We recently connected with Sabrina Gray and have shared our conversation below.

Sabrina , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

One of the biggest risk I took would be in 2020 after being shut down and out of salon for 4 months. I decided during that time to pivot from being everyone’s stylist to niching down and focusing on curls. The reason this was a big risk is because at the time I only had 3 curly clients. This meant that I was start over and loosing more that 90% of my client base. I took this risk because I was so burnt out and no longer inspired with the beauty industry. I was giving it my last effort before walking away all together. I’m so deeply grateful that I didn’t. I launched in 2020 July as the Curl coach and in 3 short months I made more in my business in 3 months than I did in 3 years. I am now one of the most requested textured specialist. I went on to build an amazing client based & now an education for a global texture brand Mizani.

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

With hair industry roots, Sabrina comes from a legacy of seeing her aunts run high-end hair salons, where her love for hair began. Sabrina has been licensed since 2013 and started her career in a salon where she serviced all hair types. During that time, she realized a lack of stylists catered to natural hair outside of a silk press and trim. Since then, she has spent countless hours studying the science behind textured hair and how it operates.
Sabrina is now the owner of The Curl Garden Studio, where they cater to waves, curls, coils, and highly textured hair. Even as an expert in the textured hair realm, Sabrina prides herself on being a lifetime student by attending continuing education classes.
Sabrina is a Deva Cut, Rezo Cut, and Mizani Air Cut certified stylist and has taken classes from Evan Joseph, Mizani, and Leysa C of forever curls education.
Sabrina chose to specialize in curly hair because she wanted to help women embrace their authentic texture and become their own hair goals. Clients, students, and colleagues affectionately call her “The Curl Coach.” (Which she wears as a badge of honor). Her radiant message of Hair Identity continues to inspire and encourage the women who sit in her chair daily.
Sabrina is a national educator and curl specialist for L’Oréal Mizani. She is educating upcoming hairstylist in the industry and bringing awareness to the beauty and versatility of texture hair. #TextureLove
The Curl Garden Studios is more than a salon; it’s therapy for your curls.

The Curl Garden Studio is an education-centered Salon. Our focus is cultivating relationships and creating an therapeutic experience for waves, curls, and coils.

With our expertise in textured hair care fundamentals and techniques, we aim to advocate for hair artists to have access to curl-centered education; and clients access to an inclusive salon experience where their texture is celebrated.
We are looking to continue to expand our community reach by partnering with the Foster care system and providing education for the parent and child to feel confident in nurturing their textured hair. We will also partner with organizations that help and support domestic violence survivors. I know firsthand how haircare can help rebuild self-esteem and confidence as they heal.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

when I decided to take this journey as a business owner more seriously I knew I needed to hire a coach. So I joined the Influencer Academy at the time under my Coach & Pastor Tracey Armstrong. This program helped me gain a healthy mindset around business, marketing, and setting myself apart in what would be an over saturated market. A few of the books that greatly helped me would be first Boundaries by Henry cloud & Dr John Townsend. This book helped me understand what was in my control and how to say no as a full sentence. The other book I would share is Business secrets from the Bible by Rabbi Daniel Lapin. This book helped me partner my faith with my business and learn so extremely effective ancient tools to apply for success.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The thing that helped me build my reputation within my market was my own personal hair story. I was very vocal about my journey over the course of about 7 years prior to me becoming The Curl Coach. They watched me with chemically processed and heat damaged curls to learning to understand and embrace my true texture. I was always so open and honest about my hair that others trusted me with theirs years later. They also saw the result.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.GraycefullySabrina.com
• Instagram: @graycefullysabrina @thecurlgardenstudio

Image Credits
Merissa Humes for a few of my photos