Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tracina Dilligard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tracina, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
So my business WW.A.V.E (Wig & Wedding Artistry Visually Enticing) the original concept came to me a few years ago from a close industry friend, when I expressed I wanted to start my own business. I had always known from a really young age that whatever career I pursued that I would want to be my own boss and have full creative control over how I wanted to things. I’ve also always been a creative person and wanted to pull different elements together to incorporate into one brand. So about 3 or 4 years ago I felt it was the time to start the entrepreneurial process and began to brainstorm. I knew I wanted it to be unique and have now had experience in different facets of the hair industry from New York Fashion week to weddings, set work to wigs and extensions, etc. Therefore I wanted to keep participating in these parts of the industry whilst bringing my own unique concepts. One day I did a wedding with my industry friend and blurted that I wanted to start my own business and have no real direction in what exactly it should be. She said “why don’t you do wigs!” At that moment everything seemed to click and I thought ” duh, why didn’t I think of that”. So I started at it and originally had the name W.A.V.E On (Wig Art Visually Enticing On) and focused solely on making wigs. After a year or so of having the LLC I realized that this was too daunting of a job for me by myself and wanted a team but didn’t have the finances to hire such wigmakers to help aide my vision. When Covid hit in 2020 I began to think again and this time it came much easier than the first. I had already changed direction in the industry and had become mainly a wedding and special events hair stylist. A lot of my fellow industry friends had been starting their own wedding businesses and after being in that industry for about 5 years at the time it seemed to feel more natural for me to begin my own endeavors as well. It hit me like a bolt of lightening, “Tracina, why don’t you bring these two together and provide wigs for brides!” This sounded so obvious when I thought of this but hadn’t heard of anything like it. A lot of brides and even their bridal party will bring clip in extensions or have wigs and I figured why not provide the usual services and offer wigs and extensions as well. I feel like this is concept that I don’t know of any other businesses doing. If they are it is the hairstylist solely and or the companies that sell the hair alone, not a conjunction of the two. I feel like this can help those who are not very familiar with hair and the quality of it as well as more importantly relieving the stress of searching for hair for their big day. Just call WW.A.V.E and leave it to me! I have the vendors and the skill to get the hair, style and customize to client’s liking. Day of wigs will be completely styled and ready to go which will be a huge time saver! Clip in extensions are also fast and easy. I have so many plans with WW.A.VE that will help clients feel and look great and give them an experience they have yet to have which is the most exciting part for me!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Tracina Dilligard and I have been a licensed hairstylist for over a decade now. I am 33 years young, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. I made the bold move last year and moved across the country to Los Angeles. I’ve always been a dreamer with my head in the clouds, dreaming of the future and all I wish for myself, so it feels so fitting to now be living in such a dreamy place. I’ve always been a creative person and dabbled in every part of the creative and performing arts world. I loved playing with dolls as a little girl and would do their hair all the time. Funny, because I remember making it a project on weekends when I had nothing to do and would take the dolls I no longer played with whose hair were so messed up and would wash, dry and style their hair giving them makeovers. After a while I started taking before and after pictures with my polaroid because I honestly was impressed with how I transformed these dolls! I even had a little pink suitcase that was filled with combs, my mother’s sponge rollers, toy blow dyer and other play hair tools that I would use. It wasn’t until about 19 that I realized I wanted to go to beauty school and try out the hair industry; I have not waivered since. I now have been doing hair for weddings and events primarily over the past 7 years or so and have found such a passion I never knew I would have for it. I love being apart of such a special occasion, celebrating two people’s love and knowing they’ll look back on photos and I was responsible for their hair. That is why with my business WW.A.V.E I wanted to create a solution for brides and their hair, so they can worry about one less thing of the million they have on their plates for their day. I wanted them to feel not only special but also feel the love and passion that I have in making them look beautiful. In the future I plan to have bridal wigs in a nice gift box so they have something as a gift from WW.A.V.E, something to maintain their unit and future units if they so choose, as well as something to remember their day! I love being unique and creating unique ideas and experiences that can set me apart from the rest. I am most proud of my courage to take the leap and finally move away and begin to really follow my dreams! I want potential clients to know that just how I took a leap of faith and moved 3000 miles away, if they take the leap of faith with me and with WW.A.V.E, I will do my best to make their wedding day hair dreams come true!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
There have been very few times, but few indeed where I’ve questioned whether I should continue in the beauty industry or not. The beauty industry although is very rewarding and I love it so much, it is still customer service based, shallow, and people can be really harsh on our skills as artists when we don’t satisfy them completely. Doing this for so long I have had plenty of times where client’s were dissatisfied and as always I do my best to please them and correct the issues they are having. But sometimes there’s just no satisfying some one when they’ve already made up their mind about you. I had an incident with a bride one time which has never happened to me before, and it started out bad and ended worst. We had previously did a trial for her hair and she wasn’t the nicest but also not mean, but her energy didn’t feel warm or inviting. So day of came and me nor the makeup artist were very excited but I had no idea the day would take such a turn. After set up and the bride arriving, I’m chatting with the other hairstylist who’s on the team with me and she walks over and doesn’t even acknowledge me and starts to discuss her hair with the other hairstylist. Me and the other stylist look at each other perplexed and then I interrupt to say to the bride ” I can help, I’m doing your hair”. This already set the mood for not the greatest time ahead with her but I try not to let it get to me too much. Fast forward to me doing her hair, I initially felt relieved as she had changed the look up to one I felt more comfortable and confident doing. This feeling didn’t last long as she proceeded to find problems with every piece of hair and then expressed she wanted something but would contradict herself with the opposite request. She then said she liked one of her bridesmaid’s hair and wanted it similar. I let her know that I was capable of doing the look she wanted but it contradicted some of what she said she didn’t want. We went back and forth during the hour of trying to figure out what she wanted, while some of her bridesmaids commented on her looking like an old lady and making other rude and snarky comments. I was really uncomfortable but had to continue and did my best to satisfy this bride but nothing seemed to do the trick. She finally settled with what we had done and I said we can make adjustments later on if she wanted. Later on came, and I was told my the wedding planner that the bride requested the other hairstylist to do her hair. I said it was fine but immediately felt insulted, angry and hurt. I walked out the room as fast as I could and felt mad at myself for being a failure and mad that the bride obviously didn’t want me as her stylist from the beginning. I definitely went home and questioned my whole existence and wondered if maybe I should pursue other creative careers. I had to pick myself up and remember what my beauty school teacher use to tell the class all the time “You can’t make everyone happy”. If I let every client who has criticized, felt unsatisfied, or has been cruel in rudeness, I would be somewhere at a desk unhappy with my life. I had to keep reminding myself of the overwhelming satisfaction I receive from clients in comparison to those who aren’t and know that I am still talented. Although I may have walked out of that room that day feeling low, I still held my head up high to look forward to a better day.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I wouldn’t necessarily call this a lesson unlearned, but more of a behavior unintentionally instilled from a young age. I had to unlearn being so codependent and fearing venturing out on my own. I call it a behavior because it was something I picked up on and being the only child growing up in a single parent home, I learned to be really codependent and didn’t even realize it until more recently in life. As a little girl, I remember being so afraid to even spend the night at family’s homes even for one night because I was so afraid of not being with my mother, the thought alone terrified me! Some people may say that this is just apart of being a kid, but this learned behavior followed me well into adulthood and even in business. Everyone has fears of doing things on their own but with me, it’s always just been me and mom, and even when I thought I was being independent I found in other areas I wasn’t. I started to gain more and more independence when I started to do hair and found who I was and how much of it was apart of me. It gave me a sense of peace and reliance upon myself. But in starting my entrepreneurial journey, I immediately felt the need to have a partner. For a while I pitched the idea to a couple of people and wanted to team up with them to have the help and support where I was not as strong and also a partner to have along the way. I quickly began to realize that though they may have liked my ideas, they didn’t have my vision, and even setting up times to meet and brainstorm proved to be more difficult than it should have. I also wanted to involve family and thought this could be something great for us all, but that also proved that they may not take it as seriously as I do and that would be a demise in our personal relationship as well as the business I am trying to create. After these short failures I decided the best way is to just do this on my own. Even moving across the country I wanted to move with a friend or partner so I wouldn’t be alone. I waited 5 years to come to L.A and work to get a feel for it because every year I mentioned to people my plan and asked if they wanted to come along, it would never happen. In the beginning of2020, I decided to finally take the leap and come out here, work and live for two weeks. I did better than I thought and met a few people who turned into fast friends. Towards the end of 2021 I moved to L.A where I now reside and have also done better than I could have imagined and love the new life I have. So as much as I would love to have done a lot of life with some one, I learned that having another person or waiting for someone to journey every aspect of life with was only limiting myself. There are always people who do aide in life that we go on certain journeys with that are wonderful, but to be completely dependent on someone every step of the way isn’t possible. Growing up so attached to my mother crippled me in some ways until I learned that not even she could walk every step of my journey with me because its my path to walk. And now that I’ve finally understood this I can live life without dependence on others in order to take the next steps in life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wwaveartistry.com
- Instagram: @wwaveartistry
Image Credits
Headshot by Willow House