We recently connected with Treshana Gaskin and have shared our conversation below.
Treshana, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
My mission is to serve the people. As someone who works on the crown I believe its imperative I check my energy before I start to work and speaking life over the crown is a must. I am here to awaken the bold and confident spirit we all have inside of us. this is why I do it. That’s how I feel when my hair is done and im looking and feeling good. And that what I want people to feel once they leave my chair
Treshana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into this industry believe it or not, because I had to learn to do my own hair. My mom didn’t know how to braid well, my dad would take us to different cousins houses every two weeks to do our hair but we always complained of how painful it was and the style only lasting about a week. And every time my grandma did our hair, my sister and I, she would complain and I would get teased at school for having doo doo braids lol. That’s what they called it back then. These days I provide natural hair services and hair care. The biggest complaint I hear from people is that they have a hard time finding stylists that actually care about their natural hair and not just what’s trending. And that’s where I come in. Ive been told I have growing hands so I do my best to maintain that title. I want my clients to know and feel like they are in a safe space to take up space in their most authentic way.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
the number one thing I’ve noticed to be the most effective for growing my clientele is staying to true to what I am good at. When selling bubbles and wigs and weave and frontal was on the rise it was very tempting to want to jump on the bandwagon. But those things never really resonated with me. Even during and after the pandemic, so many people were doing trending styles making BANKK! and im here watching and comparing getting sad because I knew I was a great stylist and didn’t understand why people weren’t booking. But as I built up my confidence and connected with more seasoned vets and gained more knowledge, that’s when the folks started inquiring more and trusting my expertise. So overall id say confidence, networking and trust has been the most effective strategy for growing my clientele.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
So I gave birth January 2021 and in November of that year my grandma did her big one and helped me out by taking my baby back home, Guyana, giving me time to get myself together. So I searched and I planned, planned and searched and March 2022 I found an apartment and a salon to work at in a the close but far city of Philly. I had to start over with clientele not to mention getting used to paying my own bills and really learning how to be on my own. Most days were good, others were some really harsh character truths and building and ego deaths. Nevertheless I persevered and came out triumphant. August 2022 my daughter and grandma came back for a spell and I was still living in Philly traveling bak and forth every weekend until they left again in November. Two weeks later that same grandmother died. I was devastated because I thought I had more time and I literally just lost my best friend. So on such short notice I had to pivot, make arrangements for my daughter to come back to the US find schooling and just adjust on such short notice. I was NOT prepared. March 2023 my lease was up and I said i’ll move to Atlanta I can do it big out there and things should work out great! Wrong! The salon I wanted to work at so bad ended up being a major lesson learned and I struggled like I have NEVER struggled before in almost every area of life and in December of 2023 I decided to just come back home to Brooklyn to recalibrate. Needless to say, I’ve been on an upward trajectory since then with GOD on my side and a trusted soul on my spirit team.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehairmechanic/
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@EverydayT