We recently connected with Odalys Acuña and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Odalys, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I definitely get my work ethic from my mom. Since I was a little girl my mom has worked hard to provide for me and my siblings. She became a single mom at a very young age and she never let anyone hold her back from providing for her kids and she instilled those values into us! I started my work life when I was 15! Not because I needed to work or was forced to work but because I wanted to. I asked my mom if I could go work with her and I even called her boss at the time to ask if he could give me a shot at working with them and after the first shift I was offered the job! It was such an amazing experience learn how to work from my mom.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a mother to a beautiful 3 year old girl (Olivia) and a salon suite owner. I am located inside of salons by jc in Minnetonka. My specialty are color corrections and hair transformations, I also offer haircuts, hair extensions and special events makeup applications and hairstyling.
I’m coming up on my first year as a business owner and I couldn’t be more happy with all the support I’ve received from my clients and my community.
I absolutely fell in love with making people feel beautiful and confident, I feel so lucky that I get to do this every single day.
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?
The three qualities that were essential to my journey have been confidence, humility, and being appreciative. I definitely needed to find confidence within myself to start this journey! As they say fake it till you make it.
I was terrified taking the leap from being an employee to a owner but I knew deep within that it was my next move I just had to find that confidence to do it.
Humility was another quality that helped me find my way. I knew that if I wanted to learn I needed to start from the bottom and learn from the people that were in positions that I wanted to be in. Being humble and being able to take criticism has helped me better my craft.
Lastly being appreciative, I have always and will always be thankful to every single client that has sat in my chair.
As well as every single person that has helped me along the way I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without them.
A piece of advice I would give to people that are starting out would be to do the thing you’re most afraid of doing.
I had been dreaming of being a salon suite owner since I was in beauty school but I was so terrified of failing!
It did hold me back for a bit but I’m so thankful for he people that have believed in me along the way.
They definitely gave me the confidence to start this journey. Find those people that believe in you and lean on them for support.
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 mom did for me was motivating me to go to cosmetology school. She saw something in me that I myself didn’t even see in myself.
I had always been interested in the beauty world and I’ve been doing makeup since 2016 but I never really gave it much of a thought to turn it into a career until after I had my daughter Olivia.
After I had my daughter i definitely felt lost… I didn’t know myself anymore as just Odalys only as Olivia’s mom and my mom could see that. She suggested I go back to school and go into cosmetology.
Going back to school helped me find myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://styles-by-odalys.square.site/
- Instagram: @stylesbyodalys
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Styles.by.odalys/
- Other: TikTok @stylesbyodalys
