We recently connected with Emani Jenkins and have shared our conversation below.

Emani , appreciate you joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

If I had the chance to start over, I would take my business a lot more serious in the beginning. In the beginning, I knew i could do hair. I knew i could make money off it but I did not take advantage of how far this business could actually place me. Earlier on, had I studied social media a little more, invested into products (i.e. ring lights, branded products) I would probably be a lot further financially and exposure wise.

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

I am a city girl from Newark NJ. I attended University High School and now I am graduating from Clark Atlanta University with a Bachelors in Psychology. I got into the hair industry because my mother was also a hairstylist. I started off very young just playing with doll babies and copying whatever I saw my mother doing. Eventually she noticed i was actually okay at what i was doing and decided to throw me behind the chair. I started off washing hair and just doing simple braid downs for her installs. I would like to say at the age of 11 I begin taking my own clients. I specialize in natural hair care, men hair care, wigs, a lot more services. I believe my customer service and consistency sets me apart from other industries. I am very reliable and always willing to work. And when I say consistency, I mean if you seen my work before you are guaranteed to get that same exact service or result, if you were to sit in my chair. I am most proud of my ability to maintain a successful business, being a student athlete and completing college. I want my clients followers and fans to know that I am always willing to get better. I am always willing to grow and I appreciate everyone who has help me build this legacy so far.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A big lesson I had to learn while having a business, and being a student was that I could not go 50-50 with both. It would either be I’m doing really good with my hair business and my classes are slacking. Or I’m doing really good with my classes and I haven’t really taken time to do hair / promote my business. The lesson that I had to learn was to find my ballots. I eventually understood that I cannot do hair five days out of the week if I wanted to have a 3.0 GPA or higher. So I begin to schedule my classes based off the days that I would like to have free in order to do hair. So maybe three days out of the week I will be able to schedule my clients and still keep it with my schoolwork.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I feel like a time when everyone had to adjust was definitely during Covid. This was extremely hard for me because a lot of my clients in Atlanta came from my university so now that school was closed I had to find a new audience to serve. So I begin to travel back to my hometown once a month to do hair. This was a struggle because my hometown used to go under a lot of lockdowns so if you were caught doing hair or giving services, they would fine you. So being able to play my cards right, understand that money could be made but it was a way it had to be done now.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: Rhmhair
• Youtube: Emanijenks

Image Credits
Dukeshotem