we want to do a documentary about the Ballroom.’ And I always asked, ‘Who’s in charge? Who controls? What’s the story?’ I wanted to make sure that it was always authentic and that the stories were conveyed to the world in the most appropriate way.

Me and my best friend, who is also an executive producer with me, sat down one day and we said, ‘Hey, if we’re going to do this, this is how it has to be done.’ And I felt comfortable as an executive producer. That really gave me control to be ahead of the narrative and make sure it was going to be authentically ballroom and authentically homegrown. We want to make sure that it keeps its strength, that it keeps its soul and that it keeps all the foundations and that people are fully aware and know where it’s coming from.

PEOPLE: What has been the best reaction to the series so far?

YM: Every time I wake up, it’s like a new joy I find in this show because, like I said, I was really scared. Every day I get more and more messages from people saying, ‘Thank you so much. I got the missing piece of the puzzle of what the Ballroom is and what the Chosen Family is. I can see it right in front of me.’

To be able to be a part of something that is so pioneering and to be a pioneer in bringing this to someone in the middle of nowhere who never thought these stories would come for them is so amazing. I get a lot of satisfaction out of just letting people see something they’ve only heard about or assumed what it is.

PEOPLE: For people who aren’t LBGTQ+ or don’t live in a big city, how can I connect with Ballroom?

YM: Every time you listen to the radio and you hear a Madonna song and a Beyoncé song, you’re part of Ballroom. It’s the mothership. I also think people will see themselves in every character in the show. That’s actually what’s important. It doesn’t matter if we’re queer, we’re straight, anything like that. You honestly forgot you were looking at the queer and trans experience. It’s just a moment, it’s a big part of pop culture and it’s always been there.

Yusef Mugler, star of the new series House on Fire.

2024 ITV America Inc

PEOPLE: How did it feel to produce the Ballroom portion of Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show?

YM: It was something I didn’t expect. They brought a bunch of little video vignettes to Rihanna and something about Ballroom popped up and she said, ‘I want nothing to do with this. Let me give it to Yusef.’ And it was the best experience I could ever have, especially since it’s the Super Bowl, which is the biggest stage in America.

It was so rewarding to be able to bring people from my community and really help establish the authenticity of what will be seen as ballroom on such a big stage. It was a wonderful experience and I was able to really go in and pull every single person out of the Ballroom and give them a job and show them, ‘Hey, we can also perform on the Super Bowl stage and on the main stages of the world. .’

Rihanna 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show. Godofredo A Vasquez/AP/Shutterstock

PEOPLE: What influenced the decision to showcase Rihanna’s natural hair for her Fenty Hair 2024 presentation?

YM: Because we did everything. We did everything. So the next step is just to shave your head, just go full commando. And I think we looked at each other and said, ‘wait a minute.’ It was one of those moments. She’s a mom now. She just embraces her femininity in the best way, which I have no idea about. But when a woman feels that energy, I can just see it and I’ll say, ‘okay’.

It was nice to see so many women, and famous women immediately say, ‘Hey, I’m wearing my natural hair,’ not taking credit. But we also know what a huge influence Rihanna has on the world when it comes to fashion and beauty and to see that was amazing. It was time to just let it all out. And since Rihanna shows up and owns it, it’s a lot easier to tell the average woman. “You can do it.”

Yusef Mugler, star of the new series House on Fire.

2024 ITV America Inc

PEOPLE: How would you describe Ballroom to people who haven’t experienced it?

YM: It’s a feeling, it’s a vibe. It’s spiritual for me. And many of my friends who have never been to a ball, as soon as they enter that room and feel the music and the energy, the friendship, the competition of all that is so magical and contagious.

I’ve never had someone come in and say, ‘well, there’s too much. I’m getting out of here.’ For many of my children who are on House on fireBallroom created this space for them to go and just be free and be whatever they want to be in those moments. And I think it doesn’t matter where you are, it should empower you to feel that way.

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Source: HIS Education