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

Alondra, appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Yes, I definitely take vacations. Even if it’s just a small weekend getaway. I personally think it’s very important to step away for a minute and recharge. As business owners we tend to get so wrapped up on working and focus on everyone but ourselves and it shouldn’t be that way . We need to take some time away , reset our minds, and focus on our well being.

Alondra, 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?

I have been in the industry since I was 19 years old. I am now 27. I started off as an assistant and I assisted for about 2.5 years at two different salons. Afterwards I decided to become independent and rent out a suite with another stylist. Making that big decision was a little scary for me, I was 22 years old and becoming my own boss was intimidating at that time (it can still be). Things at first were not how I was expecting them to be but I pushed through them. I started putting my name out there alot more. Posting on every fb page that I could just so I could get clients in my chair even if that meant not making profit at first. After about 6 months I was more busy and started seeing my schedule getting booked. By about 2 years into being independent that’s when I noticed the big difference between when I first started to having a bit more experience . I was comfortable with being behind the chair and alot more comfortable talking to my clients. I had to learn how to not becoming my own enemy and start chasing my dream.

Now with almost 8 years behind the chair, I am wanting to expand more. I am known for my before and after transformations . Half of the time I am correcting hair, and don’t get me wrong I LOVE doing all the foil work and showing my clients their before and afters. Seeing their reactions it’s priceless! I love every single minute of it . But deep down in my heart, hairstyling has my heart as well. I want to explore the hairstyling side of all of this . Those big hair up do’s, those beautiful romantic low up do’s, hollywood waves, everything that goes into hairstyling i am all for it ! All of that has always been in the back of my head I just never took the time to learn it in detail because I’ve always done color . So that is something new I’m hoping to bring to the table soon.
EXTENSIONS!! .. Extensions started being huge in the industry and I will be exploring that as well. I’m hoping to get certified and add that to my services.

This year I am working hard to build my brand up once again and become the best I have ever been! I want to be able to be THE hairstylist that my clients can come to for any service. Whether it’s booking for a balayage or needing their hair done for a family event. I want to be able to provide a little more than just color.

Have you ever had to pivot?

One of the biggest moments in my life has to be when I became a mom. I never thought how much my life would change the moment my daughter was born. There were so many emotions coming in at once. I was so overwhelmed with happiness and at the same time overwhelmed by all the changes that came with it.

My biggest change I had to face recently has to be with my career . As a first time mommy I decided to stop working for a while. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my baby and I knew doing so I would be sacrificing my career and everything I have built to get to where I am. I do not regret my decision not one bit. I got to see my baby grow up, take her first steps and basically be there for every single milestone of hers .
Now looking back I wouldn’t have it any other way . My baby is now about to be 2 years old so I am back to business and working full time. I am not busy like how I used to be but that was expected to happen so I was prepared for that. But one thing I won’t do is give up on my career and everything i have worked so hard for. I love what I do so if I have to build myself from the ground up again I will do that no matter what it takes.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The moment I graduated from cosmetology school I knew i would have to start on my next step and get into the business side of social media. I already had an Instagram but it was my personal account. I decided to turn my personal account into my business account. I deleted all my pictures , changed the name and started uploading hair photos. If you go all the way down to the bottom of my account, you will still find alot of my old work. I always thought about deleting them but I never did because I love to go back to see how much I have grown . After doing all of that, I would try my best to post as much as I could . Even it was just on my stories , any post I was able to share best believe it was going to get shared. As the months went by I noticed small increases on my followings . Whether it was 1 or 5 new followers , it was people that could potentially turn into clients throughout the years. I never stopped posting. I never stopped promoting myself . Every day I tried my best to post something just so I can have some type of engagement. Till this day I still continue to do the same thing I have done for the past years . If I could give one advice to someone that is just starting is, TO NEVER EVER STOP POSTING. Even if it’s just one small post, post it ! Someone will always be out there searching for what you are offering . It might seem like nothing at first but trust the process and most importantly, believe in yourself!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @_amazingalondra
• Facebook: Amazingalondra