Kelsey Buchanan

I would definitely say my parents. They have always pushed me to do more and work harder. I've been very blessed with how I grew up, and they helped me with my education, but they made sure that from a young age, I had a job on my own, and I was very proactive. Whenever I have challenges within the business space, I like to go to my dad for advice, because he was successful in his sales career. I really think leaning on someone important in my life, which is my father, is really important for me.

I think it truly is to not be silent, and to speak up and to push for what you want. I had always, in past years, been silent and just did my work every day, and then I started advocating for myself, and I realized I was able to actually make changes once I started advocating for myself.

The best advice I would give is don't let something that you want come to you, go for it. I've learned that over the years, I work really hard and expect things to happen, and when I started putting effort towards something I want, and really going out of my comfort zone to get it, things started to change. I was always comfortable with where I was at, and I decided, you can't live unless you push for something, so that's when I started studying on my own, and doing everything on the side behind the chair on my own to get more knowledge in the industry, and now I have people around the U.S. calling me for trainings. I go to Hawaii, I go to Florida, I go to California, all over the place doing trainings for Head Spa, because it's one of the most sought-after educational offerings within this industry, and I did that all by really pushing on my own, so just going out of the comfort zone.

I would say the biggest challenge would be not enough time in the day. We are so busy right now, because head spa in our industry is the most requested education. There's only one of me who kind of leads and teaches this, so I'm kind of spread very thin, and I am every week, 1 to 4 separate states a week, flying, traveling, teaching. So, I would say one of the biggest challenges is just trying to get the education out there at an affordable price. My company, we make sure that we don't make profit off of our education, we only cover costs with our education, so that we can get more cosmetologists certified and more cosmetologists out there making money. One of the most positive things is the company that I work with is Japanese. They have been doing head spa, scalp care for centuries, for so long. I really found myself with a beautiful brand that supports this industry, and for me, it's just something that I feel a lot of pride doing what I do.

Respect is a big thing. Trust and respect within someone. I always give a lot with everything I do within work and outside of work, and sometimes you expect that back, and you have to learn to kind of change your standards a little bit. I think the relationships and connections you make is really truly what keeps not just this industry, but industries in general, going. So relationships and connections are incredibly important for me.