We were lucky to catch up with Celena Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Celena, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I have always been in the industry of hair since graduating from high school. Hair is my passion as well as education. I completed my training and degree to have an instructor license in barbering and cosmetology, but I always felt like education and teaching would be my backup plan.
Business was good as an entrepreneur and salon owner for 10 years. My children were young and I felt like I was spending more days in the salon building my business instead of spending time with my children so I gave up the freedom and responsibilities of entrepreneurship. I traded my entrepreneur hat for a “9-5” hat. I became an educator in the world of barbering and cosmetology. I traded my time for dollars. I immediately recognized I took a huge decrease in my income. No bueno. Fast forward to today, I am a barber school owner! It didn’t come easy and it surely didn’t come as planned. After working for a newly established school for nearly 4 years, the owners closed the doors of the school permanently with no warning or notice. Talk about shocker. My first instinct was to help the students so I took it upon myself to open a school for the students and myself and continue our journey. Financially this move was beyond risky, but hey there comes a ton of risks when you decide to go the entrepreneurial route. I decided to fold up my safety blanket that I got with a 9 to 5 job and pull out my entrepreneur hat and get to work. There have been some very rough and tough times along the way, but I’m realizing this is the way for me. Being an entrepreneur versus working a regular working job is the best way for me. The biggest reward for me as an entrepreneur is knowing I’m able to change lives daily on my terms and how I see fit to do it. I’m too artistic and creative to fit into a box. My children are older now and I have a greater sense of relief knowing I can go back into my passion and my children are in a good space as well. What makes this journey even better this time around is that I am able to indulge in both passions at the same time. Hair and education together makes me happy. I don’t know what the future has in store for me but I’m riding this wave and I’m on my way to bigger and better things.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I love hair. I dabbled in hair while in high school. I wanted to go to cosmetology school straight out of high school, but my dad told me doing hair wasn’t a real job. He said I had to go to college to get a real job. Well my next favorite thing was education. I loved being the teacher when I played house when I was younger. I became an elementary school teacher. I did that for a total of 2 years. I decided to go to cosmetology school. From moment on it was all about hair for me. Everything I do is hair related. No kidding!
My current title is Cosmetology & Barber School Owner. I am also a mobile hairstylist and independent contractor for a major hair brand.
My greatest accomplishment in this industry is my ability to change lives through hair and education. Teaching my students something new and seeing the looks on their faces when they “get it” is everything to me!
I’m an artist and I love creating new looks in my clients. I’m always up for a new challenge with hair.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My journey to becoming a barber school owner is interesting.
I worked for a barber school for nearly 4 years. I was comfortable in that position. The position of independent contractor/employee. Although I ran the school completely on my own for almost the 4 years, I never called myself the owner, the boss or the person in charge. Tragically the school closed. I say it’s tragic because I didn’t have a backup plan in place when the doors of the school closed. I was left without a job, money, or an established plan. I had considered opening my own school but I never really acted on that plan because I never wanted the owner of the school to think I was trying to step in his toes and steal his students. After losing my job I set out to complete all the steps to get a barber school. I diligently went down the list and one by one got things done! There were many bumps in the road. Lots of NOs and tons of empty promises. Several leases that didn’t happen, but I finally found one that would stick. Now I have a building. While all of this is going on I’m always checking in with the students from the prior school to make sure we were still in this together. I dedicated myself to making this new school dream a reality. In order for things to happen on schedule I couldn’t get a job. Oh boy was that hard. I had the tremendous support of my family and that got me through. It’s finally time for the doors of the school to open. I’m prepared and ready for 30 students because that was how many students were left hanging waiting for a new school home. I had 3 students come. Lots of doubts and fears rolled in because things didn’t seem to be working as planned. Today I still work to build enrollment, but one thing for sure is I’m not giving up. I have so many plans and things I want to do for the school. I’m just in my beginners phase. Giving up is easy and comfortable. There’s no success in comfort.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being relevant helped me to build my reputation in my industry.
What I mean by this is I made myself seen on a regular basis. I post on social media sites. I show people what I do in my business.
When I’m working a hair show I’m going live. When I’m working in the salon I’m posting pics of my finally looks. I allow the world to take a glimpse into my life every now and then. I stay up to date on all trends and styles to make sure I can offer the best to my clients as well as my students.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stylzlearninginstitute.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/stylzlearninginstitute