We were lucky to catch up with Kya Buggs recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career
I would change some of the curriculum being taught in the education system today. I think it’s important that we set our kids up the best we can so they can be able to survive as an adult. I would make it a requirement for students to learn more about credit history, filing their taxes, becoming homeowners etc. I feel as if it would make things easier for students fresh out of high school & college to at least have a little knowledge about these things by the time they graduate so they are not scrambling to learn as they get older, especially in today’s society with inflation effecting everyone.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into the hair industry at the age of 17 when I decided to use the little money I was making at McDonald’s to invest in my very first hair company, Kouture Beauty Inc.; My business was going decent but I definitely had a lot to work on. I took a break from selling quality hair extensions when I started my first year of college in 2019-2020, then the pandemic hit & changed everything for me. With the free time that I had from being on lockdown, I was doing my research on Wig Making & styling and I fell in love; I have always been interested in styling hair since I was at least 8 years old, I taught myself to style hair on my old Barbie dolls & on my own hair. I finally decided to purchase a Wig making course from The Hair Diagram, who happens to be the owner of Bold Hold lace glue & I then taught myself how to make wigs on a sewing machine. It took me a minute to perfect my craft of course but I can honestly say I learned the basics pretty quickly for someone who’s never used a sewing machine at all before. I used what I learn to start offering Glueless Custom Wigs for the girls who don’t have time to style their hair; All my wigs are customized by me so the only you have to do is put it on. My customers love quality hair that is easy & convenient to work with so I took it upon myself to provide it. Fast forward to 2022 & I am now a full time college student at Alabama A&M University and hair stylist, I offer Wig making & customizing services, installs & more.
Something I am mostly proud of is my hardwork to get to where I am today. I know this is just the beginning for me but I genuinely take pride in what I do. There were a lot of things I had to teach myself in order to get to where I am today and yes I am still learning but I think I did a pretty great job if I do say so myself.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my social media presence by literally just being myself & also being consistent on what and when I post. My audience likes to see things like me coloring hair, packaging orders, quick hacks etc. I noticed it’s because social media is the best place to learn, people are always dropping gems so if they can learn something from you they will take interest in your work. I think this applies to a lot of fields in the beauty industry. The best advice I can give is FIND YOUR NICHE! I know it sounds repetitive but it is absolutely true, know who you are before you start marketing your items or services and be consistent with it.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The best lesson I had to learn is that your friends & family are not obligated to support you. When I first start selling hair, a lot of my friends and family did not take interest in it. At first I was hurt because I was seeing people I knew personally that knew I sold hair extensions but they would still shop elsewhere; But then I thought to myself “Maybe they aren’t my target audience” or “Maybe they just don’t like the hair that I sell” I had so many theories to the point where I just realized I had people from all over the world taking interest in my business but I was so caught up in people I knew not reposting my work or purchasing from me that I didn’t see what God had blessed me with. Eventually the more popular I got, the more my friends and family decided to take interest in my business but that didn’t matter to me anymore because I had a lot more to be thankful for.
I say all this to say that I know that there are people who are just starting out that have these same problems, just know that your time will come and that your support system is out there even if it doesn’t include the people that are closest to you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shoprubyetresses.com
- Instagram: thewigpriestess
- Facebook: Kya Buggs
- Other: https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=26620526¬embedded=1