I opened my email in the parking lot of my salon and saw an email saying "congratulations" and went on to read "spread the love ". Before even reading on I started crying. I always thought people who won pageants were nuts when they cried but I couldn't help it. (So if I win I'm crossing my fingers for a tiara and a sash) I want this more than I have ever wanted something in my life. Never did i think i would be so passionate about something. I started to get into my past to give you an idea of how important this was to me. As I said before I never had any direction In what I wanted to do in my life. Ever since I was little, people would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would name a career and follow it up with , "but I know I won't get there ". I was always intelligent and would get good grades when I tried but had attention deficit disorder and never wanted to admit I needed medication to help me learn. When I was in 8th grade my brother was in a car accident. His 2 best friends didn't make it. So my teachers knew I was going through a lot started letting me slide. In high school his addiction to pain medication developed into a heroine addiction. Long story short both of my older brothers, who I always looked up to were on heroine. Since were from a small town in Ct people were talking. Again teachers began to find out and let me slide . I went through a great deal of tragedy in my middle school through high school years, and without even knowing it I was passing every grade hardly trying. By the time I graduated I had no thoughts on my future. I was so depressed and couldn't get passed why this all happened to me. My 2 brothers went from high honor students to junkies. I came from a good family, filled with love and good morals, and even then this happened. Why bother trying to make something of myself when horrible things always happened. Finally my brothers got clean moved away and started living sober lives. My brother Patrick began to get on me about my career choices and what I wanted to make of myself. All of my friends were away at school working towards degrees and here I was stuck in Enfield Ct. Finally it hit me. Take my love for arts and my compassion for people and apply it to a career. The answer was obvious , hair stylist. But I remember being younger and someone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I said a hair stylist. They told me to stick to my ideas of college because you can't really make a lot of money doing hair. The idea always stuck with me but what that person said to me did as well. My mother had a talk with me and told me she didn't care what it was I wanted she would feel successful as a parent if only her children had careers they had passion for and loved. All she and my father cared about was if we were happy. So with out even thinking I blurted out I WANT TO DO HAIR! It finally clicked. What was missing was having passion and love for something . It just so happened that my auntie Jenn's close friend's family owned a cosmetology school. The day I started the owner came into our class and asked why we wanted to do hair. He is an amazing stylist owns 3 salons,2 schools and travels the world doing hair. Not intimidating at all... I answered " because I have a lot of compassion for people I love to help them ,I want to be proud of my life when I'm older and I live for art". He just looked at me, I thought I said something wrong maybe I should have went with the obvious "since I got my first barbie and played with her hair I knew this is what I wanted" , like everyone else. Then he said that there was no right answer to that question but if there were he'd swear that was it. When the time came to start working on our mannequins my passion began to fizzle. I couldn't even part hair correctly how am I going to do this for a living? I was so used to getting away with not trying or applying myself I was not used to working at something. If I wanted this it had to be from my hard work. It didn't come easy to me. The catty girls in school began making fun of me and saying I would never get anywhere. So I started missing school and letting go of my dreams. A teacher pulled me aside one day and asked me if I had any issues with learning. When I said I had A.D.D. but was embarrassed to be on medicine she made me realize it's ok to admit you have a problem and need help. I went to the doctor and started taking medicine. I did a complete 180, I took responsibility of what I needed to do. There were no more excuses. In the last two months of school I was there early everyday worked all day and took in everything a teacher would tell me. I loved to learn anything I was told I couldn't wait to try it. But before I knew it school was done. I got a job at mastercuts right after. I jumped right into it having no idea what was in store. It was a rocky start but absorbed everything people told me and really loved learning the correct way to do hair and sell retail. I've already come so far! I feel as though I completely jipped myself of a really good education. I would love the opportunity of learning for 6 months straight. I feel like I would use everything this opportunity offers. I have worked so hard to get where I am and now that I've gotten here I feel like the possibilities are endless. I want to challenge myself and prove to myself that not only am I a good stylist but I can only go up from here. I would show people that anything is possible if you love it and want it enough. As long as you work hard you can truly do anything that you want. I want to show people that no matter what your dream is you can achieve it. Even if you have speed bumps along the way you will get there. It might take you a little longer than others but if you believe enough you will get there. My brothers have come so far and I am so proud of who they are today. I want to take this journey to make them proud. I want my parents to see how they raised me as a hard working person who will do anything it takes to be the best stylist and person I can be. If I can learn what it takes to be the best I would work as hard as I can to reach my dreams as a stylist.
Being a hair stylist means everything to me. I don't want to think of where my life would be if I didn't follow through. I never took into consideration how important this career really is. You can change the way someone really feels about themselves. When a client walks in with low self esteem and can't tell you one thing they like about their hair, and after your through they see themselves and holds their heads high. It gives you a feeling that can't be described. I learned through my own experiences in life that when you don't feel good about yourself you can't move forward. I love that everyday I go to work I have the ability to change a persons life. I feel so fortunate to be able to do what I love and change others lives. Most people (sometimes stylists included) forget how much power this career has. For a long time I did not realize until I started giving free haircuts to the underprivileged people in my town. Whenever I go to the soup kitchen I get at least 10 people who tell me after their haircut they went out to look for jobs because they felt great about themselves. Taking 5 hours every few months to volunteer can change so many lives. Then I realized I do that every day whenever a client sits in my chair. As corny as I sound being a hairstylist really means the world to me. I can help people doing what I love.
I wish the whole world could have the passion for helping people that I do. If I could change the world I would make everyone have more compassion for others and take away the greed. People look for money before happiness and passion. If people did something they loved they would be happier in life. Miserable people don't want to help others because they are too fixated on how miserable they are. Unfortunately I don't have a magic wand to change everyone. But I think if I stay who I am and keep doing the right thing I may be able to rub off on a few people.
When I told my best friend about this opportunity she was so excited for me. We have been best friends since second grade she's seen the transformation I have made so far. She said I always think of others and put others first, and it's time that something really great happens for me. I think she would tell you how I've always been a very loyal and dependable person. Everyone knows they can come to me if they need something. She would also tell you how I am constantly growing as a person and in my career. Also that I'm a very determined person who will conquer any challenge to get where I want to be.
If I am chosen to spread the love, I will work harder than I have ever worked before. I want nothing more than to gain as much knowledge I can about the one thing I love the most in life. I will share my passion for this industry with everyone I meet, and hopefully I can show others how easy it is to change lives. I Want to be proud of myself and I want to make family proud of me. It would be my way of showing them I appreciate them helping me follow my dreams and I will do anything it takes to be the best me I can be!
