Meet Lamiya Kirby

We were lucky to catch up with Lamiya Kirby recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lamiya, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Hello, My name is Lamiya Kirby and I am the owner of Joyce Essentials Beauty Supply Store located at 375 A Gambrills Road, Gambrills, MD 21054. Joyce Essentials is a Beauty Supply Store that provides haircare and skincare products as well as supplies and equipment for licensed professionals in the beauty industry. Retail services are provided to those living in the Anne Arundel County area and shipping services are available to customers anywhere in the U.S. In addition to products Joyce Essentials also offers natural hair care services. Our goal is to provide our customers with the best makeup, hair care, skincare, beauty tools, professional advice and impeccable customer service experience possible. As a business owner I have become more resilient than I already was, but where it started was within my household. Growing up very closely to my grandmother Joyce Ann Gross; who was the epitome of resilience, shaped me into the woman that I am today. My grandmother overcame many obstacles, including addiction, serious health diagnoses and other traumas in her life. Watching her wake up everyday, put her make up on, her outfit that was ironed and starched the night before, her gold jewelry pieces, fixing her hair the way she liked, applying her makeup and going to work like everything was perfect, it was absolutely joyful to watch as a little girl. She was fierce and resilient and I knew I wanted to be just like her. Walking any where with her I just felt like “that girl” I was so proud that Joyce was my grandmother. She became a staple of Annapolis and has helped countless amount of people as her role as an Addictions Counselor at Second Genesis Rehab Program. So, following in her footsteps I started my first year of college as a Social-work Major at Delaware State University and graduated with my Bachelors degree in Applied Psychology from Coppin State University. My career consist of working with people with disabilities in Maryland as a Coordinator of Community Services. However, I’ve always had a passion for all things beauty; you could blame my grandmother for that, which is how I have came about opening Joyce Essentials Beauty Supply store. I still maintained my full time job and I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Talk about overcoming hurdles and the ability to adapt and withstand. But with all that I’ve learned from the people around me and specifically my grandmother I have managed to stay afloat and keep it pushing. Now I am here and I plan to stay here and do great things for my family and community. Thank you Joyce Gross for showing me optimism, adaptability, self awareness and resilience.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I officially opened my store Joyce Essentials on 4/24/2021. It has not been easy and still is not an easy assignment, but I am always focused on how to better my business. It takes time, but I am working on it. Like many of my supporters, I too have a family and a full time job so they understand those kinks in the business for the most part. However, I myself am tired of those kinks. I want to build and pour into my business so that people are not only saying Joyce Essentials is a pleasant place to shop, but that it is professional, has integrity and standards.

Joyce Essentials has a competitive advantage to other Beauty Supply stores in the area and in general because number one we are a small black-owned business. There aren’t many black owned Beauty Supply Stores in this industry. You don’t walk into your local beauty supply store and see people who are black and brown selling products for people who are black and brown. Furthermore, we offer natural haircare services and products all in one setting. We give local brands who are just starting their business the opportunity to market and sell their products at our Gambrills location while other Beauty Supply Stores focus on bigger brands. While we offer many of products that are owned by people who are not minority, we also make it our mission to provide a large variety of products that are owned by black and brown women and men.

Recently, Joyce Essentials launched their new hair extensions line called “JE Rawest x Hair Extensions” in February 2025 that offers luxury hair extensions that are 100% Raw and unprocessed from South India. I haven’t mentioned this yet so this is exclusive news, but I will be taking a trip to Cambodia in May of 2025 to bring the girlies back the best hair on the market; Raw Cambodian Extensions directly from the source. I am super excited to add this origin to the JE collection, so stay tuned…

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

Looking back three qualities that were most impactful to my journey as a business women would be being genuine, open-minded, and resilient. Any advice I could offer would be to be kind to others and others will be kind to you. Being kind will bring opportunities to your door that you least expected. People who are far in their journey will want to be of support to you and may even want to work with you. Having other like-minded people around you will be a part of your journey and growth.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

The most impactful thing my mother and grandmother did for me was raise me and my brothers in a loving home. Making sure that we were close and stuck together. Even in a single parent household my mother made it happen and showed me how it is done as resilient woman. My mother, grandmother and brothers mean the world to me and we have always been a close knit family. I do not for one second take my upbringing for granted and know that it was for sure impactful.

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