We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Schiana Williams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Schiana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
This question hits home, because we all start our childhood learning from an experimental form of teaching. Whether society believes it or not. For example you can tell a child a stove is hot but until they touch it, they won’t know for sure unless they see for themselves. That is what I would change about our educational system. We need a more physical hands on approach on education and for it to be fair across the board for all students!
Why is it that grades K-6 are the most fundamental in our children’s life? Its because in those years we are receiving the prime base education that every person needs. I feel personally after that everything else is circumstantial and definitely shouldn’t be up to the gov’t what we learn for many of reasons, (That’s a topic for another day!)
Why do you think people take their kids and pay to put them in better schools? It’s to take control over their kids education, which I don’t blame them! The only problem with that is not everybody has that privilege.
For centuries we have been taught that institutionalize teaching is the best way to go if you want to actually have a excellent “successful” career. As we come up on this new generation of children and social media, especially during and after covid, we have seen first hand that is not true! I myself can personally testify to that, as I was able to obtain my cosmetology licensed at the age of 18 because of my high school offering career ready courses!
Now like I mentioned not every school offers that program which is a problem, because every child should have the option to choose their path! Could you imagine if we had more hands on learning options how many kids wont just choose university college for the mear purpose of ” that’s what I was told I’m supposed to do.” I’m not just talking career path programs for choosing a career but everything we actually need to be successful adults! That is how we should be spending high school!
I feel as an young adult, I’m still learning and becoming the best version of myself but I can’t help but reflective on the things that could have set me up for success at an earlier age. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is not knowing how to adult. It is bizarre right? They say that we should experience being a child and savior our childhood which is true, never take that way, but do keep in mind that we are adults longer than we are considered kids. Becoming an adult and making life altering choices is the first thing we do in life once we are done with highschool and we know nothing about it!
I wish I could have learned more about credit, the housing and rental market, mental health, life insurance, financial freedom, and career options! There are so many jobs out there that kids don’t even know exist because nobody took the time to tell them! High school should be about finding your path in this world like they say it is, but genuinely helping them not extort them to student loan debt just to be without jobs or not in the career that they actually want for themselves!
I want other young adults that come after me to live a life that they are proud to live with no regrets. Making them make a choice at such a young age without proper guidance of knowing what’s to come is wrong because technically even right after high school you’re still not ready for the real world!
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?
I am Schiana Williams, 25, and I would consider myself as an creative! If art is involved, I’m always down for it! I am a licensed cosmetologist, a content creator, and as of last year a small business owner reselling cool vintage and trendy clothing!
I have always had a passion for art and fashion! In school and out you could always find me drawing, painting, or on Youtube and Pinterest finding some DIY project to recreate! Once I got to highschool they offered cosmetology as a course and so I took it and ended up falling in love with my passion even more. I graduated, I got my licensed, and started working at Ulta as an Brow Expert for Benefit Cosmetics for 6 years.
During that time I became more and more comfortable with my craft and decided I wanted to start sharing my creativity to social media! I started filming hair and makeup tutorials, taking photos of my outfits all for fun! People started to enjoy my content which made me so happy! I then started getting feedback from major brands and companies. They wanted to collab and share their products with me! I started to realized my potential and began taking it more seriously! Now I am able to consider being an influencer apart of my career!
I got into fashion growing up, we always shopped at the thrift stores. My mom didn’t have much money for new clothes all the time, so we would go thrifting! As I got older it started to just become second nature! They had all the cute trendy pieces nobody else would have, and affordable so I was content! Over the years of finding my personality and sense of style I can say that thrifting had the most influence on me finding my passion for fashion. I started to realize that alot of people enjoy my clothing and style and that there are so many clothes that just get wasted in landfills if they dont get purchased so I took matters in my own hands! While still working at ulta at thte time I started selling clothes online through Facebook, Depop and Poshmark part time!
For a while I wasn’t happy with where I was in my path, so I decided back in April of this year to take a leap of faith and quit Ulta and start my own journey. I left to pursue my career as an entrepreneur and creator full time. I currently rent a booth at The Beauty Lounge in Murfreesboro, TN! I am now able to have the creative freedom I always dreamed of having! I named my business “The Schique Experience”. Schique comes from my name Schiana (She- ahn-nuh), my grandmother named me which means beauty. I want to my clients to feel and know that when they sit in my chair, or purchase an item from me, that it will be a beautiful experience every time!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Since I graduated high school at the age of 17, I have been primarily living on my own but before then I was still an only child at home. A home where I wasnt fully accepted being the type of person I am, which is a black lesbian. At a early age I was forced to grow up, I went through alot of traumatizing situations in my childhood, (deceit, divorce, homelessness, abuse, loss, etc.). You name it, it probably happened. Now I don’t want you to read this and feel any sense of sorry for me, remember this is a resilience story.
In the prime years of my life I have had to go through alot alone, but what came from it was my self reflection. I chose to take my time and pour it into me, before I was even able to realize that was what I was doing. I am now able to look back at my childhood and young adult life and see that God was just molding me and molding me into becoming the person I am now and striving everyday to be!
I was able to realize my gift to the world, I would say the most impactful time was in the 6th grade Mrs. Stone class at Bradley Academy, when I drew my idol (Rihanna) she made us do an art project over 6 weeks with oil pastels. It’s still my greatest and earliest accomplishments because it was the most realistic thing I had ever drawn! I knew then I had a true creative gift. I got older and over the years my craft has now transformed to faces and for a living and I wouldn’t have it any other way! My clients and followers online are my greatest asset, because they show me why my craft matters! Our gifts of this world are not for our own use but how we can be of service to our community!
Through everything I have been through I have never once lost my craft, in fact its what has kept me going every single day. I never once let a soul tell me who I was, because I was always sure of who I was and determined to have what I wanted out of this life. If it is one thing I have learned in my childhood is that time waits for no one so why would I live my life miserable and unhappy. Everyone deserves a chance to have love and happiness and I went after mine. I just so happened to realize it a lot earlier in life!
I told myself I wasn’t going to live my life depressed, my entire childhood was depressing. Adulthood was my chance to live my life on my terms. I wanted to be the one in control of my choices. I knew living in shame of my sexuality was dishonest to myself so I moved out of my mother’s place as soon as I graduated and pursued my passion as an artist! Thanks to my highschool cosmetology hours I finished cosmetology school in about 7 months instead of the normal 18mo program. There began the journey of the woman I am today. She was young hungry, and ready to take on the world!
I leave you with this story not to just show my resilience through my trauma but for tell you to find your voice throughout all the noise in the world and you will forever remain on top. Always remember, NO ONE can tell you how to be you.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
Yes it did! Back in 2016 I started working at Ulta, and this was my first big girl job once I got my license (big girl job = benefits), as their Benefit Cosmetics Sales Rep and Arch Expert. I saw this job as an opportunity to get product knowledge on makeup products and I got to apply makeup on clients as well as provide a service! It was a win in my book at the time.
As I started to learn more over time and practice my makeup and brow skills, I began to post my content on social media making tutorials here and there. Then I later started to take makeup clients outside of work on my days off. My content was getting seen which made me happy! I kept at it for a while and I started getting more foot traffic on my platforms and getting more clients.
I was content for a while until things took a turn at my job, I wasn’t happy anymore nor was I making enough money. There was no room for growth in my position. I became more and more upset with my circumstances of my job. So I came to the conclusion after 6 years it was time for me to go and take my career into my own hands! ( P.S. don’t wait nearly as long as I did, if a job isn’t serving you please leave. There are other jobs out there just make sure you leave with a plan b)
I, of course had my back up plan which is where I am now. I currently rent a booth at a salon here in Murfreesboro doing makeup and salon services. Most of my clients I had over the years decided to follow me and I have been able to also grow new clientele. I still run my social media platforms, and resell clothing online!
I am truly grateful to be in the position to take on new opportunities, I am still growing and learning the ropes of self employment but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love having my freedom!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theschiqueexperience.square.site/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithschi/?utm_medium=copy_link
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Schiana-Williams/100000348197270/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/lifewithschi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrIkxajvRLjkoKBHAMNnDpg
- Other: https://www.depop.com/shopschique/
Image Credits
@adrenasimpson, @alessebee, @itsl0ren