Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kimra Beechly. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kimra, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

In 1993 after graduating high school with a Cosmetology license, I was a Freshman at UNT in Denton, Texas, starting my journey as an English Major and bestselling author; spoiler alert, I accomplished neither. I did, however, while volunteering at a battered women’s shelter in Dallas, Texas, accidentally fall in love with the Cosmetology industry and put my dreams of writing on hold. I got the opportunity to utilize my hairdressing skills to help the shelter create some small sense of normalcy for these women and their children. Still a child myself at 17, I was able to stand behind the chair and watch, in real time, a tiny, fragile light begin to return to the eyes of those women who’d had dignity and self-esteem beaten, burned, and gas-lit out of them. To have the privilege of being a part of their journey back to joy, even peripherally, was personally transformative to the point of redirecting my own path. I decided to continue changing lives, one at a time from behind the chair, and pursuing art in the form of aesthetics rather the written word.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After more than two decades as a Cosmetologist, I began to realize that the industry wasn’t as fulfilling to me as it once was, it was time for a change. I pursued my instructor license and began teaching Cosmetology, Esthetics, business, and professional ethics in a private post-secondary beauty and wellness school. I reasoned that I could make a bigger impact by working with, and molding the next generation of beauty professionals through standing behind a podium rather than one at a time standing behind the chair. I enjoyed this work, and still do from time to time, but eventually transitioned into Director of the school. Having a role in administration and leadership presented me with the opportunity to widen my mission of empowering students through training classroom educators, enhancing school culture, and above all via example.
I spent happy years as Director of different schools in the industry, and though it was fulfilling and meaningful, I found it difficult to achieve work/life balance. Roles like these can surreptitiously consume one’s personal life and I found myself progressively missing events with friends, hobbies I neglected, and time with those I loved culminating in missing the death of my mother because I didn’t feel like I could leave work. My daughters who had by this point grown into successful women, revealed their worry that my role along with my tendency to overextend is negatively affecting me, and by extension, themselves. They missed me.
I stepped away and discovered a position that allowed me to support students and educators in a less-taxing way. As a Student Services Coordinator I am able to work directly with students and alumni helping them to navigate the licensing process and finding employment while maintaining enough balance to enjoy my loved ones and rediscover my passion for writing.

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

I worked very hard to rise to a Director position in my industry. Without a college education and already over 40 when I began my journey from hairdresser to leader, I held on with claws and teeth. I made the change, knowing it would be arduous but worth it to secure my future. I had no savings and at most 20 years left to work, my plan was to retire with the school. Did I know that I was allowing my work to have a negative affect on me, of course. Did I convince myself it wasn’t true, of course. This was what I had worked for, my seat at the table, and there was no plan B, failure was not an option. I was pushing 50 by this point and couldn’t imagine still not knowing what I wanted to be when a grew up.
It was my daughters intervention that led me to reevaluate my personal definition of success and failure. Losing the relationships in my life, my health, or the death of my dream to write for a living was the thing to fear, not the loss of a title or role. I eventually came to realize I was plagiarizing someone else’s version of success, not my own. Once I made friends with that, the process of transition was kinder.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Absolutely. From the beginning, whether it was standing behind a chair as a hairdresser, standing behind a podium as an educator, or standing behind a team that is leading a school, my mission has always been the same, connection. I have had mentors, many actually. I have also been a mentor in many different, often unexpected ways. What I’m finding, however, is that once a woman has checked all of the societally expected boxes, there are no more teachers, no more mentors, because she should be happy, right? Family, check. Career, check. You see success stories from younger generations that those in their teens or 20’s can strive to emulate. Where are the mentors, success stories, and examples of women giving the rest of us permission to still not know what we want to do when we grow up at 40, or 50, or 60? This is my mission. Making sure there is a voice out there telling women, young and old alike, that it’s okay to check all the boxes and still not be fulfilled. That there is nothing wrong with wanting more, to find love and lose love, try spectacularly and fail spectacularly, that the joy is in the journey. I want to convince everyone to go on the trip, take up the hobby, pursue the passion, to write the book.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimrakai/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimra-beechly-b98b4812/