We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Malarene Porchia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Malarene below.

Alright, Malarene thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I came up with the idea of doing hair when I was a little girl, maybe 13 years old, my mom had a beauty salon and she would style my hair every Sunday but when I didn’t like it I would go home and restyle it to my liking. Lol. I figured if I could style my own hair, I could style others.

Malarene , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Malarene Porchia, my business name is StyleByMal. StyleByMal was originally for braids only but I expanded into doing more natural hairstyles such as two-strand twists, coils, cornrows, ponytails. I also plan on learning fades, locs, nails, lashes, microblading and anything else in the beauty industry that I can profit from.

When I first start doing hair, myself and my brothers were my first clients. When my mom couldn’t style our hair, I would style our hair. I used to and still to this day, braid my oldest brother hair. My big brother let me cut his hair when we were in middle school and that didn’t go too well lol, but now that I’m more skilled in the hair department I’m looking forward to get my barbers license.

At first being a hair stylist was something I was trying to avoid because my mom was a hairstylist, but then I had a financial hardship to where my children and I were homeless but we had a car so I decided to be a mobile hair braider. Some months passed, a few people let us live with them, then I started braiding hair from wherever I laid my head. We eventually were able to afford an apartment of our own and I continued to do hair from home but clientele grew so I had to move. Now I’m a natural hairstylist at a celebrity hairstylist salon.

I personally love being a hairstylist, it’s therapeutic to me. I love meeting new people and making them smile. I love being able to treat and teach people how to take care of their natural hair. I love knowing I’m growing someone’s natural hair and they actually trust me with their natural hair. It’s really a good feeling and it makes me proud that people choose me. I’ve now done four celebrities hair and counting. I’m looking forward to meeting more potential clients from all over the world.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my audience on social media by being myself. It’s just easier that way. People like genuine people. Also, staying consistent helps a lot. Even if you post one client a day, there’s always someone watching and that person could potentially be your new client.

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

Being a single mother of two children, it’s nearly impossible to give up when you feel like there’s nothing else you can do. I remember being homeless, watching my babies sleep in the back of the car and wondering why nobody loved us, why couldn’t anyone help us and I remember never wanting to be in that position again. We went from sleeping in the car, to sleeping at people houses that didn’t want us there. It wasn’t a good feeling but we survived the storm. It seems like as soon as things went back to normal, we took another “L”. My children’s father went to prison in 11/2022, so now I have no choice but to go harder. I refuse to let my children down.

Contact Info:

• Website: StyleSeat.com/StyleByMal
• Instagram: Natural6eauty
• Facebook: Malarene Porchia
• Twitter: MalareneP_
• Youtube: Natural6eauty
• Other: TikTok: Natural6eauty