We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tierra Daejanai. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tierra below.
Tierra, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Her Forte means her strength. Her Forte Salon celebrates one year in business this quarter and we have created a chemistry of good service, a welcoming inclusive environment and great hair care products. Although offering a great service for my clients is priority our mission is to create a safe space for women to feel their very best. I became a hairstylist after losing my mother to a mental health crisis and the salon was therapy for me. It helped me regain control over my life and meet some brilliant women along the way. I wanted to position my salon to feel like a place that women can come take a load off and experience a luxury salon with an urban ambiance. Mental health is a big part of self care and we try to implement our strength in beauty to empower the women we serve.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up in the salon. My aunt owned a hair salon that my mom worked at when I was little girl, by the time I became old enough to work at about 14 my mom secured me a job as a shampoo assistant for a professional stylist that specialized in both healthy hair and color. I learned so much at S Salon. I was introduced to short hair at that time and knew that if I pursued a career in the salon I would want to master color and short hair. I worked with some other very talented stylist throughout high school until I went off to college in Tallahassee Florida. I learned very quickly that I didn’t want to pursue a career that didn’t give me freedom and creativity. I worked in corporate America for a short time where I learned a lot about offering great customer service, finance, and most importantly that I preferred to work for myself. Shortly after returning from 1 year of college I lost my mother. I had to figure out how to provide for my teenage sister and myself. After working at a finance company being the youngest and only female woman of color I decided to create a career that fit me best. I called my moms friend and stylist and he welcomed me to become an apprentice and that opportunity helped me cope with my loss and turn my pain into passion. I fell in love with color. It was no longer just a skill to make extra money but it was an outlet that blessed me and my clients alike. Her Forte Salon was created to give women the same empowerment it gave me in the hardest days of my life. Fellowship and service with woman from all walks of life really carried me to new levels.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My story is resilience personified. I took my pain from losing so many people and fueled my passion with that same pain to create a flourishing business and hair care product line. Her Strength is the foundation to every obstacle I am faced with. In times of extreme adversity and even feeling like a failure in other times I created a brand that will always remind me to keep going. I have pictures in my salon the reminds anyone who enters to remember why you started, give yourself time to grow, and to embrace all that is you. Her Forte Hair Care was created by searching for ways to grow my daughters hair out. We created a growth oil in our kitchen that helps women all over reach their goals of length retention and fight hair loss. I also created a hair care product line specifically for women of color who likes to wear heat styling and maintain the integrity of their natural hair and curl pattern. I noticed all of the hair products for black girls are against heat styling and that’s the beauty of black hair, its versatility. We needed products packed with moisture and heat protectant so that we have the freedom to do both heat and heat free styling.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
I always did hair after work, after school, just always doing hair or makeup. I was working at a bank at the time and doing hair after work when 4 weeks in a row I made more in a single Saturday at the salon than my biweekly paycheck so I decided to leave my role at the bank and work for myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.herfortehair.com
- Instagram: herfortesalon
- Facebook: HerForteSalon