We were lucky to catch up with Kristi Richards recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Kristi 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 grew up with parents who thankfully were both amazing role models with incredible work ethic. My Father had the goal of becoming debt free as soon as possible so he worked diligently to make that a reality, often working 12 hour days. My Mother started her own business as a daycare provider and I watched her pour her love into those kids days after day without complaint. Through their actions I learned “money doesn’t grow on trees” and if you want it you have to work for it. At the early age of 6 my Mom took me to open a savings account and every month I had to deposit at least a portion of my allowance into it. This taught me that I had to not only work for my money but also that it was important to have goals in mind and be forward thinking with it.
I was lucky enough too that my Dad taught me about credit and how that worked so that as I got older I was able to make wise decisions in my spending. Things were not just given to me so I knew if I wanted to support myself I had to do it on my own and I took a lot of pride in becoming financially independent. Finding my passion through hair styling made it easy to apply all of these lessons and remain grounded and grateful for the work I was able to do.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
When I was in middle school we were asked to write a paper on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I was a very artistic child so the first thing that popped in my head was “hairstylist.” I assumed that would be a fun way to have a career that allowed me to still utilize my creativity. After reading the paper my teacher asked me if I wanted to sign up for a 3 day course in cosmetology that summer at our career center. I said yes and once I attended I was instantly in love. Throughout high school I would do my friends hair for dances and sometimes give them haircuts, though I had no idea what I was doing. It was fun and I loved how it made my friends feel good.
Once I was old enough I went through my cosmetology training and got my license at 19, starting as an apprentice for the first 6 months. My mentor helped open up my eyes to the fact that there are a ton of different ways to get the result your client is looking for and you can really think outside of the box.
The first half of my career I spent just really trying to hone in on my skills. The second half has been spent focusing on curly hair and finding out ways to better serve my curly clients and myself. Having curly hair I often struggled to get it to look the way I wanted and had the same complaints my clients were having. I was grateful to have some amazing teachers along the way who shared their knowledge with me and gave me the confidence to really dive in and make curly cutting my specialty.
I have taken dozens of classes on line and in person and also have become certified in Rëzo curly cutting. I teach curly cutting classes and feel very humbled that fellow stylists want to learn from me. There is just always so much to understand in any type of hairstyling and I love being in a career that is constantly evolving. Showing people that they can love their natural hair has been an incredible gift. When
my clients feel good then I feel good and that’s what keeps me passionate and driven.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think you really have to love what you’re doing to be truly successful. In a career like mine it is so focused on serving your guest that if you’re not passionate about it your client will feel that. You have to want to help them, otherwise you may find yourself feeling burnt out and unmotivated. Find what you’re good at and focus on that. Once I realized how much I enjoyed working with curly hair my career just took off and sometimes I still can’t believe that I get to do this as a career. What really helped me build my confidence was just learning as much as I could and taking risks. I’ve definitely made mistakes along the way but just diving in and learning what worked and what didn’t work helped pave the way to become a confident stylist.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I would really love to teach more classes and possibly partner with other stylists who specialize in curly hair. There is such a need for clients to find a stylist who truly knows what they are doing with curly hair and I would love to show people what I know and also have other specialists show me what they know. I don’t think we should ever stop learning in this field and the more knowledge we can share the better.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elysiansalongr.com
- Instagram: @givethemhairbykristi
- Facebook: Kristi Richards Hair
Image Credits
Andrea Lane
