Most students spend their time after class by catching up with friends. Others might bury themselves in work or unwind. For Senior Nush Zweh it’s most likely plucking her next client’s wig. “It’s bigger than just giving out a service”.
Plucking is a technique done to wigs that allows it to achieve a natural look when installed on a client. This dedication when it comes to art is not something that Zweh shares alone. Freshman Allissa Barnes shares that her “love for creating a beautiful set is her motivation.”
In a world where people at every corner, Gen-Z’ers especially, are trying to create their own come up, it’s no surprise that you may know several different girls with a hair or lash business.
What people don’t realize is that the cousin you may know that does nails or the friend you know who does lashes are so much bigger than that. Young black girls are capitalizing on their talents not as a way of greed, but as a means of building generational wealth.
When you have artists and influencers like Rihanna, Beyonce, and Kim Kardashian, it’s not wrong to want stability and a “soft life” that we’ve looked up to for so long. Zweh states she “didn’t come from a rich family…. [she] watched [her] parents work hard for everything they have. It was the lessons they taught [her] that motivated [her] to do something different, bigger and better than what they were able to do, and [she] thinks that’s always the goal for anything to do in life.”
The Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the world are mostly caucasian and male, the first woman not appearing until no.12 and having no black women at all. We’ve seen artists make the transition from full blown singer or actress to skincare extraordinaire. Zweh and Barnes hope to chase the same segway.
Zweh says “after graduating, I want to open a one stop shop, and possibly a salon where people can get their lashes and nails done.” Barnes shares this same sentiment, adding that 10 years from now she sees herself opening up a “beauty bar, possibly offering other services like press on nails, nail classes, lashes, tattoos, etc.”
While we still have a bit of a way to go when it comes to getting more black women in these high places, strides are being made. Just look at Emmy-winner Quinta Brunson or Sheryl Lee Ralph, it’s possible. If the girls coming afterwards have even an ounce of determination that Zweh and Barnes have, we’ll be alright.
This fall, students may be buckling down to focus on schoolwork. For Barnes and Zweh, they’ll still be part-time business runners. It may start with hair, but it doesn’t have to end that way. Be inspired by Zweh “When you find something that was initially hard, that now comes so easy to you, it’s very motivating. I’ve already broken so many barriers when it comes to my business, so why not keep going? It feels that you’ve already gotten through the hardest part. In a sense it’s like you found your niche.”