We were lucky to catch up with Candace recently and have shared our conversation below.
Candace, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Everyone has crazy stuff happen to them, but often small business owners and creatives, artists and others who are doing something off the beaten path are often hit with things (positive or negative) that are so out there, so unpredictable and unexpected. Can you share a crazy story from your journey?
The craziest story also happens to be the beginning. Just out of high school, my mother asked what I wanted my next steps to be. When I replied with “I want to be a hair stylist”,I was met with some push back. “You’ll be working on your feet all day”, “you won’t have any benefits”, “a job like that doesn’t have any job security”. So without any direction of my own, I enrolled in UNM. I performed very poorly. I dropped out, moved to Hawaii for a year and when I returned to New Mexico, I knew that pursuing my passions would be the next step to happiness. I got a job at a credit union as a teller and enrolled myself in night classes at a seemingly hip beauty school that was located right off of central, near UNM at the time. I was so excited! When classes began, I quickly made a few friends and we all started hearing chatter from the ‘more seasoned’ students that the administration can be a little unhinged and that we all needed to keep our heads down and just graduate. Being young and naive, I wasn’t quite sure what was meant by that, but boy was I about to find out. I was at my school work station, setting up my tools for the evening and getting nervous about what client I may be assigned when the commotion began. The schools owner was physically shoving a student from the back of the salon towards the front saying things like “how does if feel to be expelled” “how does it feel to be a beauty school drop out”. That student was able to make her way to the front desk in an effort to collect her belongings when the owner rushed over and shoulder checked her. She fell over a chair causing some injury to her knee. Myself and a few other students called the police and waited around to file a police report. A few weeks later as I was returning from my evening break, I was asked to leave the school and to await a letter in the mail. Long story cut short, I was expelled. My tuition had been paid in full and most of it was kept by the school. I tried finding a lawyer to help me fight this retaliation, however the school contract that I signed at the time of enrollment stated a list of disciplinary actions and right at the bottom was written, or you can be expelled for any reason we see fit. I hadn’t been in trouble before the expulsion. Matter of fact, the month prior I was named student of the month. I was then 21 with about $13,000 in student loan debt. Trying to seek out legal advice, I was unable to obtain a lawyer who would take my case pro bono because of the way the school contract was worded. Being so young and with so much school debt, I didn’t have the funds to try and fight. Obviously I didn’t let this keep me down. For the next 8 years, I was lucky enough to have family and friends trust me with their hair (bless them) and after paying off my student debt, I enrolled in the cosmetology program through CNM. I was lucky that CNM found a way to transfer my hours from the previous beauty school and applied them towards credits to excel me forward a semester in their Applied Sciences in Cosmetology program.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
When I was young, I wasn’t given any option of self expression. I was a girl and girls are meant to look and act a certain way and personally I never felt like I fit that mould. I wanted the trendy haircuts and to dress in the cool 90’s grunge style I saw in movies. With a lack of space for expression, I picked up a sketch book and started drawing. That lead to an obsession with textures, shapes and colors. Fast forward to high school, I discovered hydrogen peroxide and heat can lighten your hair and kool-aid can stain it. I’ll never forget the feeling I felt walking into my senior year with a cool a-line haircut and bright cherry red streaks framing my face. My confidence was sky high and for maybe the first time in my life, I felt like myself. Sadly this was short lived because natural hair colors were against dress code and I was suspended until I dyed my hair back to a natural tone. This is where the passion sparked. I wanted people to look at me and see me as I saw myself. Then I realized I could give that same feeling to others. In the beginning of my career, straight out of beauty school, I was hired at a hip salon where I stayed for nearly 8 years. I gained a lot of training and experience assisting my first year and in the following years I learned a lot about who I wanted to be a stylist as well as the boundaries I needed to hold. When I realized the salon I was in was no longer a good fit for me, I decided to rent my own suite and go into business for myself. This is where I truly began to thrive as an artist as well as a service provider. For the first time I felt I was free of any outward constraints and realized I had to break free from my own inhibitions. This was the first time I realized I had built something very special. Not only for myself but for my clients. I offer a place of zero judgment and hold space for each and every person who sits in my chair long after they leave. This career I have chosen is one of deep connection and trust and I feel so honored to help transform peoples appearance so they can feel like the best version of themselves. I do my best to provide consistency when it’s needed and also really take the time to talk through a big change when my client wants something new. Whether it be a trim, or a total rainbow color transformation. I apply the same focus and discipline to create something my client and I both will love. It doesn’t matter if an appointment is one hour or eight hours (yes.. eight hours), I am providing a space and my open heart for people to decompress, vent, cry, laugh and everything in between. I truly have so much love for everyone I service and feel proud of the job I have created for myself. People are so amazing and I am humbled more and more every day to be a part of so may lives, no matter how big or small that role may be to the individual.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Being a creative person, I am often connecting and tuning into nature for inspiration. Seeking out organic patterns or color pallets. It really creates a disconnect from some of the horrors we live/experience and allows me to live in an imaginative world of my own ideas. I then get to find a way to interpret my dreamy visions into hair reality while also forming deep connections with like minded folk who just want to be seen for the person the they are inside. Creativity is truly my best distraction from life and has allowed me to carry an open heart, even in the darkest of times.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Word of mouth is typically how I gain new clientele. I’ve built my brand on authenticity and consistency and am so grateful for anyone who recommends me to a friend, neighbor, family member, or even internet stranger on Reddit.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://candacechavez2.glossgenius.com/
- Instagram: Bunnyroxsor
Image Credits
Valerie Green with Desert Soul Photo