We recently connected with Ava Attallah and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ava, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea.

Pink’d by Attallah started only as a means to keep some type of money in pocket while in college in order to pay for tuition, books, and everyday life. I honestly never planned on taking the business further until I realized how much money I could make in the beauty industry. Shortly after this realization, I started to market my business on Instagram the best way I knew how at the time. Since I already had a personal account on Instagram I started to post my work on there, and I would DM as many people as I could a day letting them know about the services I provided, and shared pictures/videos of my work.

I would consistently post time lapse showing the entire process of the style I created using music in the background, that represented who I was and represented the hustle that I had in me, and it started to get the publics attention. Once I seen that people liked what I was doing, I then began to invest in my business. I put down $500 that I really didn’t have into a photoshoot to promote my business, and it was the best decision I had ever made. Once I got the photos back from the shoot I created a separate business account on Instagram, and started to build my page. After this, a family member of mine seen all the hard work I was putting into my business while I was still in college, and started to give me advice/pointers about growing a business.

She bought me a marketing bundle from @marketingbymonrae on Instagram that went into details about how to market your business on social media, what apps to use to create quality content, and so much more. Receiving this information changed the trajectory of how I was previously marketing my business. My content became more professional, precise, and consistent. It opened my eyes to the importance of marketing your business through multiple social media sites, targeting a specific audience, as well as the legalities of running a legally operated business. Being the first person in my family to ever start a business, there was so much that I wasn’t aware of so receiving this bundle really changed the game for me. From there my content got so much better, and I also began to do a lot of ground work by networking outside of social media.

I printed off 500 business cards, and everywhere I went, I made it my business to network, and pass out as many business cards as I could. I also began to go to various networking events in order to promote my business, and so much more. Within a year I began to receive a lot of notoriety for my business. I’ve been featured in now 4 magazines, and created my own source of income by the age of 22.

Ava, 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?

Pink’d by Attallah is the name of my business, I am a master hair stylist that mainly focuses on protective styles. Becoming a business owner has always been in my plans. From a very young age, I’ve always known that I never wanted to work for someone else for the rest of my life. As a child, I just didn’t know exactly what I would do. I would’ve never imagined that the beauty industry was going to be the route that I took. I graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, so you can see there’s no correlation in the two occupations at all.

When the pandemic started, I lost my job and needed some source of income so that I could pay for my tuition, books, and to just live. I started doing hair in the basement of my home as a means to just have some type of money in my pockets, and to take care of my responsibilities. However, God had other plans for me! I started to see that I was really good, and that If I was consistent, I could actually make great money–not with just hair, but within the beauty industry as a whole. I realized that I could build a brand, and it was all going to start by me making a name for myself, and being one of the best hair stylist in the game.

What makes my business different from other hair businesses is that I’m a versatile hairstylist.This means that I don’t just specialize in one hairstyle,I specialize in many. For example, I’m an expert in Human Hair Locs, Soft Locs, Butterfly Locs, Passion twist, Senegalese Twist, Natural Loc styles , and so much more. If I had to choose one thing that I’m mostly proud of when it comes to my business it would have to be the consistency and progression that I have made since I started my business. Having your own business is not easy, it’s so many things that come with the territory.

There will always come a time where you will begin to feel like you aren’t doing enough, and there’s always more to be done but you have to stop and give yourself recognition for how far you’ve already come. The fact that I never let any doubts or deterrences stop me from continuing to build my business makes me so proud.

I’ve never been one to let things stop me from achieving my goals, I’ve overcome so many obstacles by simply believing in myself, and choosing what i wanted out of this life, and not letting what others wanted for me, or their fears dictate the route that I took.

Along the way, I’ve learned that success takes time, and you have to be patient when it comes to building your own business and your own unique brand. I’ve also learned that consistency, will always take you exactly where you want to go. Lastly, I want everyone to know that Pink’d isn’t just a hair braiding service, I currently sell bonnets, and I will be expanding, and selling human hair loc wigs, human hair locs, products, and so much more. The goal is to be a boss, not just a hair stylist.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Funding my business was solely me taking risk and spending money I really didn’t have at the time. Luckily, at the time I was blessed to be in a position where I had to pay little to no rent since I was in college, so the rest of the money I would have left over after paying college tuition, books, food, and etc would solely go into investing into my business. I payed for various photoshoots to promote on social media, business cards, instagram ads, and so much more. In the end, those investments and risk that I made paid off in the end.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One major lesson I had to unlearn was to not get discouraged because of who doesn’t support you. I struggled in a lot of my friendships and relationships when I first started Pink’d by Attallah because there were a lot of people around me who I expected to support my business more than anyone, but wasn’t showing up for me. I had to realize that it didn’t matter who didn’t support me, what mattered was those who did. I seen a quote one day that stated ” Don’t worry about your friends/family that don’t support you, because strangers will make you rich.” This quote sparked a fire in me, and I took that fuel and I’ve been unstoppable ever since.

Contact Info:

• Website: pinkdbyattallah.com
• Instagram: @pinkstyledme
• Facebook: Pink’d by Attallah
• Twitter: @pinkstyledme
• Youtube: Pink’d by Attallah

Image Credits
@pspics @imaxb_