I’m so excited for you guys to hear from today’s guest, Sarayah!

I found Sarayah on Instagram because of her hair painting (isn’t that where I find all my friends these days?) and I immediately loved her.

And since I know you’re wondering, her name is pronounced Sah-ray-ah. I JUST got her name right on this podcast! Ugh. The perils of making friends online.

Get this: She’s been in the industry for six years, and she’s only 22! Sarayah is from New Jersey and got started at 16 in a high school vocational program that allowed her to graduate with a high school diploma and a cosmetology license.

She started by sweeping and doing bowls in salons, then moved up to assisting. She decided to start an Instagram account and got some traction, and the salon that fired her as an assistant actually invited her back as a stylist. Nuts, right?

Listen in to our conversation where we talk about knowing our worth, educating, hair as art, and embracing your uniqueness in this business.

What else did we talk about? Here’s a sneak peek.

• Understanding your value as a stylist and an artist, and charging accordingly.

• How Sarayah got into education, from selling two tickets to her first class to teaching tons of people about the art of hair paintings in an intimate, open environment.

• Being honest with clients so they can be honest with you.

• Understanding that we are artists, and everyone’s technique is different! As long as you’re doing good work, it doesn’t matter how you get there, no matter what the haters say.

• The difference between having idols and copying someone else’s technique. As I always say, inspiration rather than replication!

• We proclaim the amazingness of consultations and how they’ve changed both our businesses and create happy customers.

And that’s just a little taste!

Sarayah is an astounding artist and I’m so glad I got to talk with her. For more of Sarayah’s incredible work and classes, find her on Instagram at @HairbySarayah!