We recently connected with Lodia Yanga and have shared our conversation below.
Lodia , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Hi my name is Lodia, A 22 year old entrepreneur born and raised in Kentucky. My parents are south sudanese & came to the USA in 2000 as refugees, them coming to this country was to ensure that their children will have the best life and so many opportunities to become successful. My family sacrificed everything to make sure they came here and changed our lives. Growing up I was told I had to become a doctor for many years. I would try to tell myself that this is the career that is for me, this will give me “ the best life” or “make my parents happy” in life you cannot make your parents happy, you can only make them proud. Your true happiness is found within you & doing what you love, Around the age of 11 I enjoyed doing my hair, styling it anyway I could everyday. I would watch videos on YouTube to learn different styles, looks I loved it. As I got older I enjoyed working imagine having two jobs in high school since I never had a plan to “ attend college”, I would purchase wigs from Amazon and just style them on my head, practice installs even if it wasn’t the best, I would feel like an entire new person I was so happy I did it. I would go to school, I would get so many compliments. I said “ wow if I can make myself happy with just a wig, imagine what I can do for others”. Once I graduated from high school my journey started, Working investing in my dreams, now 5 years later a full time entrepreneur running two businesses on my own doing what I love & investing into so much more to achieve the success I deserve.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into beauty industry by making myself happy first inside out. I knew that it gave me joy and i knew everytime i practice i would learn something new, i would get better at parts i was struggling on. So i invested time & started practicing on a friends, then i was getting recommended to make others beautiful, i saw what this was doing for me, i was changing my life & blessing people with just my hands. i worked with people with hair loss, insecurity issues, cancer, breakups, weddings, divorce everything you could think of, I made women feel like them again with wigs and my work, most of my clients appointments turn into pure therapy being able to vent about everything, not everyone has bonds and trust to talk to people about anything, Im happy i can make my clients feel more than comfortable its not just about the wigs , its about making others happy inside and out, I put my mind, body & soul into making this my future empire. Once i quit my jobs i knew this was all in or nothing. My brand “lacechemistry” and “bbbhair” installs wigs and sells luxury hair to give you the best look and joy you’ve ever experienced you have so many options to choose from whether its glueless, glued on, frontals and closures in many sizes, you may add color & so many more, i also sell after care items to help maintain my clients hair to keep it beautiful as they first got it! i feel like this just the beginning of a new chapter, theres so much more to do & and i cannot wait! This mountain im climbing is not an easy one but i know i will get to the top.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
YES doing hair started off as a side hustle, it was my second income before it became my first, i was working at two different warehouses 7am-1pm at one location & 4pm – 12am or 2am, if i wasn’t working both jobs everyday i would be at least 1 per day i didn’t catch a break, and the times i was free i was doing hair. Over some time i got burnt out, this wasn’t life i was 18 and just killing myself , i left one job which gave me time to balance work and hair. i kept practicing taking clients over and over, before i knew it i had a fully booked work week, making double of my work paycheck in one week. Then i decided if i let my job go and do this full time imagining what i could do if i did just hair. This was a very big risk, but i took it i believed in myself and made it happen. Ive came so far from where i was at 18! If you told me back then this would be my life today i wouldn’t believe you.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
BEING DIFFERENT, you have to isolate your self from your old life if you wanna make it, you cannot carry your old luggage to your new destination. I had to learn that the hard way i was young and wanted to be like everyone else having fun, enjoying every weekend, living a young teenage life. i noticed it took over me for some time and i lacked some priorities. I wanted to grow more and go further but i realized i couldn’t do that living that kind of life and around that environment of people. I had no guidance i would watch inspiration videos on some of my favorite speakers especially “steve harvey”my absolute favorite, i still listen to a podcast every morning. i learned to isolate, go back to the drawing board, find my niche ,my purpose in this industry and left the rest with god and has been nothing but blessings since.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lodiay.info/
- Instagram: @ lacechemistry
- Facebook: lace chemistry luxury hair lab
- Other: https://lacechemisty.as.me/schedule.php
Image Credits
I take all my photos ! I don’t use filters or edits I just make my work look as best as possible, filtered work is something I wouldn’t recommend when building a business.