Today we’d like to introduce you to Darchae Sittingpretty.
Hi Darchae, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up, I had many friends and relatives I hung out with and one thing I can say I enjoyed was doing their hair. Since I was 11, I can say it gave me confidence & it helped me stay out on the streets because I was doing something for them that made them happy and in return, it made me happy. Overtime, at the age of 14 I started to charge $100 for services doing micros, kinky braids and sewins & silk press, over the years I saw I couldn’t keep a 9-5 to save my life lol, so eventually at the age of 19, I started working at a hair store and started taking clients only charging $50 -100 and many woman in my life told me to go to hair school. At the age of 20, I went to Paul Mitchell and graduated at the age of 21, receiving my hair license. During this time the hair store fired me because school took up to much of my time, I lost my apartment and I had to move back with my parents, and my car got totaled …I know crazy right. But I hung in there taking the bus for a while and eventually my colleagues at Paul Mitchell started to give me rides so I got on my feet quick and eventually got another car and built my clientele quickly taking many girls from my hair school. As time went by I kept going building clientele and eventually, I had my daughter at 24 and this was a perfect career for us because my mentor at the salon I worked didn’t mind my daughter being there while I did hair and she sent me many referrals and this boosted my career tremendously.
Eventually, I became more spiritual overtime and gave more time to myself and my daughter to actually enjoy my success and come up with a better strategy to organize the clients I had while working on my personal life and then I had a major shift in my life where I became more fulfilled within myself and connecting better with my clients. This gave me and my daughter a better approach to understand my clients more on a personal level to give them a deeper understanding of who I am within instead of just making them feel good on the outside. I can say in the hair industry I learned to be my own person and with my daughter next to me watching my every move I understood balance and how to love on her as I grew within to love myself and this gave me the space to overcome any challenge or obstacle that came my way understanding that my clients looked up to me too and we all slip up during the journey but if you learn from your past you can come back 10 times stronger. With that being said I’m grateful for the lessons I learned and it’s all about consistency. With the dreams & goals we follow it can be a challenge, but with the right people by your side….not only will you get there quick, but it becomes more rewarding every day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I lost many friends along the way, I can say only a few will accept your growth as you grow and start to expand your horizon become popular build a name for yourself, and be a single mother with no help or income at all coming from my child’s father and his family I can say it weighed on me emotionally for awhile when my daughter was young. I also experienced a lot of rumors within my circle of family and friends along the way and that did hurt and it made me stagnant for a while, this made me stop for a while and I started doing deep meditation to gain clarity on what not to do anymore when I started back doing hair, luckily I stayed spiritual and understood that I had to let go of what I wanted from them as I grew in my career and excepted them for who they are. This helped me gain more insight on who I am and who I could lean on, who to let go and who was just there to teach me lessons about life itself. This played a major part in my growth, and because of these situations, it helped me stay consistent with my career understanding everyone won’t be happy for you but many will be rooting for you helping you climb that ladder to success whether we stayed connected or not, I learned to be grateful in the process because I have a little one that will follow my steps one day and my story will be apart of her’s one day.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a licensed cosmetologist, I specialize in hair extensions, makeup, color and making wigs. I’m known for my style and overall my personality when it comes to my services. I’m proud of my growth and seeing how far I came with my daughter by my side every step of the way she taught me patience and obedience when it comes to my goals and dreams. Being humble was also the key. That’s what sets me apart from others, I can lower my price an do sales because I remember where I came from and how tough it was to keep up with my overall look when it came to my hair and makeup because I didn’t have much income being a single mom. Looking back gives me the drive to present sales as a gift for upcoming woman that deserve a deal to look and feel beautiful no matter how much she has in her wallet.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Yes I had many mentors from family to friends and relationships who helped me along the way and many friends that did word of mouth that sent many people my way. This is my fourth salon I worked and I can say each mentor taught me something about life, finances and how to grow my net worth. They helped me change my mind when it came to what I can achieve. And each individual along the way gave me insight on what I needed to take with me to keep going.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Darchaesittingpretty
- Youtube: Darchaesittingpretty
