Meet Andrea Pritchard

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrea Pritchard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Andrea, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

1. My optimism comes from my experiences while navigating through life. I can remember a time as a kid, I realized that I would be so negative when a situation didn’t turn out how I wanted it to or my expectations weren’t met. Once I realized that I would only make myself feel worse than I already did by being negative in my thinking. I knew then that was a characteristic I did not want to possess. With my different life experiences, I can always go back over them and think to myself, “you know you actually came out of the situation, you’re doing better and most importantly you learned something from it. So why wouldn’t you be able to face and conquer anything that you go through on a daily basis?” I think that being able to have optimism can take you very far in life simply because you can encourage and uplift yourself mentally through hope and faith is a mechanism needed in an unpredictable world with unpredictable people and situations. Optimism can take you a long way!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

2. Hi, my name is Andrea but you can call me Drezzy Marley or just Drezzy and I am a master loctician located in Memphis, Tennessee. I have been a Loctician professionally for almost 2 years now. Growing up I was always interested in styling and taking care of hair due to my grandma on my mom side being a beautician. I grew up watching her using Marcels and hot combs on me and her clients. As she grew older and developed Alzheimer’s, the care of her very own hair became mine and my mom and sister‘s responsibility; that’s how l learned to braid and press hair. Then I started learning how to do different styles and techniques for natural and permed hair through watching others and I would practice on myself and my friends and family . In 2016, while pregnant with my son, I decided to loc my hair myself. After learning about locs from my own journey, in 2022 I started working for my good friend Neyana Williamson, owner of KnottyHeadz Salon, as her assistant, and she somehow convinced me that I should become a Loctician because of the knowledge and experience that I already had plus the training and knowledge I gained from her master Loctician courses, I became the Loctician I am today. I enjoy it so much because of the schedule flexibility and all the different people I get to meet. Meeting different people is always a plus you can get a backstory of their locs and their love for them. You get to hear about their journey while visibly being able to see it within their locs. Having locks is truly a beautiful journey that can be made even better with the perfect style and someone who actually cares about your hair.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I would say having patience, being optimistic and being able to accept criticism. I feel like with any job or career that deals with customer service, you should have these three qualities simply because every person you come in contact with is different and they have their own individual ways of conducting and expressing themselves and it’s not going to always be “smooth sailing” all the time but always try your best to accommodate the clients happy.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

I think my biggest challenge is balancing work and my personal life. I have been a Loctician for almost 2 years and throughout this time I have been building up my clientele. With building my clientele, sometimes I would book as many clients as I can and forget to prioritize my personal matters like doctor visits or play dates for my son. I feel like I have found a pretty good balance, through scheduling and sticking to routines, that allows me to give my best to my clients and while allowing me time to enjoy myself in my personal life. I’m a single mother of a very adventurous and smart eight-year-old boy who enjoys his mommy and son time. I know that keeping my self organized and following a schedule will allow me to flourish in many aspects of my life whether it be doing hair or just being a mom. I’m glad that I became a loctician and I can’t wait to see all that this journey has in store for me.

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Jacorri Washington of Clouded Visuals

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