It wasn’t just another hair coloring appointment for Katie Ellwood.
After all, Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Kwon Alexander was sitting in her chair at the New Identities Hair Studio of Tampa in Tampa Palms and a handful of television cameras were pointed right at her.
Everything she said, every move she made, every hair she dyed red was going to be shown to the entire country on HBO’s popular “Hard Knocks” reality show. “Was I nervous?,’’ Katie said. “Yeah, a little.”
Thanks to a recommendation from one of her customers, Bucs defensive tackle and Tampa Palms resident Gerald McCoy, Ellwood was working her magic on Alexander, who was looking to sharpen the red in his current ‘do. Katie had done a similar job on McCoy two years ago, and the All-Pro lineman noticed that Alexander’s color was fading and told his teammate he needed to go see his stylist.
“Hard Knocks,” which airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on HBO and offers a behind-the-scenes look at one NFL team each preseason – this year it’s the Bucs – followed along.
“That was my first experience with a camera crew focused on what I was doing,’’ said Katie, although she has been involved in other photo shoots over the years. “The production crew was very nice and very informative.”
Marc Rockquemore, who owns New Identities Hair Studios of Tampa with his wife Kelly, said they had less than 24 hours to get ready for Alexander and the HBO crew.
Being on reality television shows, however, is old hat for Rockquemore and the crew at New Identities, which has been featured on shows like FOX-TV’s “Ambush Makeover,” The Learning Channel’s “A Wedding Story” and MTV’s “True Life.”
New Identities also has had a long relationship with the Bucs. From 2003 until last year, Rockquemore sent a crew of stylists to every Bucs game to do the cheerleaders’ hair. Currently, New Identities is working with the Tampa Bay Lightning cheerleaders.
“We’ve had a lot of blessings come into our lives,’’ says Rockquemore, whose studio has more than 10,000 followers on Instagram.
Katie’s experience in front of the cameras took more than an hour, but once edited by HBO producers, was distilled into her 30 seconds of fame in the show’s third episode (check it out on the HBO GO app).
Instead of any viewing parties, Katie said she just went over to her girlfriend’s house to watch it when it aired.
“It was a little strange to see,’’ said Katie, a big Bucs fan and “Hard Knocks” viewer even before her appearance. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t sound like a goober or anything. Once my 30 seconds were over, I was able to relax and just watch the rest of the show.”
She did receive a slew of text messages that night. Patrons at the new Fat Rabbit Pub in Tampa Palms, which Katie owns with her husband John, congratulated her the next day. Two days later, an old friend and former Bucs cheerleader texted her from New York to tell her she had seen her on the show.
“Overall, it was a really cool experience,’’ Katie said.
For more information about the New Identities Hair Studios in Tampa Palms (15307 Amberly Dr.) and South Shore (10639 Big Bend Rd., Riverview), visit NewIdentitiesSalon.com, or call (813) 979-0760 (New Tampa) or (813) 741-1177 (Riverview).
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