BY TIMOTHY PARKER | LANCASTER
PUBLISHED 9:45 AM ET MAR. 11, 2020 UPDATED 10:24 AM ET MAR. 11, 2020
LANCASTER, Calif. – Ashanna Clarke is taking it one braid at a time, taking care of her client and building up her life.
She is a stylist at VIP House of Hair in Lancaster, all under the watchful eye of Rosalin Coleman, starting from nothing in 2014.
“I was delivering products out of my car. I was convincing people I was a local distributor. They believed me. I’m very grateful for that. The business began to grow, and grow, and grow,” said Coleman.
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It has blossomed into a bustling salon and store. But more than that, it has become a faith filled light house for young women in the community. Many of the employees come from low-income backgrounds and have overcome hard struggles in life.
Handmade Nigerian Braid Twist Wigs at VIP House of Hair https://t.co/UjlPFtpZvc via @VIP_Beauties
— VIP House Of Hair (@VIP_Beauties) March 7, 2020
“I love these girls almost like they’re my own daughters. So, I’m investing everything in me to make sure they are successful,” Coleman said.
Young women like Clarke who just come out of an abusive relationship and ended up homeless when she came to the shop. She even had her baby on her back while doing hair, and getting her life on track thanks to Coleman.
“I feel like since I came here, it’s opened a lot of doors for me. Rosalin has introduced me to so many people. She helped me find living situations. So, I’m truly blessed. I’m overly blessed,” Cooke said.
Today she and her son are doing well, and Coleman is being recognized for what she is doing in the community. She was honored alongside celebrities at the I Am That Woman Conference and prayer breakfast in Los Angeles earlier this year.
“I was excited, ecstatic, very surprised, shocked, very grateful from the bottom of my heart,” she said.
She wants to inspire her two daughters to achieve and give back when it’s their time to take center stage.
“That would be dream where my children go off and not only see the work that see their mother do, that see their grandmother do, to do greater works beyond what they see me do,” said Coleman
It’s about so much than hair and business. The true goal is build up to the next generation of women.
