Meet Alex Duckworth | Hairstylist, Yoga Instructor, & Mom

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Duckworth and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
2020 was the year my perspective truly began to change when it comes to work/life balance. I started working as an independent stylist in December of 2019. I was working three jobs at the time to make ends meet and to help rebuild clientele. I worked a few nights a week bartending, a few days a week at a blow dry bar, and in between, took as many clients as possible, and spent my free time networking and passing out business cards. In March 2020, COVID shut everything down. My jobs were “nonessential,” so during the shutdown, I was not working at all. Then when things started to open back up in May, my bartending job let me go due to lack of need, and my success rate in obtaining clientele for my salon suite plummeted. In June 2020, I found out I was expecting my first child. At a time where so many things were uncertain – my finances, our political future, the health of our society, etc, I now had to prepare to bring life in this world, and to try to avoid as much stress as possible. After the birth of my daughter in February 2021, I really started to change. I found myself grateful that I was forced to figure out how to survive without working as much as I was. I was grateful to be forced out of food service. It can be an industry that breeds toxicity and is hard to give up. Who knows when I would’ve quit had I not been let go at a time where it was impossible to find new work in the industry. I grew up with parents who often chose work over being home – partially out of necessity, partially out of priding themselves on being hard workers. The fact is, I used to be so proud of how hard I worked. The “hustle culture” was who I was. 2020 and having my daughter changed everything. I began to realize how short life really is through the uncertainty of the “COVID-era.” I began to realize how I felt as a child – all I ever wanted was time with my parents. I didn’t care about what they could provide for me. I cared about hanging out with them and getting quality time, and I wanted to make that change with my own child. I now realize that yes, making money is important. Being able to afford a safe home, a reliable car, and the ability to take fun vacations to make memories is important. But none of those things matter if you are not here and healthy and able to enjoy them. None of those things matter if you never get to spend time with your friends, your family, your own brain. Just like anything, there are highs and lows, good times and bad. There will be times where you feel like all you do is work. There will be times where you feel like you’re not working hard enough. As a parent, there will be times where you feel like you’re putting more energy into your job than your family. There will be times where work is slow and you may feel like you don’t know how you’re going to make ends meet, but you’ve been able to spend time with your children. Rarely will you feel like everything is “balanced” on a daily or weekly basis. What’s important is the mindset, and the bigger picture. The scales of work/life balance will tip every day, but at the end of your life, will you be able to look back and consider them balanced? That’s what really matters.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Professionally, I am a hairstylist and yoga instructor.

I do mostly curly hair, as I have curly hair myself, and have had some terrible experiences. I’ve had the accidental baby bangs from a stylist who didn’t know how much my hair would shrink. I’ve had the severely damaged hair from over-straightening in the early 2000s. I’ve had the over-processed hair that killed my curls. I’ve made most of the mistakes you can make as a curly-head. and use the knowledge I’ve gained to help others through the same struggles.

I started doing hair in 2016, after graduating with my Bachelor’s in 2014. While in cosmetology school full time during the day, I worked full time at night bartending to make ends meet. I truly slept on average 4 hours a night, and would take a quick nap in my car in the parking lot of the restaurant I worked at in between school and work. I told myself all the time “This is only a year. You can do this.” Then, after I graduated, I found myself in an internship at a salon for a year, where I would be paid minimum wage – still not enough to quit my bartending job. It was hard accepting that I had to do this for another year. After that second year ended and I began to work as a full-time stylist, I still had to build a clientele to support myself, so I continued to work that bartending job (although much less than before and I found myself getting more sleep). Then in 2019, I got fired from that salon job and found myself working independently, and still working that bartending job. I’m so grateful for it all, but it has definitely been a journey, and one of my biggest sources of pride these days is the relationships I’ve formed with my clients.

I began my yoga instructor journey in August 2023. During 2021 when gyms were closed due to COVID and I was pregnant with my first child, I found myself heavily relying on YouTube yoga. It helped me so much during that year: mentally, physically, and spiritually, and I found myself wanting to help other women going through pregnancy in those ways just as the YouTube instructors helped me. At the end of my teacher training, I found myself expecting my second child, and I look forward to using the knowledge I gained this pregnancy to do exactly as I had planned.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One of the best things about Atlanta is that there is something to do in every neighborhood, all the time. Depending on what time of year it was, I would definitely take you to a festival – maybe Kirkwood Spring Fling, Oakhurst Porch Fest, the L5P Halloween parade, A3C, the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival, there’s literally always a local event to attend.
Then, I’d rent bikes and have a day on the beltline – I’d start at Piedmont Park, maybe the Botanical Garden, stop at Park Tavern for some sushi, stop at what used to be Murder Kroger for a beer (iykyk), grab some dinner at one of the many delicious restaurants on the Eastside, and then grab some dessert from Little Tart or Jeni’s. I’d also make sure to take you for street food tour of some sort – Pullman Yards chef’s market, the Grant Park Farmer’s market, and whatever food fest was happening. Some of the best food in the city comes from a tent or a food truck (and yes I’m biased, my partner has a food truck, Frekan Kwizin – check it out!) I’d definitely take you to some of the beautiful nature spots OTP like Sweetwater Park in Lithia Springs or Abernathy Park in Sandy Springs. Finally, I’d take you to the Westside to do some indoor activities at night like Your 3rd Spot, The Painted Pin, or Ormsby’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My number one shoutout is my partner, Emerson. I never would have been able to build the businesses I have without his assistance and sacrifices. We have truly worked together to build a life we are proud of. I am blessed to be at a point in my business where he can now focus on building his business, and that through all of this we are able to parent our two daughters full-time as well. We have worked so hard together to find balance and every day we work closer toward it.

Website: https://alexdartistryyogi.square.site/

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