Starting Psykhe Hair Extension scared me because I thought I might fail. More to the point, I felt that I would fail because unworthy is what I believed I was. I identified with failure, but I also realized I had a fear of succeeding. That seems weird, but the success part didn’t coincide with my view of myself from when my parents divorced when I was nine years old. After my dad finally left, I knew he had abandoned me long before that when he’d punished me for doing the hair on one of my “My Little Pony” dolls when I was five. I mean, he really punished me. My emotional scars remain to this day. Thank goodness for my grandfather, who was my mentor and savior.

Part of my passion for doing hair and making women feel good about themselves stems from not ever wanting them to experience my anxiety and low self-esteem. If my grandfather could make me feel better about myself, I could help other people feel better about themselves, too.

Thinning hair comes from lots of things, but at last, I was offering a solution. I started the company Psykhe Hair Extensions with an overflowing sense of strong-willed determination in my heart. I had to “fake it ‘til I make it” in the beginning, but now that we’re successful, my four boys—ages two to twelve—see their mom doing what she loves and helping make other people happy. That makes me happy too.