We were lucky to catch up with Stefanie Davis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stefanie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

Growing up and now into my adulthood, both of my parents have served in the ministry. As a “preacher’s kid,” most people automatically assume stereotypical values just by that title alone. Some of those being: believing and trusting in a higher power (in my case, God), doing good, and resisting temptation. While all of those did have an impact on my life and journey, it is so much deeper than that. My biggest take away from my childhood was watching my parents love people for who they were, where they were, and serving them in whatever capacity was needed for their circumstances. My parents would work all day, come home and serve others in their “off” time. At an early age, I remember my Dad picking up people off the side of the road and taking them to wherever they needed (that only happened a few times until my mom found out and then my dad would only do it if my sister and I weren’t in the car for safety reasons). He would come home, not even eat dinner, and there would be a knock on the door or phone call. It would be someone needing counsel or just a listening ear. I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve watched my mother prepare a meal, pie, or cookies for someone who had just lost a loved one or had just come home from the hospital. As morbid as it sounds, there were numerous times we were in people’s homes as their loved one who had been placed on hospice passed to the other side. Monkey see, monkey do, and for me, it was mimicking my parent’s servant’s heart. I know nothing else but to love someone for who they are, be real and transparent in hopes of relating to the person in need, and doing for others. I remember when I was younger watching my parents day in and day out do for others and getting angry or frustrated because I didn’t feel what they did was appreciated, but that never stopped them. They continued to do for others. Being raised in a home like this, it is not a wonder that both my sister and I ended up in careers serving others, as she is a licensed counselor and I am a hairstylist, AKA – non-licensed counselor. As a result of my upbringing, I am often reminded by friends, family and even clients that I do hair to make a living and provide for my family rather than for charity work. As much as I have to be reminded of this, it is ingrained in me. It’s an automatic response for someone to sit in my chair after being let go from their job that day and have to force them to leave without paying for their haircut or for someone to share that their partner is cheating and send them home with complimentary products that will hopefully help boost their confidence. I hear over and over how talented I am, and whether or not it’s humility or lack of confidence in what they are saying, I truly believe the success I’ve experienced thus far in my career and life is not due to my talent, grit or anything else, but from caring and loving people right where they are. I read a quote by an unknown author that summarizes what my parents’ example instilled in me and has impacted who I am. “Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth, and your heart for love.”

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 started in the beauty industry in 2001, completed a 2 year apprenticeship surrounded by several talented and master stylists, those of which will always hold a special place in my heart. In March of 2004 I moved to the Relache Spa & Salon at the Gaylord Texan Resort and was honored to be apart of the opening team there, where many of us still remain. While there I have been everything from the lead stylist to currently on-call stylist. In 2018 due to the demand of two active pre-teens now teenagers and the need to be in charge of my own schedule, I decided to branch out on my own and start Hey Gorgeous Hair Salon. What I love about this business and my career are the relationships I develop with my current and future clients. This is the motivation and drive to further educate myself, fine tune my skills, to better improve the quality of my services and being in my chair for the clients I love so much! I have lots of exciting plans and ideas for Hey Gorgeous Hair Salon that I look forward to seeing come into fruition. In addition to Hey Gorgeous Hair Salon and working on-call at the Gaylord Texan, I also share partnership in Veiled LLC, where we’ve created and share our own methods of extension installations and knowledge with fellow stylists.
In the salon I use ALL things Moroccan Oil including their newly launched colour line and I’m obsessed. I spend most my time in the salon mostly doing hair extensions, coloring, blonding services, and cuts.
When it comes to my clients hair my first priority is the integrity of the hair-restoring and maintaining. Coming in at a close second, is the client looking and feeling gorgeous.
To all of my clients: thank you for your business and driving me to be a better stylist. To all my future clients: It’d be my honor to have you in my chair and I look forward to meeting you.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

In the aspect of building my clientele my story is a bit different. Working for a resort majority of our clientele was transient, while we did have some regulars it was mostly hotel guests. Most stylist start out with little experience and little clientele, where I started with a good amount of experience with little clientele. In the beginning of starting Hey Gorgeous, I would ask stylist with an established clientele for their advice on building the clientele. It always drove me crazy when they said word of mouth, because it was like ok you have to have clients to get clients, but honestly word of mouth has been the best source. It took patience and time but eventually it has been like a snowball effect. Also the all mighty Google, this also took some time and a few good reviews.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

At the beginning of Hey Gorgeous I worked a second full-time job to fund and feed my business until it could sustain itself. I had a full blown family and not making money was not an option, so I worked to sustain my family’s lives and build my business. There were some definite sacrifices, but we knew it was going to be worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://square.site/book/HFD4ZGQVVWVJV/hey-gorgeous-hair-salon-fort-worth-tx
• Instagram: heygorgeous_hairsalon
• Facebook: Heygorgeoushairsalon