Today we’d like to introduce you to Diana Opara.
Hi Diana, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Three years ago, a friend of mine called me and was like Diana, we cannot stay in Omaha, Nebraska. I thought about it, I prayed about it, and I told myself that if God wanted me to go, I would know. The weekend after that, a life-changing event happened, and I told myself that this is my sign from God to move. I still had six months on my lease, I told myself I wasn’t going to break the lease just in case I needed to come back. I packed up as much of my apartment into my Ford fusion as possible. And I drove to Atlanta. I lived in Roswell for six months with two friends, and while there, I worked so hard to promote my hair and makeup business. I was writing on all the Facebook groups using all of the Instagram tags I was grinding so hard to get the clientele. But, I still found myself going back to Omaha each month to still make enough money to pay rent in Atlanta and Omaha. Six months into living in Roswell, my roommates decided to move back. My lease in Omaha was up and I now had a decision to make. Either move back and continue my business in Omaha or bet on myself, move everything to Georgia and see where it goes. I was so scared, but I kept telling myself that if you can dream big, then you can achieve big. So I stayed, I made connections that I never thought I could make, and I am now making decisions to better myself every day. I came to Atlanta wanting to satisfy one need, but it open my eyes to so many more things that I am capable of doing. I was a stage manager for WizKid, Omah Lay, Tiwa Savage, and many more afrobeat artists. I was in skits with Instagram comedians, and I just recently enrolled in nursing school to further my education for other business endeavors.
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?
To say that having a business in Atlanta and trying to conquer everything you want while being here and staying true to yourself was a smooth road I would be lying. When I first moved to Atlanta, I had a three-bedroom apartment with two other roommates. My rent was $500, but I still had an apartment in Omaha, Nebraska and my rent was $900. Getting clientele to try and keep my bills paid when moving to a new city was so hard. I remember having breakdowns where I thought I was not good enough, I was never going to get clients, and I should just stop doing hair. After finding this app called StyleSeat I was able to start getting clients I didn’t even know. I was also going back home to do hair because I needed to get client pictures to post when I was promoting myself. On top of that, four months into moving to Atlanta my Ford fusion that I bought right before moving was totaled. I now was in a huge city without a car. I was Ubering everywhere, so just as fast as I was making the money, the money was gone. I commented on staying true to myself because while living in Atlanta, I thank God that he had his arms wrapped around me so tight. After all, there are so many times that when I look back, I could’ve lost myself, and I never did. I’ve stayed true to myself and made sure I did everything my way, through the tears, through hopeless nights, and some depressed episodes. But I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world because it made everything so much more fulfilling.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a hair and makeup artist, although I am known for my content creation. My absolute favorite thing to do is doing my hair and makeup, putting on a cute outfit, taking a fire picture, coming home, and taking it all off. But on a serious note, I feel like what sets me apart from others is that I don’t do anything for money. I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason, and I am a major believer in God got me. I let everything flow naturally, and I don’t force anything. The connections I make with my clients are way more fulfilling than any amount of money could be. I have clients that go from being clients to friends to family. For example, there is no better feeling than rushing to your 8 AM appointment, not being able to stop for food because you don’t want to be late, and pulling up to your appointment with your client having your favorite sandwich from Starbucks, a sausage, egg, and cheddar with no cheese, and a strawberry açai, lemonade, refresher, easy on the ice.
It’s just the little things in life.
How do you think about luck?
To answer this question, I went to google to look up the meaning of luck. Google says that Luck is success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s actions. I can’t say that anything that has happened to me in my business has been through chance, like I said, I believe that everything happens for a reason. The days that you would call bad luck, are tests that God puts in place to show us how strong we are. The days that would be called Good luck are God working in our favor showing us that our hard work is paying off. Nothing about my business has been chance, just a whole lot of hard work and trial and error. And in all honesty, those bad luck days make going through smaller obstacles and problems in your business easier to maneuver.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianaopara/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diana.e.booker
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/diana_opara
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCygUkA8JjdBrIO6nt5zHiCA
Image Credits
Personal Image: Shot by @KeonMcKay
