​

October 5th, 2004

I received a call at 11:30 that no one ever wants to get.

It was a call from the Jackson Police department. They proceeded to tell me that my salon was on fire, and it was a total loss.

I was speechless. Anyone that knew us knew that we went above and beyond when it came to fire safety. Making sure our salon stations were turned off, the wax stations were turned off, and that the hair vacuums were always on off because I've heard of way too many fires. How could this happen? (I’m also not legally allowed to share how the fire started but I can say, it was an accident, and I am genuinely not angry. In the wildest way ever, it pushed me to exactly where I was meant to be)

Just a little backstory on my journey for those who don't know.

In 2015 I branched off into my own space. I worked with the women next door for 8 years at Shear Convenience. Two women who are basically family to me. I would not be where I am without them. I don't think they'll ever realize how special they are to me!

I then worked in a Suite that was about 400 ft² on my own. The only reason I branched off was because I started offering another service that we didn't have space for in the current unit between the three of us.

We spent months building, painting, and basically living/eating/breathing the salon build in Suite C.

Not long after branching off, I had two more girls that came to work with me. I then had a couple more people reach out and ask about space. At that point, I decided to expand into the bigger unit right next door.

Right as we started that project, my husband injured his back, so this project ended up taking 9 months to complete. It forced me to learn a lot about building and construction! I started knocking down walls and just kept going. I don't think anyone who hasn't gone through a process like this will ever understand what it took to make it happen! The time, the money, and all the hours spent away from our children, so that I could create a space not only for myself, but to help other women become entrepreneurs and take care of their families as well.

The landlord at the time was also kind enough to include a small loan into my rent that I would pay off over the course of the next 3 years. For 3 years I could not take off Saturday. We could not go on vacation as I had massive goals that I was working towards. I was genuinely happy for everyone else who was able to go out and live because this was my dream and I was going to make it happen. And I did. I was super grateful to my mom and dad who came in to help knock down walls, paint, or even just watch the kids so that I could go work on the space. I remember being there past midnight some nights just because I had to finish painting so that we could get open. A lot of people also don't understand the pressure that comes along with something like this because you have other women relying on you to get open so that they have a space to work in. (RIGHT after finishing this in September of 2018, the craziness came as my nephew was now coming to live with us at a drop of a hat)

2020. Covid happened. The salon was shut down. Miles was sick that ENTIRE year which as most of you know, led to me donating a kidney to him. On top of all the other craziness that came along with 2020.

In 2021, an opportunity presented itself. My amazing nail girl that I had at the time had stuck it out in a small corner for years. After a long conversation and some strategizing, we determined that we would open up another space and expand so that she could have her own space! It was amazing! I was also so grateful that she trusted me, stuck it out, and grew with me! At this point we are up to three units. That unit also came after the transplant surgery. So, there was definitely a lot going on.

Not much longer we decided in 2022 to open up one more space! I wanted to help a girl that started out as a client, who became a friend, that decided to go to school to be an esthetician. I was super excited when I learned that she wanted to come work with me! So, I decided that this new space would be where I would do permanent makeup, a space for our eyelash tech, and where she would have her room.

So, in 4 years I went from 1 unit at 400 sq ft to four units at about 1700 sq ft.

I have so many amazing, amazing memories! Some days I would just sit down and look at it all because you forget to stop and appreciate things sometimes. How blessed I was to be able to accomplish something so amazing and help so many women at the same time.

I had an amazing team of women, and I did everything I possibly could for each and every one of them to help them grow and be successful as well over a 7-year span.

Unfortunately, 2024 was a rough year.

I had two separate shoulder surgeries that put me out of work for a total of 14 weeks.

My amazing nail girl had some unforeseen circumstances and decided to leave the beauty industry which also meant that I was losing a renter. Then, my super sweet lash tech decided to work out of her home to save on overhead. Which meant I was losing another renter. For me, it has never been about money. I've always wanted to create an environment that was peaceful and fun to be in. I genuinely feel like I was able to do that up until last year. 2024 was just rough.

We don't come from families that can just hand us money. I truly believe we are who we are and we are where we are in life because of the struggle and the lessons we learned from having to work harder. Something that I hope we can instill into our children as well. It really is cool to be able to look back at the things you've accomplished in life because you know how hard it was and the sacrifice that it took to get there. I am so greatly appreciative for the support we received from friends, family, and the community! Especially from Sue who took me under her wing and taught me about business and really just how to work with the public!

If you add up the time that I had to spend away from my family over the course of those salon builds/expansions, it was easily 2 years. The fire was awful, but it was more awful to look back and think how I could never get that time back. It was hard enough to see everything you’ve built completely destroyed but the feeling of defeat overcame me to think that I now have to figure out how to start over.

I think I scared my husband because everyday came with a new set of tears because of a new set of obstacles. I also had 7 other women looking to me for answers. I had no time to grieve because I had no choice to just keep going for the sake of everyone. I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. I have a couple bins left from the fire that include paperwork and every time I open it, I flashback to that exact day. Just from the smell. PTSD is no joke. Unfortunately, you also see who really cares about you as a person when something like this happens as well. I think that experience was worse than the actual fire. Getting kicked when you’re at your lowest. Something I’m not sure I’ll ever understand but will continue to wish those the best in life.

It also brought out HUNDREDS of supporters. I chose and continue to choose to appreciate and remember those who held me up when I felt like crawling into a hole.

We have the BEST community, family, and friends! I’m so grateful for all of the businesses who came together, my previous friend/pageant director who started a Go Fund Me to help us get back on our feet, and all of those who donated/reached out to support us!

I’ll also never forget the support I received from my best friend Brooke. She saw me at my absolute worst and was my rock. I’m so thankful to my amazing team who stuck by my side and helped me strategize to figure out how to get to the next step. I couldn’t have done it alone! There's certainly no step by step handbook on how to handle something like this while combining all of the emotions and confusion along with it.

So many people truly don’t understand the process of how something like this works so there were lots of insane comments, accusations, and craziness at a time where I myself was falling apart trying to figure out what to do with people coming at me from every direction.

The fire happened on October 5th. I didn’t know if I was even getting anything until December 13th and FINALLY got a check on December 19th. It was not even for half of what I invested into that second home. I was trying so hard to figure out what to do to help all of us but didn’t even know if I had money coming. We all know how insurance can be. Some of the girls also chose not to claim insurance because, and I quote, “There wasn’t enough stuff to make it worth it.” I was not that fortunate.

It broke my heart, and I cried having to tell each girl that I could not rebuild. I was quoted $50,000 JUST to put some walls back up. Not including flooring, plumbing, furnishing, etc

At this point we had all scattered to temporary locations. (I am forever grateful to Bridget Prichard for helping us have a space to work out of while we figured it out!) Four of us actually ended up in her space. We also went into that space with an understanding that we would be out by spring.

In the beginning, I had every intention of going back into that building because I am an extremely loyal person. A lot of people asked why I didn’t just go somewhere else. I just kept saying that I would never do that to that landlord. We were a team.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, loyalty doesn’t always help you win. So, without going into too much detail as I’m not here to talk ill of anyone, I was forced to look elsewhere.

More tears, panic, and confusion. I drove around frantically trying to figure out what to do and where to go. The four of us that had to be out of our space by spring, now had to work together to figure out where to go. We strategized as a team to come up with a plan, and that’s how we ended up together where we are now.

We have the most amazing landlords surrounded by the sweetest human beings to exist! WHO would have known this is what we needed. I also didn’t realize how hard I was working and how much responsibility I had until after we settled into our new space. Life became so much simpler!

I’m SO incredibly thankful for my amazing husband who saw me falling apart and just took the reins to help me rebuild. Contacting friends, getting quotes, helping build in the salon, and really just having my back.

There is ALWAYS something good to be thankful for. During that time, I just couldn’t understand so many things but looking back, this was the path that I was meant to go down for so many reasons.

2025 has been the greatest blessing I could have ever asked for!

If you've read all of the above and have made it this far, I'm excited to announce that I have finally decided to put all of my life's experiences on paper, and finally write the book that everyone has been telling me to write!!!