We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Victoria Lynn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Victoria below.

Victoria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

A decade before I started my business, I was carefully curating my business. When I was a newly licensed professional, I was not in a position to bring guest to the salon that I worked at, yet that didn’t stop me from accepting people into my living room. I carved out some space, made fresh lemonade daily and provided snacks, or most of the time the guest and I would split an UberEats order.
From working as an assistant, I took special notes about what I observe to work, and not work. It would be anything from services, to team meetings and leadership models. I kept it all in a book that for over the decade, I would add to.
As often as I could, I would also ask to meet with someone that I admired, and I’d interview them with personal, business and professional questions to put together my understanding around running a business one day.
The next phase was truly divine timing; I moved across the state, starting work in a new city with no clientele. In what felt like a short turn around, I was stripped apart, put back together, donning a new title; a business owner.

Victoria, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

There’s a saying that those who seek will find. I started down a medical path and I was pretty far in, when I pivoted out and into the beauty industry! As I was caring for individuals, I realized that I could help people in a completely different way than originally thought of. If I had waited around I know that I wouldn’t have ever seen this as a career for me.
I am very proud of the stylist that I have become, and I am extremely fourtunate to have found, something that I am good at.
I take up a new focus in the artistry of beauty just about every year. The possibilities are vast and I wanted to be good at the skills from start to finish near and wide.
Now a days I can harmonize my craft and set out to make people feel amazing. I am strongest at hair color. I am Color certified and I showcase that skill as a brand facilitator for Redken (the #1 haircolor brand in America) A good haircut is like the frame to a portrait, it can compliment or distract from the overall picture, and it is just as important as the color and style. If there is a case where a guest could benefit from hair wear, like extensions, I feel confident in fitting them for a method that matches their lifestyle and hair color goals, with minimal risk. However, what carried my career for most of it thus far, was being known as a curly specialist in my old town. I was passionate about customizing beauty plans for the guest because products can really amplify how fabulous the mane can be, well after a guest leaves the chair.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I know that in more ways that one, I was shaped by the leadership that I experienced in the workforce. I’ve had some bad bosses and some good bosses and in the end I could thank them both. It has allowed me to cherry pick what I admired and what I would, never do to another. I had one boss that would stand behind me and whisper corrective ways to say things over the phone like “Can I have vs May I have.” 1o% growth adds up over time. I had another boss absolutely scold me for speaking up about going on a business trip out of the country; I went anyways, brought my family and that became a core memory.
I don’t even know her anymore, so imagine if I let her dictate my life, I wouldn’t have this story to tell.
The biggest growth that I have seen professionally was when two female leaders entrusted me to do the right thing. They held the space wide open and I ran circles around my own performance, year after year. Even through changing my schedule to meet my kids needs, or taking off for classes every month; the business followed and I grew immensely.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I was working within a corporate salon for a little under a decade and I transferred locations following a move across the state. The location was ideal, the clientele was pouring in but the leadership was falling short from my experience prior. I had met a peer from the salon, over social media followed by word of mouth from my best friend. After chatting a bit, having a friend heavily influenced transferring to that location.
My now suite mate, and I worked together at the salon and we had a lot in common. Months after starting I admitted to myself this location was not a fit and I left, believing that our road had ended there.
However, a few weeks after that my suite mate reached out, to inquire about going into business together, and the rest is history.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://themaneartist.wixsite.com/website
• Instagram: @TheManeArtist
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themaneartist
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaneartist/
• Other: https://victorialynn.glossgenius.com/

Image Credits

Photography by Icess @ShotsbyIce
Model Rosie @Rositarosado