Karen Gilbert

I attribute my success to my faith in God and His ability to take a mess and turn it around for His glory. Throughout my 43 years as a barber and barbershop owner, and through 20 years of battling drug addiction with my husband, I've learned that God can get right down in that pit and pick you up. He's not scared of getting down and getting dirty. When I went to rehab in 2006, I made up my mind to let the Lord guide me into a life of sobriety. My husband and I went on to teach addiction recovery programs at two different churches, and he became an ordained minister. Even after losing my husband a year and a half ago and facing rejection from my family who slandered me and accused me of things that weren't true, God has been in the middle of it this whole time. He removed people from my life and brought new beautiful people in at the worst time of my life. I've learned that just because God removes somebody from your life doesn't mean your life is over. People come into our lives for a season, and sometimes when He removes them, it's best for you. Now I've written my book 'Beyond Her Silence, The Storm Within' to share my testimony, and if it helps one person to not give up and keep moving forward, it will be worth reliving all my traumas. All the people that chose to destroy me and tear me down are going to get to watch God elevate me. They're going to get to see what God can do. He can take a mess and turn it into His glory.

The best career advice I ever received came from the man I worked for who later sold me his barbershop. He was very strict and stern with me. He fired me 20 times, and I was always the last one to get a day off. There wasn't a day he didn't send me home crying. But years later, I asked him why he was so hard on me, and he told me, 'Karen, I seen the potential that you couldn't see in yourself.' What he was doing was shaping me and instilling a good work ethic in me. He taught me that if you weren't there at 8 o'clock in the morning when those doors opened ready to work, you paid for it. Twenty years later, in 2011, he ended up selling me that shop. I was the only one who took him at his word when he said he was going to sell it two years prior, and I started saving my money and putting it back. When the time came, I was the only one that had the money to purchase it. That lesson about seeing potential in yourself and having a strong work ethic, even when it's hard, has stayed with me throughout my entire career.

My advice to young women entering this industry is to stay resilient and confident. Believe in yourself, embrace your journey, and don’t be afraid to share your story—it’s your unique perspective that will set you apart.

One of the biggest challenges I face is navigating life as a disabled widow, but I also see it as an opportunity. I’m committed to writing a second book and sharing my story openly, because if my experiences can inspire or help other women, it’s worth telling.

The most important values to me in my work and personal life are faith in God, honesty, and helping others through sharing my story. My life is an open book now. There's shame in my book, there are things I'm not proud of at all, but at the same time, I'm thankful that I allowed God to step in and clean up my mess. People went out there and tried to tell my story and put their twists and turns on it with gossip and rumor, so I figured my life is an open book and it was my life to tell. The whole goal of my book was never to put anybody down or discredit anybody or prove that I was right and they were wrong. It was to show how the enemy works and how God can step in the middle of any mess and turn things around. You just have to be willing and allow Him to do that. I also value morals highly. When I found out things were taking place in my barbershop that I didn't want my name associated with, I closed the doors. I didn't close them because the business was failing or going bankrupt. I did it based on morals and what I wanted my name related to. Being able to share my story and God's love is what drives me now. I speak at women's conferences and churches, and I teach classes on celebrate recovery. If my story helps one person to have hope and not give up, that's all I'm aiming for.