It all started when…

I was just a little kid, and my mother always wanted me to brush her hair. I knew I gave her the most ridiculous hair do’s (mostly hair dont’s) but I loved to make her feel happy. It was good bonding times.

I first started cosmetology 15 years ago. The first time I went was very difficult for me. The work was hard, but my life personally was even harder. At the time I was living in my car and I was homeless. Trying to make a life long career of me becoming a stylist, and a entrepreneur seemed impossible. The first week I was in school, my partner passed away and I quit going to school.

2 years later I finally wanted to get my career started again and I started school at The Salon Professional Academy in Waite Park Minnesota. It was a challenge, and it was extremely hard work. There was a lot of happy times and hard times when I was in school, but it taught me how to become stronger.

I started my career in St Cloud Minnesota and I worked myself up in the business. I eventually was starting to work in the cities. I drove everyday from St. Cloud to Eden Prairie, because I knew in my heart that I wanted to have my career in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/Saint Paul). I knew moving down here would of gave me more opportunities professionally & personally.

A lot of times, we as people deal with a lot in our careers and life in general. Sometimes we deal with people that want us to fail, and sometimes we meet people that want to uplift us and mentor us. I had the opportunity to meet both. I have met some wonderful people in my career that I will be forever grateful. I have met some horrible people in my career as well. They always tried to derail me off of my path. They tried and it almost worked, but I have worked too hard to give up. I turned all that anger into strength.

Today I am a proud salon owner. In my career and life I gained so much strength, but most importantly I gained wisdom. I gained forgiveness, but I will never forget where I came from and I will never forget the people that helped me and the people that didn’t. I will never forget when I was homeless and trying to survive. I will never forget how much strength and wisdom I gained. I will never forget the time I first brushed my mothers hair and how happy she was. I never or will never give up on my dreams.

The moral of this story is to always believe in yourself. Trust yourself, don’t let others try to put you down. Always move forward and never look back. We as ourselves have that power to control our future and dreams.

My American Dream happened. Who knew that this adopted first generation Honduran could have this dream of his own business…….I always did. The future is still young and I cannot wait for what is in store.

I did it!

P.S Thanks mom for making brush your hair when I was a kid. Thank you for giving me life, and thank you for always believing in me, even when I didn’t believing myself. To my husband, you’re amazing and thank you for always holding my hand through thick to thin. To all my family/clients/ and friends….. you’re amazing and I am so glad that I have you all in my life.

-Patrick C Walker