Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeneta Kelly
Hi Jeneta, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. I started doing hair when I was 12 years old. I would braid people’s hair at school and my sisters, cousins, and my own hair as well. At 15 years old, I set out for my first job and went straight to a popular braid shop in town. And from there, I just kept going. I would rent a chair and do my hair. I changed locations a lot. I was raised in a very strict household, and my grandmother wasn’t approving of my job of choice to begin with, so any word of anything happening in or around the salon, I would have to leave bc she would say I couldn’t work there. School was always a must. If my grades dropped, I would have to stop doing hair, so I did my best to make sure I kept my grades above average. It was almost my defiance bc I just couldn’t let it go. I wouldn’t sneak out to go to parties or hang on the block I would sneak and get a job at a salon. I had my first child at 21 while attending college when I completed my junior year, and it was time for internships. I felt a sense of overwhelmedness, and I decided that I wasn’t going to attend school for what everyone else wanted me to do that I was gonna go to school for what I wanted to do, and I signed out of college and signed into cosmetology school. I went to a predominately Caucasian hair school, a little ways out of my city, completed that, and entered the cosmetology field while pregnant with my second son. I worked very hard to try to conquer a more effortless and flawless look to the African-American traditional hairstyles but also looked as sleek and polished as a lot of the celebrities that we would look at award shows and Grammys. I was always a very hard worker. I worked full-time as a private care assistant and would do hair on the side. I always wanted to do hair full-time, but it was not common to meet someone who could fully care for their family just by doing hair, and that soon became my goal. I had a job working at another popular establishment in my hometown, and the owner was overly demanding of her expectations of me. I had my two children at the time, and I remember I didn’t have a vehicle, and I was catching cabs and sometimes walking with my son to the salon, and it was very stressful on my body, and when I expressed to the owner some type of adjustments to my schedule, I’ll never forget she told me if I wasn’t able to meet her requirements then I had to leave and I went home for a little while and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do to pay my bills. It was a little discouraging because I didn’t have a huge clientele but I had to figure out a way to set myself a side and then began to service people out of my house in a spare bedroom that I made into a Salon and that was the turning point for my career I would do services that were foreign to the area and potential clients which sent me aside from the already established stylists and I was doing them for more affordable prices, and it made the other stylist in the city very upset I even got a phone call from One stating that she was calling on behalf of all of the rest of the hairstylist in town, and that they demanded that I went up on the price of my services because I was stealing all of the clients. And at that moment, that’s when I knew I made my mark. I kept climbing and did not change my prices! Eventually, I got so popular I started renting suites instead of booths, and as time went on, I built up such a big clientele I was doing hair from 5 AM to probably 2 AM in the morning every day, and I loved it. I was young, I had a lot of energy to be able to bust out styles, and as I got into expansion, I would be one of the only stylists in town that had their own hairline wig line and branded product line. I made a lot of enemies, always making sure that I was on top of my craft, but every time I had an accomplishment, it was like it wasn’t enough I always would want more, and as the more children came. they required me to produce more for my family not just working in a booth or renting a suite, or making money in a back room in my house. I needed something that was going to bring some type of generational wealth to my family. At the age of 29, I started saving to open my first salon, which happened to be located in my hometown in the only mall we had. I was the first and youngest black female-owned hair salon in the mall and the city, and I had recently found out that I was pregnant with twins, but it still didn’t stop me. I still open my first establishment, and I opened it with all of my personal money I made myself, so my first year of business was a complete profit. I ended up making over six figures in my first year, and at the time, I was not mature enough to handle that type of money. I had so much money coming in, and it was hard to keep track of it. I had so much money coming in. I almost wouldn’t believe the numbers at the end of the month but I was not educated in business management, I was not educated in how to run a profitable business. I was just a small-town black girl with a Dream, and I just wanted to make everyone look beautiful, and the money came in. The money went, and a lot of problems came. There were a lot of critiques from my hometown. I went from being the cheap stylist to the most sought-after stylist. A lot of people would say hateful things towards my business, and it was only because it was me. I started to become not liked by a lot of my peers because I went into transitions Of growth, and a lot of people felt entitled because they grew up with me; so in their eyes, I was “ acting different,” and I would hold my held my head high, and I definitely didn’t let any of it stop me. They would call state board try to get my business shut down they would make posts speaking of the talented stylists I chose to work there. I was 29 years old, had just given birth to twins, and was running a nine-station six-figure Hair Salon. It was the most challenging times of my life. Sometimes, you would come in to get service, and I would have every station filled with stylists. Sometimes, you would come in, and I would work there by myself. I had a very young team. And I wanted to give everyone a chance because I knew how hard it was for me, and I knew that if the right person said hey, come and take a try that it will help a lot of newcomer stylist and as good as that sounds, it was very hurtful to my name that I have built with the community. I was fried and overworked as I would have to fix a lot of mistakes that was coming to my establishment. We were located in the mall, and customers did not play about the type of outcome with their hair on top of that. It became really hard because the community wanted everyone in the establishment to do their hair as if I were Their stylist, and that became very challenging as well. It was a hard time, but I’m so grateful for it because I went through it. Everything else that I went through seemed like a breeze. I ended up leaving the mall and opening another salon, and at that point, opening Salons seemed like the regular in my life. It was something that I could do without a problem, but one thing I cannot do was keep Staff. I would run into a lot of people that were in the very early stages of their career and I would groom them not only behind the chair but also with mistakes that I had made in the past and every time those young ladies came to me all of them, not even affording paying me any money at first because they had no clients. A lot of times, they would assist me, and I would be paying them. As soon as they got any type of steady income, they would leave, and then they would take me out to be the worst person in the world. The people who believed in them before they believed themselves would paint me out to be a terrible person, and they were building a career off of that. it was sickening, and a lot of people in town would play into it. I was so popular that client drama was coming my way. I will get a lot of threats of girl trying to fight me or pull up to my salon just because I service the specific person in town at that point. I have been a hairstylist for about 18 years in town, and that’s a long time that’s a lot of secrets I have held that’s a lot of therapy I gave out, and eventually it’s just that messy not even from things being messy just people sit in create their own chaos because they’re aware somebody is aware of a lot of their personal business and a was always a type of secluded person. I never was on the scene. I don’t drink, so I wouldn’t go out, and eventually, things just got repetitive. It’s a small town that always has small-town drama, and I was one of the people who would be targeted on a regular basis because I service so many people in town that I wanted something different. I ended up saying I wanted to travel to different states to do hair, and a lot of people thought I was crazy because it was so unheard of there will be people that would vacation and called themselves doing people’s hair in other states, and they wouldn’t do any ones hair but I had a alternative plan which was while I was going to the states it was gonna prove to myself a lot of what the naysayers would say when they would always say that I wasn’t good at My craft and I also was scoping for a different areas of the world where I felt it would be a safer atmosphere for my now four boys and when I went on my first trip, I went to Minneapolis, and I booked out I booked out no one knew me from a hole in the wall and I was booked out and at that point, I realize Jeneta there’s something about you that special and nobody can take it from you and it’s hair. You always knew it was here all along, but this showed the world the love I had to do hair, even if Springfield, Massachusetts does not agree for their own personal opinion, the world loves the way you do hair and I took off from there. I started going to different states I went to Florida I went to Virginia I went to Texas I went to New York, Boston, Connecticut. I was going from state to state, and I was booking out and coming back to my hometown, and I was booked there, too. did it stop the heat? Absolutely not! A lot of negativity was still geared towards me and my children, and a lot of seclusion to make sure that I stayed on top of my game and was the best mom for them. I’ve then decided I wanted to move to Texas because it was the place I like the most. My son was struggling with mental illness at the time, and he was having a lot of hospitalizations I wanted to give him a better atmosphere, so I left I was working in a barbershop, but I eventually had to go home to tie up a couple loose ends about 5 1/2 weeks in and low and behold bad luck, fell upon me, and I was stuck back in my hometown. I was supposed to go for a weekend and leave, but there I was again, and now I am discouraged from going back. I opened ANOTHER salon and got my own place after staying with a friend for a few months. The salon was right across the street from my home. Things with my son had did a 360, but I was still faced with the negative backlash of the town. My money was steady, and I actually made a lot of money, about $9-$12000 a month, but my soul was not at peace in my hometown. I would get hate mail in boxed to me from fake pages people would often crank call my phone. It was just very messy, and one thing a lot of people knew how to get to me was my children. People would actually do things to affect me being with my children. Down to false DCF reports and not would be for nothing I was doing in particular. Females just didn’t like me. And I got tired of being a fighter and having to fight so hard for peace. So I said one day, Jeneta, it’s time to leave again. This time don’t come back and this time I left but I didn’t tell anyone I think I told my family 2 weeks before I was leaving because I decided to leave only a month before I was gone. I wanted a better upbringing for my boys. We would often go out of town on the weekends to just get away from the town, and I wanted a life where every day felt like that. I wanted us to live a free
Life. So, I left again, and when I showed up to Texas, I had $300(because of some mess that occurred right before I left my hometown) one suitcase, and 3 of my 4 boys. My
Oldest wanted to stay up north, so I had a heart-to-heart with him and myself and made my move. I started working at a salon suite out here and found a place 2.5 weeks after my arrival. I thought I met a great team of girls. They eventually started acting like “means girls” the you know you can’t sit with us, and it was led by the salon owner herself. I was heartbroken. I came all this way and still ran into a bad bunch. It was 3 days before my birthday, and I was back with nowhere to work. In a new state alone by myself. I did a lot of praying got closer to God. I would travel home every month to help with expenses, and it worked. I came back to my new home in Houston and got a call to do a celebrity’s daughter’s hair when she was 3. I said ok and went and did my job. The celeb mom, Hazel E she loved my vibe so much she chose me to be her actual hairstylist. And then, I became an official celebrity stylist. I had done a few celebs in the past, but I always proclaimed I wouldn’t call myself a celebrity stylist until they were my client, and that day marked the day I stepped into my new era as that. I recently was honored with styling the popular urban food critic “Rollitupk” and it’s just been blessings on top of blessings since then. I am a single mother and set out to make a change for me and my boys and I am doing just that. My skills are unmatched here in Houston as I’ve only been here 5 months and have made around $40,000 which is amazing for such a big city and no one knowing me, and I know this will not be the last you hear of me.
I am now located in north Houston but plan on opening my very own suites and will help up and coming stylists create a home base for themselves. Old habits are hard to kill, but I was put on this Earth to help. So that’s what I will continue to do.
So, I hope to do a follow-up next year so you can see what your girl has done with herself. Thank you so much, and God bless
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I struggled with being the only person who saw my vision
Never giving up on myself
Being an entrepreneur mom raising her family solely off of her talent
Surviving the pandemic bc THAT WAS CRAZY.
And relocating and giving up a high income to start over for a better life for me and my boys
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a versatile stylist as I do all services.
I am skilled behind the business bc I run it old school, but my work is of the new school.
I am known for growing hair as I am a natural hair care specialist
And selling hair and perfecting my craft as a wig artist has made me very skilled and educated extensions and hair quality
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
There are levels to success. Every level I was at I saw success. I made my dream come true from what I loved I made a name for myself off of talent. I built everything I have from the ground, so I’m not scared to fall or start over, which lets me know my success is unlimited. I am an Aquarius so no matter what stage I’m at I always want more. So, when I do ever stop, that means I have reached such level of success there’s nothing else I can do.
Some people desire a simple lifestyle, so their view of success is different, but me I am a dreamer, and I always said my dreams will come true
Pricing:
- Wig install $150-180
- Silk press starting at $75
- Tape ins starting at $300
- K-tips starting at $650
- Natural hair growth journey $ priceless
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Jeneta_k
- Facebook: Jeneta Kelly
- Other: TikTok: jenetak
