Noel Washington has been running her own Black hair business, StyledbyBrie, since December 2018. She explains, “StyledbyBrie is all about making people look and feel like their best selves.” The Edition sat down with her to find out more about the process of being a small business owner in high school!
Q: How did you get your business started?
A: “I always liked doing hair. I started by doing my sister’s hair and my hair. We would always get compliments and people would always ask who did our hair. That’s how I started doing hair for other people and then that’s how I started my business.
Q: Tell us about the rewards and challenges of running your business.
A: “The most rewarding thing [about my business] is building clientele and building relationships. The most challenging thing would also be building clientele. It’s hard to consistently promote your business. I find clients through instagram and word of mouth. Another challenging thing was trying to figure out how I could separate myself from other people who do hair. In Philly a lot of girls that are my age do hair, so it’s hard to separate your work from everybody else’s work. I try to do things to make my business unique by giving out complimentary items and making sure my customer service is good.
Q: How does your business connect to your work in the Honors Arts program?
A: “I have a backdrop that I use for the majority of my videos and pictures that I made myself, I guess like a sculpture. I also designed my logo and the graphics for my business. So I feel like my Honors Arts experiences helped with that. I also made a hair dress for the symbolic clothing project, which incorporates my hair into my art.”
