We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success… to achieve it takes creativity, determination, consistency, flexibility and a plan…but the”why” I think matters the most. You can picture what it looks like and do everything in your power to get there, but understanding why you want what you want enters you into a more impactful stance. Success can look like scoring high on a test. But why do you want to score high? Is it really that you want a gold star figuratively or metaphorically speaking or do you want to prove that you comprehend the information that leads to the next step? Do you want to own a salon because you want to make a bunch of money or do you do it because you want to create a place for others that you would want to work in? It has to be more than money. It has to have some level of passion. The more passion a person has for a specific area or areas, the further they will go and the more successful they will be.

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?

Hello readers, thank you for taking the time to get to know me. My name is Rachel, I am a Cincinnati native. I spent the better part of my 20s living and working in Philadelphia, Northern and Southern California. My speciality has always been working with companies and people to achieve their goals, streamline their processes and deliver results. From tattoo shops, to vacation rentals, cannabis farms to popular variety stores, I have had a blast working with some amazing companies.

In 2016 I returned to Cincinnati from Southern California following the birth of my daughter to be closer to family and all the things I loved to do when I was a kid. When I arrived in December 2016, I looked around at Cincinnati and knew that I was going to have to be creative in creating opportunities for myself. To be successful at that time looked like finding and developing a skill where I could provide for my daughter, and work by appointment, so it was possible to schedule around the needs of my family. So I did some research.

I googled Permanent Makeup and only 1 person was in the search results. I had just come from California where Permanent Makeup was trending and HOT HOT HOT! So I said cool, let’s be on the edge of the trend and get this party started in Cincinnati.

Bee from Beelistic gave me my start. Allowing me to take models and build my portfolio at his tattoo shops. I could tell that this service was a little more delicate than the average tattoo meaning that I felt I needed to be in a more delicate space. I knew I could benefit from working under someone with more experience but when I reached out to the 1 person in Cincinnati offering this service, she wanted me to commit to 40 hours a week for a year and I simply could not do that, being that I was new to motherhood and still figuring out what that looked like. These days, I would be thankful for the opportunity, but at that time my daughter was too little to be gone that much. So I kept my ears open and was eventually invited to work with a friend in a room she rented from a cute salon in Northside.

The salon was in a great location, right on the busiest corner in Northside. The owner, Edgar Gonzales, was/is amazing and gave me the freedom to work as much or as little as I liked, and gave me a welcoming environment to do it in. It was a great match. We worked side by side for 3 years before the pandemic hit in 2020. During the shutdown, I could tell Edgar was overwhelmed by the implications of what COVID meant for the business. I had an idea and vision and approached him about it. There’s a saying, “If you don’t speak, you don’t eat.” He handed me the reigns and gave me ownership and I got to work with a little help from some great friends.

We remodeled the whole shop. Brand new floors, fixtures, paint and setup. We rebranded and named the shop YöMĀ Cincinnati, and ode to my Philly days (ayyyy yooo Ma what’s up! How are ya?) and brought in talented stylists that fit the needs of our neighborhood. Fast forward almost 3 years and our shop is thriving, built on the foundation that Edgar started, giving everyone who works at YöMĀ the freedom to work as much or as little as they like, in a clean, professional and welcoming environment on the best corner in Northside!

We currently have 3 full-time Hair Stylists, Emily Harden, the shag queen, Becca Faye an amazing stylist and colorist, and Edgar an experienced professional with over 3 decades of experience.

We have 3 Permanent Makeup Artists, Dana, Yolanda and myself. We offer Microblading, Powder/Ombré Brows, a Combination of both, Lip Blushing and Eyeliner services.

We also have a traditional makeup artist named Allexis who is a talented in all styles from natural beats to full glam. She does weddings, photoshoots, date nights and full on bad b*tch activating for the weekends and nights out.

David offers all things that make your teeth shine bright like caps and grillz made by our private jeweler, and Teeth Whitening!

I also offer Teeth Whitening and Tooth Gems!

We are continuing to expand and grow! So if you are interested in working with this wonderful team of talented professionals, please send a resume, a link to your social media and why you want to work with us to [email protected]

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I first began YöMĀ, it kind of all came together really fast. I had an idea, I presented it to Edgar, he approved it and it was maybe 2 or 3 days later we got the notice that salons were reopening in 10 days and to have the shop ready for clients. In 10 days we remodeled the shop putting in new floors, painting walls, getting new fixtures and decorations etc. I then started scouting and hiring a collective of talented artists and stylists that I believed would be wonderful additions to our neighborhood and business.

A few months into being open, I connected with the love of my life, future husband and now father to my unborn child. Now, I was building a business and a home at the same time. Splitting my mental energy between those areas showed me that I brought in too many people for my personal life to keep up with. People took advantage of the freedom that I allowed and with my absence in the shop, developed a skewed version of who I was and made the safe comfortable space I had created into a toxic and uncomfortable workplace.

It was hard to do but I scaled YoMA back to a manageable size that was in line with the amount of time and energy I had to give it. We have now been in business for almost 3 years and have a smooth running shop, a talented group of artists and stylists who are responsible, accountable, and professional. They are all people who appreciate the freedoms I provide while also respecting and contributing to the space. Things didn’t stay hard and uncomfortable forever, we pushed through, made realistic adjustments and kept on shining.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I had @yoma.cincinnati before I ever knew what I was going to do with it. I knew I liked the name and would use it one day, so I created the profile. One photo, no logo for probably 2-3 years. When the salon formed, it was go time and I added all the information needed in our bio. Who we are, what we do, our address, website and booking link. I added a few photos of our location and examples of everyone’s work.

We paid attention to algorithms and post peak times, and tagged our clients in our work. We looked at local businesses and saw profiles of people we thought might want to get a service by us and engaged them in conversation. We went out in the community and made friends in person, and overall have just done great work and by word of mouth our popularity has grown to keep our staff as busy as they want to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: Yomacincinnati.com
• Instagram: @yoma.Cincinnati
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/yoma.cincinnati
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-Brown-cincinnati
• Other: Google Reviews! https://g.page/r/CQuOgNMee7RFEAo/

Image Credits
All photos by Atlanta Harris