Nofu Chronicles #5: Life Unfolds in Proportion to Your Courage

Little did I know that my mission had just begun. Flying out of Vegas on a Sunday night heading home, my soul felt full. My bag of products in one hand and my suitcase to check-in, in the other. Low and behold, guess who was on the same airplane as me, my new mentor. She and her son were sitting only five rows away from me on the plane. By now she had started noticing me, after meeting her son at the show and saying hi on the plane. Her radar was up that I was flying to Oakland as well. 

Was sure to make lots of eye contact on the plane. Then, low and behold she checked her bags too. I'm an awful packer and typically always over pack. Checking my bag for a weekend trip was totally normal for me. Lol. At the carousel, a good friend who owns a hair salon in SF was there as well. We started chatting and then he peeped out my mentor. He was like..."do you know who that is? She is a famous esthetician in the Bay that specializes in African American skin." Pretty much told him that my mission was to see her speak at the show and that I had met her son. He told me to go up and meet her, that I may get a job working for her. So, shy me walked right up to her. 

This was my moment of truth. Walking right up to her, extending my hand to say "hello and thank you for teaching such an amazing class." She greeted me with a smile and thank you, asking me where I work and live. Relaying with, "I live in Oakland, just finished esthetician school and am being really picky where I get a job." Some more small talk and then, "come by my office on Tuesday, let's talk." This was everything to me! Inside, I was in shock and jumping up and down like a little kid. After we parted ways, I went up to my hairstylist friend and told him what happened. He gave me a super hard high five as he was super duper happy for me. My interview was set up at the carousel. Yippee!!

Tuesday arrived for my interview. I wasn't too nervous because at T.J. interviewing folks for eight years was my specialty. Of course, I arrived early and waited in the lobby. A really nice staff, with some side eyes looking my way. My mentor did not come to work for a couple of hours. So intriguingly, I watched the goings on of the front desk and met three of the staff. It was fascinating to see all of the products that she carried and get the jist of the flow. They played old school R&B on KBLX. The vibe was comfortable and chill. 

Eventually she arrived with a briefcase in hand. She disappeared to her office and shortly thereafter reappeared for my interview. There were a couple of cubicles that were for consultations, I later found out. We went into one of the cubicles and she started picking my brain. Told her my whole T.J.'s story about my back injury and not working for a couple of years. That my next job had to be light on my back and that ever since my grade three Rosacea flared up, I was interested in learning about skin with issues. This made her happy. 

She told me about the clientele. That it was mostly acne and hyper-pigmentation and that eighty percent of her clients were African American. We did not go over consultations, only that I would be doing thirty minute peels and facials all day. Seven minute peels/facials, seven minute extractions and seven minute masks and seven minutes to finish up and put sunscreen on. It was a skin clinic so folks had to be in and out quickly. Of course the hardest part for me was going to be doing "real" extractions. I was not worried. At the rate her clients came in, there was no choice but to learn quickly. At the end of the interview she told me that I was hired and to start on Friday morning. This was my dream come true ever since hearing about her from my Russian teacher at school. One of my favorite sayings is..."life unfolds in proportion to your courage." It's SO TRUE!