We were lucky to catch up with Carlisha Mullins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Carlisha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I have been a loctician for serval years before wanting to have my own loctician shop. I started off working in someone else’s shop , but with that owner making feel like I was still working a 9-5 I wanted to venture off and open my open . My first shop was honestly based off of faith , it was my trial run . I have learned alot during that time . I ended up closing my shop down in 2019 after my brother committed suicide. During that time while working in different places I knew I wanted to have a loctician shop. Where locticians with the same mindset & goals came together and worked together . There was no other salon where you could go to and have a group of women doing the same exact thing with no issues . We created something special . Of course some women came & left but I just look at that as they were not suppose to go on this journey with me . Everyone isn’t meant to be around , so it’s up and downs . But going through that allowed me to find the best group of women ever to work with .

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve been doing hair since I was a kid . I have 3 brothers who all had hair at one time , I became the neighborhood braider . I was always known for how fast I got done , and how great it looked . I didnt get into doing locs until later down the road . Once people stop getting braids they wanted locs , it forced me to learn how to do that instead of braiding . At first I was doing it out of my home as a side hustle , not really understanding how to keep their hair healthy the right way . There was a lot of trial & error . 2016 is when I took it serious . Easter weekend I remember having so many people coming & going from getting their hair done . It clicked that that was my passion, this is what I wanted to do .

We offer all types of services , any service you can think of when it comes to locs we offer it . We take pride in the work we provide, the services you get . We also have great barbers to finish our clients off .

I’m mostly proud of how far I’ve come . How the whole shop has come together and built something so amazing . Are vibe is different from any other shop. I’m
Proud that I could have people trust my vision while they also show off their brand.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My advice would be that we are all human , we will all make mistakes at some point . Learn from those mistakes . As the “owner” of the shop lead by example . Allow people to find their journey & support them the same way you would want to be supported . Learn each person you work with it makes things a lot easier . I always love telling people , we are a team , you take care of me imma take care of you .

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was being a people pleaser . Allowing people to run over me because I was So nice . I was afraid to speak up about things I was against. As a business owner I had To learn that sometime uncomfortable conversations are needed . They don’t have to be drama but to be able to approach those situations with respect will save you that drama on the back end . There has to be structure , rules and boundaries in place .

Contact Info:

• Website: http://Styleseat.com/carlishamullins
• Instagram: The_dopest_dreader
• Facebook: The Dopest Dreader Salon