We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rayshauna Lampkins . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rayshauna below.
Rayshauna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
Hello, my name is Rayshauna Lampkins owner of Ray of Beauty Salons here in Jacksonville & Miami Florida.
Wow, just saying that bring joy & tears to my eyes!
However, I decided to risk everything just for a dream I envisioned.
One day I decided to wake up in my hometown Cleveland, Ohio & decided I needed more. At the time I wasn’t sure what “more” was but I knew I needed it! Lol… so I decided to move my children & I to Atlanta, GA which we stayed there for approximately 2 years. This move was the first risk I’ve ever taken. I literally moved with a dollar & a dream lol literally. I barely had any money, a single parent with 2 small children. I was terrified but I stayed, planned & wasn’t going back home regardless if I had to struggle. During this time I worked my 9-5 job and I still wanted more! So I had another opportunity to relocate within the same company but further down south. Scary but I did just that! I always imagine opening something within the beauty or fashion industry but Atlanta was out of my price range knowing that all I had to rely on was my checks & 401k. So I took the opportunity in Jacksonville. Now at this point I’m further away from my family & friends & didn’t know anyone in Florida. I was nervous & my kids didn’t agree with the transition of relocating. So now I’m 2 months into living in Florida & my father passed away. At this time I was very overwhelmed with emotions but I had to start thinking of myself & children & how I can create a legacy to leave behind… so with very limited funds, a journal with dreams i decided to risk every dollar for my vision. Whew! Lol so I decided to open a beauty salon! The silliest thing because I don’t do hair, nails etc but I love being pampered & I enjoy going to salons for self care time. Lol. I found my first location here in Jacksonville, signed my lease, did the work & then I realized the work still wasn’t done. That’s right I risk every dollar, lived check yo check, used my 401k for bills, Contractors, equipment & more but the next part was to find tenants(stylist) etc. So now I have this building that’s almost complete & ready for individuals to work in but I didn’t know where to start. Lol I started to create flyers, create content on social media & more… make a long story short this little girl from the Midwest now owns 2 beauty salons in 2 cities of Florida.
The risk was & still worth the reward! My kids are proud of me, my mom is proud of me & most importantly I know my dad is in heaven smiling!
I’ll do it again & again just to provide an atmosphere for others to showcase their talents & provide self care to others to see their smiles!
Rayshauna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hello,
I am Rayshauna Lampkins the owner of Ray of Beauty Salons in Jacksonville & Miami Florida.
Just to introduce myself & let you know more about me and my interest in beauty & humanitarianism!
I am from Cleveland, Ohio. I moved to Florida with a dollar, dream & two children. After reevaluating my life, dreams & more I’ve decided to take a risk for myself & children & I did just that!
Anyways, I as a black woman in business I have a love for pampering, giving back, business & life! (I am a true humanitarian)
Now that we’re finally getting things back to normal from this pandemic & the whole Black Lives Matter movement… I as a Black woman would love to use my platform and team up with other likeminded individuals!
I am always looking for new, professional & talented stylist, braiders, makeup artist, nail technicians & more to join my team!
We offer many services & we do it with a smile, love & perfection!
My future goals is to educate &/or coach individuals on business, day to day issues, rewards & risk. The things that’s required to obtain, open, stay open & more! It’s a lot more challenging than it looks but I want to be the individual that gives back to assist within our communities to see the women/men like myself bring his/her vision to life!
You can find me on different platforms:
IG- personal: Ray_of_Beauty_
IG Business: RayofbeautyFl
Facebook: Ray of Beauty- A Luxurious Escape
Google & Yelp
Best contact number- 904-329-9814
Ray of Beauty Jacksonville location is located at 9713 San Jose Blvd, Jacksonville Florida 32257
Ray of Beauty Miami Salon is located at 4106 Palm Ave, Hialeah Florida 33012
Website- www.Rayofbeautyaluxuriousescape.com
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media platforms are very rewarding if it’s used correctly! It’s up to you to build your brand! Your brand is a process of you & which you choose to share, develop & more! You can’t be shy, you can’t be afraid to overshare your work, pictures, brand & more!
As I mentioned before I am from Ohio so I literally had to do the legwork everyday & night! I made contact on IG, Facebook, Google, Yelp, Indeed, TIKTOK & more. Lol it’s challenging but trust me people start to notice you!
I share my content in Facebook beauty groups throughout the state of Florida, I use hashtags to obtain the audience of both the stylist & future clients, I network with stylist, nail technicians & more & introduce myself! I also do career fairs with cosmetology schools throughout both cities like Aveda & Paul Mitchell! I am literally everywhere. Lol
You have to show up with confidence. The goal is to create context to obtain the audience needed for your line of business not just to have followers. I need my followers to convert to revenue!
The most important piece is remaining consistent! I don’t care how many times you’ve posted your work, remember that there are 50 other people selling, sharing similar content & I want to be the one that every time you scroll down your news feed or story that you see & remember that Ray of Beauty is still here!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Ha! Entrepreneurship is challenging & at times you feel like you want to throw in the towel. The urge to want to be perfect, want more is already mind boggling!
I’ve had several issues throughout my journey of an entrepreneur, ceiling damages, plumbing issues, equipment breaking, the lost of stylist, bills increasing & even unsatisfied clients. However, I’ve always looked at the greater picture, for ex, I created a place for others to work, I created another black owned business right here in our inner city communities giving us minorities hope!
Just to know where I came from mentally & financially is a reason why I feel as I have demonstrated my strengths & ability to overcome any hurdles that was put in place to ruin me. I now know it’s not about the hurdle it’s about the ability to achieve no matter what!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Rayofbeautyaluxuriousescape.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ray_of_beauty_?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: Ray of Beauty- A Luxurious Escape