We recently connected with Optulie Heriveaux and have shared our conversation below.

Optulie, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

One of the things my mother did right that I value the most was instilling resilience in me. In my very first interview with Voyage ATL, I spoke about the rocky relationship I had with my mother. A year later, however, I can look back and look at things with a different lens due to being out in the world.

As a child, I used to always feel like my mother was tough on me. Her “you can always do better” attitude used to drive me crazy and it made me feel like my good wasn’t good enough. As my mother and I have healed our rough patches and I’ve started to see her as an individual instead of my mommy, it was so much easier for me to understand her intentions.

My mom and I are polar opposites when it comes to emotions. Being born and raised in Haiti and coming to the States as a young teenager, my mother was raised to be as solution based as possible. It helps out a lot, and she’s very quick on her feet when it comes to solving problems. Me, though? I always need to cry it out first. I’m much more expressive with my emotions whether the solution is in front of me or takes some time to find, and we used to butt heads a lot because of that.

Although I’ve often felt misunderstood, I’ve grown up to understand that she just wanted to make sure I was a strong, focused, and determined woman. She understood how cold and evil this world can be way before I did, and she wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be knocked down easily once I grew older and started going on my own path. Us being able to have talks now about how we both were raised gives me even more strength (and patience), as we’re now both learning new things from each other instead of me just learning from her. I’m 1000% positive that if I was raised differently, I wouldn’t be here telling my story or even having a story to share. I’m so grateful to her, and there isn’t a thing that I would change about our relationship looking back.

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

I am self-taught wig specialist! I started out by wearing/installing wigs I bought from my friend, trying different colors and different styles. I realized how much I enjoyed being creative with hair, so I decided to start a brand that specializes in wig creativity. I color, style, and customize wig units to my client’s desires and I’ll do an occasional wig installation here and there.

What sets me apart from others is how I incorporate my client’s individuality in their unit. Sometimes it’s as simple as them sending me a reference picture and me creating it, but I’ve also had clients in which we’ve had to sit down 1 on 1 and discuss a wig look and how to execute it for about an hour or so. Even if my clients want to replicate a look that’s been seen or done before, I still always have to make sure that the unit is specifically catered to THEM; whether it’s their look for the occasion or how they want to feel/be seen when they’re wearing the unit. It’s actually a lot more work than I thought it would be when I started, but I absolutely love what I do. It always feels like an honor when a client chooses me to bring their visions to life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Recently I had my very first client who was disappointed with her outcome. It was a lot for me to handle because I never want any of my client’s to feel that I intentionally did something wrong, and despite me trying to fix the issue for her she was still disappointed and refused my help.

The timing of the situation is what bothered me the most because I felt like I was performing so well when it came to other aspects of business. My social media accounts were growing, I was getting better engagements and creating better content, and the client initially was in love with her unit. I was so optimistic with how things were looking and I thought that I was on the brink of my first big breakthrough LOL, literally was so hype.

When she expressed her disappointment with her unit and told me she didn’t want my help or want me to fix it, I was so torn. Although it was a mistake, she assumed there was malicious intent behind it, and the pressure of the whole situation made me consider quitting. Yes, I was performing better than usual on social media and having my good moments, but a lot of people don’t talk about how draining working the algorithm is. Trying to master that while you have an angry client is a lot to deal with emotionally, and at the time I wanted to throw in the towel.

Then I remembered the best business advice someone could ever give me: “fail forward”. Because it was my first upset client I took it hard, but looking at the situation objectively made me realize that the last thing I need to do is quit. I used that experience as a lesson + motivation to learn and create better. Being more proactive in my business has helped me so much in other areas of my life as well.

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 biggest thing I’ve unlearned so far is being unforgiving. I used to take everything TOO personal, and in turn it led me to hold grudges and be angry at people no matter how much I loved them.

In September of 2022 I started feeling nudges to read a Bible. That nudge in itself was so weird to me because although I grew up religious, I always rejected it because religion never felt welcoming or accepting. When I started reading the Bible more I realized that God + Jesus and religion are two completely different things, and I was able to understand so much from that book. I was finally able to understand the depths of God’s love for humanity and for each individual specifically (regardless of your background or labels) and it shifted everything for me.

Through the Bible I was able to understand how important, necessary, and liberating it is to forgive people. Being more forgiving in my personal life has in turn led me to change how I operate in business; I’m now able to hold myself accountable while simultaneously giving myself grace. I wasn’t able to give myself grace and forgive myself before understanding Christ.

Contact Info:

• Website: hairiveau.com
• Instagram: hairiveau