Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ayanna Crayton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ayanna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I originally went by BraidsByYanna when i first started out as a full time braider. After about 2-3 years I knew i wanted to expand and branch out to other things eventually, and wanted a brand name that could be used for other things if and when I needed to. I go by Yanna because believe it or not, a lot of people pronounce my simple name wrong lol. I thought long and hard on what i wanted my name to be and TheYannaExperience was born.“Experience” because even with so many different clients I interact (ed) with it was always a great, yet different interaction and experience with us together for so many hours. Whether we were talking and laughing for hours, vibing to music together, venting sessions, to even having delicious cooked meals brought to us and taking a small break to eat together. Hearing clients say they felt so comfortable in my presence and loved the experience they had with me vs other service providers just helped my name even more. So whether i do hair, nails, sell products, and etc i can guarantee its always an experience with me. 😁

Ayanna, 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’m Yanna the owner of the TheYannaExperience and I’ve been braiding since i was 14 years old. After watching my mom do hair for years I just loved it and wanted to actually do hair for myself and make a career out of it. I specialize in braiding services such as box braids, knotless braids, faux locs, passion twists, and Feed-in/ Stitch braids. I pretty much can do any braid style there is. Clients come to me with an ideas of styles or colors and look for me to help them execute it. Sometimes they don’t know how to explain or know exactly the look they are going for but, that’s where i come in at with my creativity and I’m able to bring those ideas or colors to life and help my clients feel confident and beautiful after sitting with me. I’m proud of the growth that i have shown over the years and being able to set myself apart and start my own wave in a field with many who do the same thing that i do.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I really had to pivot in my business after the Covid-19 pandemic transpired. That point in time was very hard for lots of people in the beauty industry. I went from being in a shop being able to take clients, to being told that shops had to be closed and we weren’t allowed to do hair or service anyone for a long time. For a while I was not sure what i would do, nor did I even know what i wanted to do. After not working an actual Job for a bit it was hard to kind of get back in the groove of working a regular 9-5 or even finding a job i liked to work. I mean i was my own boss for a while, so going back to that type of environment it was not easy. Once shops were given the okay to open back up I still at the time did not even have a shop home to go back to and it was a lot of personal changes i had going on that prevented me from even trying to just jump back into my career. I did start back 1 year and some months later, but i was in a totally different area and new shop environment, So it was like starting from scratch with trying to build my clientele back up and trying to catch up to the new style trends and etc. I did push through and was able to get back into my groove and build my clients back up and even networked more and created new and better relationships more than i had. I pushed myself and accomplished way more than i feel i would have previously if the pandemic had never happened.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients for me has honestly been TikTok. It’s crazy me saying this, because I honestly was not a big fan of TikTok when it first became popular lol. At the time i was so caught up on Instagram and trying to learn how to get my algorithm up, that i just didn’t want to waste time on trying to get on and learn a new app. I eventually got the app but it just sat on my phone for months! I really just thought like “Hey, you want the exposure and to grow your business and to network, but you need to be open to trying new stuff that can help promote and put your business out there.” It took a few tries, but i learned how to use it and began posting my videos. I had my first video go viral for knotless over Locs and i felt very accomplished and proud that so many people saw my video! I get so much joy when clients tell me “Oh i found you on TikTok!” Its amazing to me to hear that I’m just being seen by so many people and that they chose me after seeing so many other choices. I’m thankful for the many clients coming from TikTok and I’m glad i got over not wanting to use it. Hopefully it continues to bring wonderful people to me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theyannaexperience.as.me/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/theyannaexperience_?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheYannaExperience?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@theyannaexperience9779
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theyannaexperience?_t=8bYORvGpCGM&_r=1