Tricia Bailey

I attribute my success to my grandfather, my granddaddy. I got to see him work - he had his own business as a mechanic, and I actually got to help him while he was working. I would see how he would have his clients, his customers, and how he would put the money in his pocket, and I'm like, I'm doing that when I grow up. He was a big influence on me, and he always told me that I was somebody, you know, you're gonna be somebody. And I believed that, and he's been my big influence forever. My mother was also important, and throughout my career I've met so many mentors. When I moved to Atlanta, the first lady I met really told me that I could have my own business because she had her own. I was with her for 3 or 4 years and got to see how she operated - she opened like 5 salons and showed me the ropes, showed me how it would be in the hair industry. Then I was able to open my own salon. At each level of my career, I've met people who could help me along the way - one inspired me to do competition work and was always in that field to do better, showing me that everywhere you go, you present yourself and try to get better and better, and that's how she won all her competitions.

They got to stay focused on what they're doing, know your why, why you decided to do this, and never let anybody stop you from dreaming big. Because big is - you can always - you think that since you come from a small town, a lot of people think, oh, it's not possible, and once you go outside of the realm of that, anything's possible. You know, if you can think it, you can do it. You can achieve it.

Right now, in this industry, it's keeping the young generation motivated in this industry. I don't think they understand it like they should. It's just hiring people and getting them to the level that they need to be, and letting them understand the importance of the industry that they had chosen.

I value health and wellness above all. I'm passionate about helping somebody turn their lives around, inside and out. My whole thing is, once you look good on the outside, the inside really helps looking good on the outside, so I deal with the total person. I just like wellness, I like health and fitness, so I kind of combined all three of them together. I love inspiring people - whether it's seniors I'm picking up and taking care of, or young girls I'm inspiring to be more than what they are, to look at their lives through the lens of what I've been through and know that they can do it too. What I love most is seeing someone's progress, like the lady who was on a cane and I kept telling her if you just get in the water, it will help you to walk right, and she took my advice, and now she doesn't use her cane anymore. Just to know that it's possible and to see somebody's growth and that their health is improved - that's what matters most to me.