We were lucky to catch up with Kiera McClellan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kiera, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My parents did a great job with instilling certain qualities in me from an early age, qualities that have helped mold me into the person I am today. As cliche as it may sound my mom always made sure I was a leader and an independent thinker. She would say “Be a leader and never a follower. and ask me questions when I wanted to do some of the things my peers were doing like “If everyone is going to jump off a bridge are you going to do it to? My mother never accepted anything less than “close to perfect”and while now I am trying to unlearn some of my perfectionism ways, I definitely appreciate her for drilling the importance of being your own person in me.
Now my father was the softer parent. He made sure I knew how to openly and honestly express myself, my feelings, and my thoughts. My father was the parent who taught me my people skills, how to be personable and charismatic.
My parents did a lot right but those are the main things that stick out now. I wholeheartedly appreciate them for helping make me who I am because I really do love myself.
Kiera, 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?
My name is Kiera Elice McClellan, LMSW and I am a licensed mental health therapist, hairapist, model, and SHE-eo. I am currently working as an Associate Therapist for Cerebral, a telehealth platform that provides affordable medication and therapy services. I am licensed in the state of GA and am currently accepting new clients. I am working towards my clinical license in order to open a private practice one day. I have the name picked out and everything already. I provide weekly therapy services for clients dealing with a variety of issues from anxiety and depression to interpersonal relationships and self-worth concerns. I am a firm believer in having hard conversations because they definitely heal.
I am currently a cosmetology student working to obtain my license in cosmetology in order to eventually open a hair salon(s) I have been doing hair since elementary school and it has always been a goal of mine to open and own a salon. I want to create job opportunities all while providing services in an industry that makes people look and feel like their best selves.
I am the part owner of Les Kameleon Krew LLC, formerly known as Beauty Kameleon LLC, which is an athletic-leisurewear company created for those who like to #Blendin or #Standout as its your prerogative.
I have dreams to create a space where people can come get hair services, mental health service, and even shop for apparel and merchandise, all in one place. Hence why I call myself a Hairapist, as I believe the hair service experience with me, often feels therapeutic.
The main things I want potential clients, followers, and fans to know about me, my work, and my brand is that I am a strong believer in folks showing up as their authentic selves, but the happy, healthy, and healing version of themselves, and I want to support that in anyway i can. By being a #JaneofAllTrades it is my duty to share the many gifts I was blessed to have, with others.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My lovely business partner is Leslie Sheri, aka my righthand. I actually met her in high school. We were on the cheerleading squad together and even were captains together at one point. Now we didn’t go to the same college but oddly enough thats when we got super close. Our colleges were about 1.5 hours from each other and we were at each others school any time we felt like it pretty much. After we both graduated I convinced her to move to Atlanta with me and she did. Fast forward a couple years down the line, I started the business Beauty Kameleon LLC, with no real plan in mind. I just knew I wanted to sell merchandise and clothes that spread a positive message, “#Blendin or #Standout as you wish, because it’s your prerogative. ”
After a couple years of watching me both succeed and fail, my righthand hit me up saying she wanted to help in any way she could because she believed in me, my vision, and the message I was trying to spread. We discussed and agreed to her being part owner and changing the name so that the business felt like her baby just as much as it was mine and VIOLA! “Les Kameleon Krew” was born. “Les” is short for Leslie but also means “The” in french. so the business translates to “The Kameleon Krew” Now we have taken a break to regroup. My business partner had a beautiful bundle of joy and is a paid actress, and as mentioned before, I work as a therapist and am in school, but we recently agreed to a reREre-launch very soon. Our overall vision for the business is larger than life so we just want to make sure we’re dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s before the popBACKout. Some times you need to take a step back, brainstorm new ideas, and come back better than ever and thats exactly what we’re doing so stay tuned.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I can’t say I have one specific story but I am a person who never gives up on a dream or goal of mine once set. You may have just read about one of my resilient moments above where I discussed how I met my current business partner who saw that I needed help and offered it. But with or without help i wouldn’t give up. I may move a little slower than I’d like, when it comes to getting things done in a timely fashion, but I always get things done no matter how long they take me.
Another example of resiliency I am showing is with my beauty school journey. I attended Empire Beauty school in 2015 for a few months before the specific branch I was at shut down due to insufficient enrollment. I was extremely saddened as I believe I could have been had my cosmetology license. I didn’t give up tough. I decided to move to Atlanta, GA, the “hair mecca” and get my cosmetology license here but pursued a Masters degree in Social Work instead. I always knew I’d be back in beauty school, I just didn’t know when or if I wanted to attend a private school again. Fast forward a couple years later, I now have my MSW and passed my masters exam so I am a Licensed Master Social Worker. I achieved that goal and decided in 2021 it was time to go back to beauty school. I am currently in beauty school now and hopefully only have 2 more semesters left, 3 at the most and sooner than later my hair salon dreams will become a reality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cerebral.com/care-team/therapists/kiera-e-mcclellan
- Instagram: @Kiera.Elice; @LesKameleonKrew; @KitheModel; @KameleonKrowns
- Twitter: KieraElice
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4CVmFhFmiP5YNE_TOm1ojg/
Image Credits
Photographer: @TDvisualarts Makeup Artist: @AtiimZhanae Gold Dress Designer: @MonetAmour Model: @KitheModel