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

Shakela, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

The biggest risk that I have taken was when I decided to continue my salon business off of the vision alone. Let me just say that life was really kicking my ass from every angle you could imagine. I carried it well, so most people didn’t even have a clue as to what all I was juggling. I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. Yet, the faith in my vision, that God gave me, kept me going. As I was deciding to resign my lease, I was also deciding to become a new person. I knew that my old ways and patterns would not serve me in this new season. I was scared. I felt alone. I felt misunderstood. But i believed! When they say that you only need the Faith of a mustard seed, it is really all that you need. Since i made the decision, it has taken a lot of work to keep things going, but it has been necessary and pivotal! I am growing daily in every way imaginable. My biggest takeaway has been about vision. When you have a vision, it is yours, only. Only YOU can see it thru. Everyone will NOT understand it, and that is okay. Do it anyway. Do it scared. You will learn as you go. Stay committed and have faith.. Take it step by step, day per day. Be gentle with yourself and speak life into yourself in the areas that you need it the most. You can do it and you will.

Shakela, 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?

For those of you that do not know me, I am Shakela! I am one of the owners of The Funky Fab House Salon. I specialize in natural hair and dimensional hair color. My goals are to provide my clients and future clients with a hair regimen that suits their lifestyle, a safe space to speak and to be seen, and also a space for connection. After the pandemic and coming from a salon suite, I realized how important it was to connect with people, physically. I switched careers at 30 years old for the sense of freedom and flexibility. After enrolling in hair school, at Paul Mitchell Murfreesboro, I then realized how much courage it took to do what I had just done. Courage and bravery is what sets me apart from the others. Every person that sits in my chair gets me, in full spectrum. It is my transparency that inspires my clients that they too, can do it even if it’s hard. What I am most proud of is that I still want to show up as the person that God has called me to be, despite of.. I still want to operate from the heart in a very cruel world. It’s literally my super power! My brand was created with the people in mind. It speaks validation, creativity, being authentic, genuine, unique, kind, or whatever it is that you want to be.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn was that just because I am my own boss, doesn’t mean I can do what I want, when I want. You have to create parameters and some type of schedule. When I first started, I enjoyed the freedom a little too much I shall say. I quickly realized that I had to get a grip or my business would indeed suffer. I had to unlearn my definition of freedom. Freedom to me now is being able to create my day, with intention.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I knew it was time for a pivot when I started to loose sight of the vision. I started to go into auto- pilot mode at the salon. I was doing the bare minimum and was starting to get comfortable. I am aware that when I get too comfortable, something is off track. My business partner and I realized that we needed to pivot. Since we have started to create processes that makes us more efficient, and we have also started to create regular salon business hours to make sure that we are committing the proper time back into our business. It was something that I fought for a while because it would take away my sense of freedom, right? The changes have been put into play and we are making strides and our business is growing!

Contact Info:

• Website: thefunkyfabhouse.com
• Instagram: @hairchemistry @funkyfabhouse @nturnalbeauti
• Facebook: The Funky Fab House