I began to comb her hair as I started doing the part line in the middle for the “waterfall braid.” Next, I started expanding braids to create a thick flower effect wrapped in the middle and ending with two fishtail braids around the braid flower. The hairspray completes the glamorous look to match her red sequin dress for prom. Even though nowadays hairstyles cost up to $50, since this was my first client, I decided to charge only $35. I didn’t want to charge too much in case I made a mistake. She was happy to pay, and my business was born. My love of hairstyling started when my mom did my hair for school — two braids in front pulled together in the back. She would always do my hairstyles in elementary, which made me feel more put together and increased my confidence. One day I just got bored and started thinking to myself, “what if I try to see if I can do it?” So I recreated the hairstyle. After that practice I realized that it was actually something fun to do as well as to learn from. So I recruited my seven and six year old sisters and all summer I would braid, tease, spray, and curl their hair so I could practice. I wasn’t perfect. some of my braids were too loose, and sometimes they ended up with way too many “flyaways.” But I didn’t give up. This wasn’t the only time I didn’t give up. During my freshman year I struggled immensely in my Math 1 course with Mr. Diaz. While everyone else was sitting, I was there wondering how I was going to understand the homework due that day. I felt like giving up. I started to realize that after every struggle that I had I learned new things. I went to office hours alone, and sat with Mr. Diaz to work on linear equations and proofs. Even though I was the only one there, I started slowly seeing a change in my grades, even earning an award for academic improvement during my second semester. When I finished her hair and took a picture she said, “Oh, it’s really nice!” and she immediately took a picture. I saw that she felt confident, and this shows how women can empower others through just a small action and turn it into a big confidence boost. I see that if I work hard enough and actually put effort into the things I do, everything will come out good. Now I dream of having my own salon, or as a side job because hair makes women feel empowered and proud of themselves, it gives them a boost of confidence. If in the future I keep on with what I love I will have opportunities that I might not have now but will lead me to greater success in life. I would love to learn more as I grow to become a professional hairstylist to be able to do wedding hairstyles, travel to places to do people’s hair and many more other fun things.

I began to comb her hair as I started doing the part line in the middle for the “waterfall braid.” Next, I started expanding braids to create a thick flower effect wrapped in the middle and ending with two fishtail braids around the braid flower. The hairspray completes the glamorous look to match her red sequin dress for prom. Even though nowadays hairstyles cost up to $50, since this was my first client, I decided to charge only $35. I didn’t want to charge too much in case I made a mistake. She was happy to pay, and my business was born. My love of hairstyling started when my mom did my hair for school — two braids in front pulled together in the back. She would always do my hairstyles in elementary, which made me feel more put together and increased my confidence. One day I just got bored and started thinking to myself, “what if I try to see if I can do it?” So I recreated the hairstyle. After that practice I realized that it was actually something fun to do as well as to learn from. So I recruited my seven and six year old sisters and all summer I would braid, tease, spray, and curl their hair so I could practice. I wasn’t perfect. some of my braids were too loose, and sometimes they ended up with way too many “flyaways.” But I didn’t give up. This wasn’t the only time I didn’t give up. During my freshman year I struggled immensely in my Math 1 course with Mr. Diaz. While everyone else was sitting, I was there wondering how I was going to understand the homework due that day. I felt like giving up. I started to realize that after every struggle that I had I learned new things. I went to office hours alone, and sat with Mr. Diaz to work on linear equations and proofs. Even though I was the only one there, I started slowly seeing a change in my grades, even earning an award for academic improvement during my second semester. During the year of Summer of 2022, I wanted to go to Israel to visit the holy land of Jesus. My family and I sold strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. We started selling before summer, around March through May while school was ending. We would sell to close family, friends as well as people from church. The more we went out there to sell, the money due would decrease. It took time but in the end we were able to collect the money we could. Eventually, all the things that we sold were gone and we had money to pay for the trip. It was something that wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of my parents and myself. I was able to really see that through all the hard work God was able to provide. When I finished her hair and took a picture she said, “Oh, it’s really nice!” and she immediately took a picture. I saw that she felt confident, and this shows how women can empower others through just a small action and turn it into a big confidence boost. I see that if I work hard enough and actually put effort into the things I do, everything will come out good. Now I dream of having my own salon, or as a side job because hair makes women feel empowered and proud of themselves, it gives them a boost of confidence. If in the future I keep on with what I love I will have opportunities that I might not have now but will lead me to greater success in life. I would love to learn more as I grow to become a professional hairstylist to be able to do wedding hairstyles, travel to places to do people’s hair and many more other fun things.

I began to comb her hair as I started doing the part line in the middle for the “waterfall braid.” Next, I started expanding braids to create a thick flower effect wrapped in the middle and ending with two fishtail braids around the braid flower. The hairspray completes the glamorous look to match her red sequin dress for prom. Even though nowadays hairstyles cost up to $50, since this was my first client, I decided to charge only $35. I didn’t want to charge too much in case I made a mistake. She was happy to pay, and my business was born. My love of hairstyling started when my mom did my hair for school — two braids in front pulled together in the back. She would always do my hairstyles in elementary, which made me feel more put together and increased my confidence. One day I just got bored and started thinking to myself, “what if I try to see if I can do it?” So I recreated the hairstyle. After that practice I realized that it was actually something fun to do as well as to learn from. So I recruited my seven and six year old sisters and all summer I would braid, tease, spray, and curl their hair so I could practice. I wasn’t perfect. some of my braids were too loose, and sometimes they ended up with way too many “flyaways.” But I didn’t give up. This wasn’t the only time I didn’t give up. During my freshman year I struggled immensely in my Math 1 course with Mr. Diaz. While everyone else was sitting, I was there wondering how I was going to understand the homework due that day. I felt like giving up. I started to realize that after every struggle that I had I learned new things. I went to office hours alone, and sat with Mr. Diaz to work on linear equations and proofs. Even though I was the only one there, I started slowly seeing a change in my grades, even earning an award for academic improvement during my second semester. During the year of sophomore, I wanted to go to Israel to visit the holy land of Jesus. My family and I sold strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. We started selling before summer, around March through May while school was ending. We would sell to close family, friends as well as people from church. The more we went out there to sell, the money due would decrease. It took time but in the end we were able to collect the money we could. Eventually, all the things that we sold were gone and we had money to pay for the trip. It was something that wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of my parents and myself. I was able to really see that through all the hard work God was able to provide. I see that if I work hard enough and actually put effort into the things I do, everything will come out good. Now I dream of having my own salon, or as a side job because hair makes women feel empowered and proud of themselves, it gives them a boost of confidence. If in the future I keep on with what I love I will have opportunities that I might not have now but will lead me to greater success in life. I would love to learn more as I grow to become a professional hairstylist to be able to do wedding hairstyles, travel to places to do people’s hair and many more other fun things.

It was around January of 2022 when it all started going down the second semester of my freshman year. The days were hot, the heat transferred down my desk, the clouds started to appear over the sun. During this time I was trying my best to pass math, and at first I was struggling but I kept trying everyday. Every morning I would go to class, smelling the breeze of air under the summer sun as I walked to class. I would hear the bell, people talking, the pencil sharpener moving fast throughout time as it elevates louder, and see the papers on the desks in all the tables. As the teacher was telling everyone to sit down on their seats, when I was sitting down as I was touching the paper in front of me I was wondering what I was supposed to do, thinking that I was hopefully going to understand the homework we had due that day. Later on, I was thinking about my other classes, how I was going to do with all the other work that was given to me, but since that first time I talked to my teacher about my grade I was not sure what to think. I was stressed because I couldn’t pass my classes. My grades were really bad and I knew that there had to be a way to fix them, so I started taking classes more seriously, I tried going to Office hours more often and actually trying to pay attention, I even moved seats to try to learn more.Days went by and I got asked to go to Saturday school because my grades were really bad, I was failing physics and I didn’t understand it, and I was also failing math. During this time I would come after school constantly to finish my homework, even if I was the only one that would not stop me. Because I thought that If I was the only one there that meant that I was getting more help from the teacher than other students. As time went by I thought that I would never understand it. There were times where I would give up because I would struggle so much. As well as moments where I would not even stay after school because It felt incomplete to try. But then after a while of trying to ask for help after school I understood it, and due to constantly coming to after school and tutoring with the teacher it really helped me to not get behind in class. After trying my best for the past months I was able to improve my grade throughout time for up to more than 20 points in the matter of months. I remember that during the first semester I was failing math and was in the 60’s but once I realized that I could do so much better I just tried my best to keep pushing until the end of the year because I knew I wanted to end the year strong. I started to realize that after every struggle that I had I learned new things. I really got motivated by my grades and how far I had come. I saw that all the hard work was actually for me to be successful, I even got an award for academic improvement during my second semester for math which meant that I was above average faster than other students. This comes to show that If you really put something in mind that you want to accomplish and if you set boundaries anything can be possible.