Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Renay Bossy Graham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Renay BOSSY , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry?

Well…… I’m going to try my best to say this gently. But I’m a full West Coast girl and Sagittarius December at that lol 🤣. I believe corporate America gets everything wrong when it comes to the cosmetology industry. Brand deals I believe that they give them to people with the most followers air quotes purchased.
I had a very popular brand that is in every box store approach me and tell me they love my work, but there’s always a butt I need it 2,000 followers on IG.. so my authentic talent wasn’t enough I had to have a fake sense of social media placing which is utterly ridiculous. Which is why we see so many women who appear in the world like me black women on TV and their hair is not the best or their makeup is not the best. The company comes back to me again and tells me we really want to work with you. We think you can just buy the followers. The world we live in is very superficial at this point everything is for show nothing is authentic anymore. my opinion of corporate America.they can care less about the talent of the hair stylist. they are more concerned with the fake followers. Fake inauthentic social standing which is ridiculous your talent should be enough.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a licensed cosmetologist. I’m a brown girl that actually does amazing vanilla hair .I’m a bit of a unicorn so ,my way to success was definitely not easy.
My business model was take the stairs .the elevator ain’t all its cracked up to be. Translation the quick way or the easy way is not the best way. The cosmetology industry has changed for ,the better and for the worst over the last 5 years.
Social media the plus is a help to get your business out there. A free promotion. But it is definitely a toxic disgusting place. The cosmetology community I personally feel has taken a large step back. I feel our community has been damaged greatly by the social media era.

Its very popular , it’s cute to be a cosmetologist. most people are not in it for the love of hair anymore.
I was brought in by og stylist on the west coast that taught me discipline in my craft. I believe the art of discipline and cosmetology has disappeared. The respect level has disappeared. It’s literally about the glitz and glamor the fake followers and the fake wealthy lifestyle.

I believe reality is starting to set in and we are going back to the basics of respect of our customers and ourselves. As professional cosmetologist thank God.

What sets my business apart
www.hikeyyagorgeousllc.com
We are multicultural salon we do pretty much everything. We are One stop shop. Now for some reason you have to have five to six different stylists which is ridiculous I feel bad for the customer. You have a braider you have a person that does your extensions you have another person that does your color you have another person that does your cuts–and absolutely no one shampoos and conditions your hair lol 🤣
Well at our Salon we do it all We do weddings we do hair parties. That’s a service that I created that has been extremely successful.
The hair parties are great for the moms that want to get together have a glass of wine margarita-some good gossip get your color get your cut done in the privacy of your own home.
I view my business from the consumer standpoint. I am a consumer. I know what I would want. so I try to provide that to my customers.
Our Salon provides services directly for women who are recovering from cancer are suffer from alopecia or diabetic. We have amazing track records with growing hair back making amazing custom wigs and hair pieces.
We are the unicorn in the business and we have great customer service. We have an in-house line of lashes hair and growth serum products.

My lashes are bestseller I had a client who went and got her lashes done and ended up with a really bad eye infection. I saw that as my start to making a strip lash that would have individual lash technology. Meaning the lashes look like you’ve spent 500 bucks on individual lashes and you’ve literally spent 25 on a pair of lashes that last you 25 wears with proper maintenance. We have a lash for every woman from corporate America to the girl that is living the life of a brat doll to the southern belle that wants something classy. Check out the website .
We created Big 5 yearly protective style package. Where you spend 1200 and you’re able to get five protective styles that last you basically the whole year because protective styles last anywhere from 2 to 3 months. I turned around and did the same thing with the color service where you get 10 services throughout the year for a certain amount, custom created to the customer’s needs you know balayage highlights. These are things that I came up with to help women make their life easier. professional women love that I offer this service. When it comes to the hair industry I believe that women should do what’s best for their business don’t look to the right or to the left of you because what work for somebody else might not necessarily work for your client or your business. Translation just because someone is charging $500 don’t mean that you charge $500 too. Your area may not be able to afford that amount. You have to price yourself appropriately for where You are . I believe for your skill set , talent level to.
I just believe every license cosmetologist, salon owner business owner have to believe in yourself .believe in your product believe in your brand and run through a wall for it.lol that’s the best advice I can give. And remember you can do it yourself.
I hope someone reads this and it helps them

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

To my salon owners cosmetologist-listen higher like-minded people only.
Build a team of people that understand your vision and want to incorporate what they do within your vision heavy on your vision.
Make sure professionalism is number one. Make sure that personalities mix.
There is a heavy decline and downfall in what they call normal salons meaning the old school way of a salon would like 7 to12 STYLIST an owner who owns the salon. Cosmetologist license styluses are walking away from those type of salons by the droves. To create their own vision and their own vibe.
Most cosmetologists open their own Salon suites or their own salons with a personalized concept to it.

A lot of salon owners are losing out on amazing talent because of the old school way of thinking people are not killing themselves for a job anymore.

People love what they do they don’t want to be stressed out .they’re protecting Their mental health which is a great thing.
I think the labeling inside of regular salons is ridiculous the junior stylist that type of thing no one wants to deal with that anymore they feel like it’s demeaning a lot of salon owners don’t realize this. they suffer greatly because of it. I know a friend of mine whose whole staff completely walked out. I helped her pivot during that moment. Helped her hire a completely new staff change the application process wording everything make sure she was clear on her goal and her mission. how she wanted to run her salon .the type of people she wanted to work for her. So just know personalities talent level and overall Salon
🥇 gold .,as to where you want to go in this industry is very important. The only thing I can say is plan it out before you just jump in. And have an idea of who you want to hire.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I was raised by og hair stylist on the West Coast. So you literally had to do everything it was called you don’t let any money get past you. Well now I had to unlearn that where I don’t have to do every service if I don’t want to. Like I know how to do locks I’ve been to the church but that is not my ministry lol seriously lol. I realize that I didn’t have to be at the salon every single day I didn’t have to do hair every single day it’s okay to say no it’s okay to take time off. It’s okay to stop doing hair for 6 months ,a year and do something else and come back to it if you are a true hair artist .hair will never leave you it will always be there no matter what the new trend is it’s nothing that you can’t learn. I think that’s a real problem with a lot of stylists ,OG stylist they don’t want to learn the new way of doing things and it hurts them it hinders them. I’m one that I love to learn I take classes all the time I’m always trying to get better. But I literally had to unlearn that I don’t have to do everything and I don’t have to be at the salon killing myself everyday all day.lol grateful for that life lesson .nowadays you can pick one thing that you specialize in and make a really good living off of it like me I braid I can stop doing everything else and just braid again if I wanted to. We have the choice now to pick what we want to do in the cosmetology industry which is great.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hikeyyagorgeousllc.com
• Instagram: @hikeysalon314
• Facebook: renayHIKEY
• Youtube: @INSIDEHIKEYLIFE323
• Yelp: Hikeyyagorgeousllc salon
• Other: For collaborations our business opportunities
  Email hikeyyagorgeous@gmail.com

Image Credits

All photos images & products owned by Hikey ya gorgeous LLC SALON ™
Makeup by makeupmakiyan