We were lucky to catch up with Elena Prohnitchi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Elena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
I come from a small country in Easter Europe called Moldova. My parents worked in agriculture and I thank them a lot and I am grateful I grew up in my family. My parents had VALUES that I acquired naturally and followed throughout my career and life path as well.
We value community and having my small following on Instagram makes me grateful every day that I have a platform where I can share, I can learn and get clients there as well. This also shows a lot when people recommend me and I make sure to say thank you and be super grateful.
Kindness and an open mind where always in our household, not judging, understanding that people are different. As a business owner who meets a lot of people and lets be honest I am also DIFFERENT in so many ways (an accent, cant relate to American movies sometimes or tv shows), it taught me to love everyone. I truly truly believe I can learn something from anyone, and when a client sits in my chair I always look for that one thing they will teach me. There is always at least one. Clients have changed me, challenged me and made me a Better artist and human.
My mom taught me to be correct so this was always in the back of my head when I offer services. When I cant do something I am honest, I know my limits and I accept them, because with that comes the strength and people appreciate it, especially when it comes to them looking good that day.
I also have to thank my sister. When I was 13 she moved to France and that changed me and shifted my mind so much, to expect MORE. She was the first person that proved that YOU CAN DO IT! No matter the background, no matter the small village or the one teacher that didn’t like you in middle school.
All of this has brought me to see people and admire them for doing their best every day, for being so positive, for sharing, for CHOOSING me to be their stylist. I appreciate all my clients and I will sound Cliche, but I would be nothing without my clients.
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.
Hi, I am Elena.
I am a San Diego Bridal Hairstylist. I specialize in low Updos and Half up half down hairstyles, and if you ask me for a braid I can nail that too. I also have a 6 week intense hairstyling course, where you can learn 8 hairstyles.
I moved to the USA in 2017 and fell inlove with the culture. I was lucky to meet only people that supported me and directed me to do my best, to do more, to believe I can be and do anything I want.
I started to do hair on the weekend while working at the Airport and slowly I realized I truly am good at this and I love it as well. I felt especially lucky and went Full time in the bridal industry in 2020, I had a rough year clients wise but I used it to make myself Better, I had a baby, took a lot of classes on different subjects, tried to build my social media and in 2021 I was very proud, busy and happy.
I offer 3 packages for my brides depending on the bridal party size and type of services they are looking for. Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest for me and I usually book all Saturdays in a year by May. My most requested package is Bride + 8 services and I usually bring an assistant with me and we are able to get everyone ready within 4,5h.
I also love meeting new professionals on my One on One or group classes.I l am really passionate about teaching and enjoy being how my students grow and ask me to help them with their own booked wedding.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
It would probably be every story of a Bridal Morning (HAHA). But if we are serious, you need to be a resilient person if you want to like and be successful in this industry. The night before the wedding I have to pack everything + extra stuff to make sure I wont forget anything (products, tools, extension cord, mirrors, lights, emergency pills.). The morning of I wake up extra early to get ready, leave early for my wedding to make sure I am not late and causing any delays in the bridal timeline.
I usually get to my location 30 min early to have extra time, on the way there I listen to great music or a podcast.
The times where my resilience really showed was when I was doing a hairstyle and it was not coming out how I wanted it. I had to redo one bun for 4 times because there was this one bobby pin that I kept putting and it was pulling my brides hair, I had the patience and made sure she looks her best and feels confident when she walks down the aisle.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn that I am not worth it!
Doing bridal hair takes a lot of discipline, tools, abilities and I had to accept one day that charging $75 is not enough, that I am worth more, that people will book me either way.
This happened 3 years into my career when I said I either raise my prices either quit. Surprise people also saw my value and they kept booking me. It was beautiful and scary to get those first inquiries when I put my new price and to get emails back that said, “Perfect, I am ready to book” or ” Where do I send the deposit”.
This healed a huge part of me that wasn’t only about money but also about the work that I do, since the Hairstyling industry is not seen often as a prestigious job to have.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://elenaprostyles.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/elenaprostyles
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elenaprostyles
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/elenaprostyles
- Other: https://g.page/r/CYEun7ooZuo2EAI/review
Image Credits
https://www.instagram.com/amyhuang.photos/ Tsun Ying Yiu
https://www.instagram.com/mariadavisphoto/ Maria Davis
https://www.instagram.com/dahl.memoirs/. Bryan Dahl