Meet Carrie Davids

We recently connected with Carrie Davids and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Carrie with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I definitely can attribute my work ethic to music. I started playing viola when I was 6 years old through the music program at my public school. The teacher there was Janet Fantozzi, who was Suzuki trained and an amazing educator (she has since passed due to cancer). Much of her teaching involved lessons in posture, listening, collaboration between classmates, and memorization. I immediately fell in love with playing, and took to it quickly. I saw that the more effort I put into it, the better I got and the more I got special solo/performance opportunities due to my hard work. It also helped that my mom bribed me to practice with M&Ms (haha), but don’t worry, I carried that further into my academic studies and eventually rewarded myself for studying and such with ice cream sundaes.
As I continued my music education and got more serious about it, the discipline followed. I was always striving to be better, because I knew I was capable. This of course bled into the rest of my studies, and even still I can be a bit of an overachiever (whether or not that always benefits me is a different story).
I developed a passion for learning and understanding, likely brought upon by the vastness of the arts and how much it can expand your horizons. I knew there was so much to learn, and I liked it! I also feel the skills taught to me from an early age (mentioned above) helped to me better learn academic material and navigate unfamiliar territory in a positive and effective manor. I knew if I tried and put in effort, I could achieve, and so I did.

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?

Hi! My name is Carrie Davids, and I am both a Professional Violist and Curl Specialist. This may sound like an interesting combo to you all, and it is! So let me explain.
I began playing viola at the age of 6 and knew I wanted to pursue it as a career when I was 12. This was after I attended my very first summer music camp, Luzerne Music Center, where I later taught on faculty for a few summers.
I attended the HARTT School of Music Precollege during middle school through 10th grade, where I then left CT and attended boarding arts school at Interlochen Arts Academy for my Junior and Senior years.
After Interlochen, I attended the Eastman School of Music where I studied with Carol Rodland. I then took a year off and later attended the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Karen Ritscher. Throughout that time, I attended many summer music festivals and also began teaching myself. I won my first professional orchestra job in 2016 with the Glens Falls Symphony, and taught both at Larchmont Music Academy as a viola/violin teacher and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege as a Viola Professor and Chamber Music faculty member.
I moved back to Rochester, NY in late 2018 and began playing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra regularly.
When COVID hit, all concerts were cancelled and I felt like I had no idea who I was anymore.
With the help of therapy, I was able to put myself back together again, and, with the future of music unknown, opted to pursue an additional career: hair.
Beginning in 2019, I took more of an interest in my curly hair and how to better care for it. A bit of time on the internet and documenting my journey got me a few followers and even an ambassador position with a brand based in the UK. So, when I was looking for something else creative to do while waiting for music to come back full time, I felt turning a hobby into a career would be a great idea!
I took out a loan and, at the age of 30, enrolled in Cosmetology school.
It was 8 long months, but in the end, I was able to pass my exams and become a licensed cosmetologist.
Because curly hair is not taught in NY cosmetology schools, I pursued my curly hair education outside of school. doing one-on-one education with stylists in NYC, NJ, and Reno, NV. I am also a Level 1 Certified Rëzo Stylist, a well known curl cutting system based on circles and harmony in the hair.
I began my hair career as the curl specialist at Total Knockout Salon and now rent a chair at Ash and Ivory where I run my own business.
To see some of my work, visit @sugarcurlsnspice on IG!

Though music is still a part of my life and will always be my first love and favorite expression of myself, I’ve found hair a great creative passion in different ways. Where music can sometimes feel overly technical and tied to my ‘over achiever’ work ethic, being a curl specialist provides me with more spontaneous creativity and experimentation. I love that every head of hair and every person that sits in my chair is different, and, similar to music, I have built a great family of clients that goes beyond just their hair.
All kinds of art provide expression of the self in different ways, and how lucky am I to get to do two different kinds as careers?!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I feel that perseverance, honesty, and listening are three skills that are very important during my journey and for both careers that I do.

Perseverance is one quality/skill I feel I’ve learned most about and connected with most through music. Let me put it frankly – a musical career is not for the weak. Always you are taught to strive to be better, and countless times you audition, perform, etc. and things don’t go your way. Somehow, you have to find the strength within you to carry on, the connection to the art so deep that you keep going no matter what. Though my description sounds harsh, it’s definitely how it felt at times. But, this perseverance and drive that I have developed through all my success and hardships is a quality that many times I’ve been told people admire about me. I also believe that this quality lead me to hair – when music felt impossible, I persevered, pivoted, and moved forward along a different avenue.

Honesty is another great quality, but needs to be taken with care/caution. When things don’t go your way, or even when things do, a level of honesty can be hard to tackle – I found constructive criticism and being honest with myself quite a hard task for many years. Was that note really in tune? Is that haircut as connected as possible? Was my performance terrible or is it all in my head? I struggled with being so honest that I ultimately wasn’t being honest at all (the “I sounded like crap!” being more of a self inflicted thing rather than what was actually true). I will say that therapy was most helpful with this. Learning how to be honest in a constructive way, rather than leaning toward self deprecation. This is a hard one, but since beginning my career in hair, having a handle on this quality has made my life SO much easier.

Lastly, listening! This one has always been hard for me. As an artist, you get so wrapped up in your own head that sometimes you forget to just listen. Whether that be to yourself, a collaborator, a teacher; open your ears! Even in silence, listening can be beneficial. It opens your mind to your surroundings and gets you out of your head. It also puts your body back into perspective in terms of your surroundings and reminds you that music is more than just what’s technically coming from your fingers or arms. In studying music, we are taught so much about practice and self preparation, which leads us to be in isolation for quite a bit of time. But listening opens your mind and your ears to what’s possible, and in listening to others you gain knowledge and perspective. What helped me most with this quality was yoga and meditation. It may sound silly, but being able to calm my mind in any situation and just ‘be’ has made me a way better player than some of the technical exercises I used to practice. In the hair salon, I do a LOT of listening to clients about their goals, concerns, routines, etc. Without harnessing this skill, I would not be able to give the guest their best experience.

I feel all these qualities tie together, and strengths in one can help another. In order to persevere, you need a level of honesty and listening to keep you going, keep you wanting to improve, change, move forward. But it’s also perseverance that makes you listen and be open to honest thoughts or critiques to get you to that next step.
Balancing these all can be a task, and of course there’s a time and a place. For that, I again found therapy and meditation immensely helpful.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

Normally there isn’t an outstanding challenge I’m ever usually facing, but currently, my husband and I have been facing a very large challenge.

Back in November 2023, I gave birth to our son and first child 3 months early. I had very early preeclampsia and woke up the morning he was born unable to breathe. I had to give emergency c section birth under anesthesia.
9.5 months later, he is still in the hospital.
Our son was born with extremely premature lungs and suffers from Chronic Lung Disease and Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. In April 2024 he received a tracheostomy and was also given a G Tube for feeding purposes. Since then, he has had pneumonia, tracheitis (twice), developed a dairy allergy, been given CPR twice, been paralyzed twice for various purposes, and has regular events where he doesn’t receive the required oxygen from the vent and has to be manually given breaths.
More than once in his life we thought he wasn’t going to make it. Currently he is waiting on a CT scan and a bronchial scope to figure out the cause of his recent events.

This has been the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with in my life, and nothing I have learned up to this point could have prepared me for it.

Due to me being self employed, I do not get any leave time, and currently work full time while managing him being in the hospital. My husband and I are very involved in his care.

Being a mom of a child who is in the hospital, has medical needs, and working full time is quite near impossible. But we persevere, right? It is still so crazy to think that despite all of my education, there are still things like this that you just cannot prepare for.

Our currently circumstance makes me so thankful for my curl specialist career. I am my own boss, so if something comes up with my son, I am able to move things around to make it work. My hours vary each day, so I am able to frequently visit the hospital both during the day and at night to see him and check in.
My clients are like family and the support I have received from family and friends has been amazing.
It is because of this that I am able to keep my head afloat, even just barely. It is due to the skills that I learned from being a musician that have made me mentally strong enough to power through.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ashandivory.co/
• Instagram: @sugarcurlsnspice
• Facebook: Carrie Davids Morris
• Other: https://linktr.ee/sugarcurlsnspice