New Hampshire teen launches hairstyling business while still in high school
A New Hampshire teenager has become a successful business owner before graduating high school.
Kelly Akimana said styling other women's hair is her happy place.
"It's a great way to clear your mind," she said. "When I am doing hair. I am not thinking about what I need to turn in, what I have to do."
She was talking about turning in schoolwork because the successful hairstylist is also a high school student.
"I love to see other people happy, and I knew that doing my hair and switching up styles coming into school and hearing compliments, it made me happy, and knowing I could share that happiness is the reason why I started doing hair," Akimana said.
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Akimana was born in Tanzania and came to New Hampshire with her family in 2011.
She started braiding hair about five years ago — first her own, then her mom's, then her mom's friends.
"I have over 300 clients," she said.
She founded Beauty by Kelly a little over a year ago. She started a website and created business cards to grow her business.
"I always tell her all the time, 'I am so proud of you,' because not a lot of people her age do what she does," Odreille Niyinkiye, one of Akimana's clients, said.
Her clients said her hands are like magic, filling a need, especially for Black women in New Hampshire.
"Our hair is very different," Akimana said. "It's much harder to maintain and take care of."
"As a woman, you want to get your hair done," Niyinkiye said. "When you leave here, you feel really good."
Akimana said she sees more than 15 clients per week, with services ranging anywhere from $50 to $300.
She also has about 25 clients with nontextured hair. She said she hopes to expand that part of her clientele.
"I don't know how to professionally color and cut, and I want to expand my knowledge and learn more about that," she said.
She's saving money to take classes and said that within five years, she plans to move Beauty by Kelly from her mother's living room to her own space in a salon.
"It's like a look-good, feel-good type of thing," she said. "If you're looking good, you're going to feel great. I feel like it makes people feel good. It changes your day."