We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cait Piska a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Cait, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
The first dollar I ever earned as a creative paved the way for so many life-changing decisions I’ve made in my life, and my career, since that day. I went to art school for photography and painting before I made the career shift into the hair industry. At my very last photography showing in art school, I sold a pair of photographs framed together for $150. It was a photo of a friend doubled over in the passenger seat of a car, paired with a bunch of flowers delicately wrapped up and buckled in to the same seat. To me, it was really something personal about friendship and womanhood. I expected nobody to purchase any of my work-let alone that particular one. I spoke to my mentor about how surprised I was to sell this particular piece. He looked at me sternly and told me, “you can’t make the work you think people will buy. If you make the work that is important to you, the right people will want to hear about it and keep it for themselves.” At the time I kind of brushed him off as a supportive professor. I learned quickly in my artistic adventures that staying passionate in my work attracted the most viewers, customers, and relationships. It was really a catalyst for continuing to being a creative, even in those moments where it didn’t feel like it was successful.
Cait, 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?
I’m Cait, an upstate New York transplant doing hair in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. I decided to make a huge switch from the “struggling artist” with a bartending gig, to a full time hairdresser, after years of following jobs in the photography field that landed me in office spaces. I moved to Denver in the midst of the pandemic planning to attend cosmetology school the moment that quarantine allowed it. I’m turning 30 this year and so excited to represent the punk-rock scene in my career through the art of hair. Most days my chair is packed full of transformational blonding, razor shags and mullets, and lived-in color. My passion for hair ignites in “let’s do the same thing as last time,” “I want to do something different,” and everything in-between.
I live by the thread that “encouraging someone to be entirely themselves is the loudest way to love them.” I have learned that people who have success in following their dreams will always encourage you to believe in yourself and celebrate all of your excitement and accomplishments, and it’s my turn to be one of them. A little encouragement can go a long way and a haircut, fresh color, or new style can be a huge catalyst for somebody feeling good in their skin and spreading the love. I’m so proud to be able to have a chair that is a safe space for all and provide gorgeous transformations in it.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest lesson I had to unlearn is that not everybody who is older than you, has been doing something longer than you, or is in the same field as you is someone you should necessarily take advice from. I think it’s imperative to consider the source when it comes to advice. Successful people who followed their dreams, and are happy, are the last people to discourage you from doing the same! Deciding not to share new developments, new exciting news, or new plans with people until they’re already in action is usually the best way to go. Instead of “they’re just words” or “nobody else’s opinion matters,” I had to reteach myself not to even hear those opinions in the first place. I can’t tell you how many people doubted me when I just wanted to move out of upstate New York. To be honest, the first few times I tried to leave I didn’t – because I let doubts get to me. It wasn’t until I decided not to tell anybody and just relied on myself that I finally made the leap and I’m so glad I did.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my audience, and continue to do so, on social media by being myself! I wasn’t able to gain any traction, make any new relationships, or invite new clients into my chair until I started being authentic. Like, really authentic. There’s a million hairdressers out there and there’s plenty of business for all of us. In order to really niche down into what kind of clientele, and audience, I have in my chair I had to start speaking to them on social media. These days you can find me dressing like my 15 year old scene-queen self would have wanted me to, doing “Get Ready With Me” videos to the same albums from 15 years ago, and styling my shag. It wasn’t until I let loose and showed my personality that I even had an audience. Now my algorithm, following, and relationships online are full of like-minded emo millenial girlies who are just looking for the best texture spray.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hendrixsalon.com/cait
- Instagram: @caitandcolorr
Image Credits
Tan Boe