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

Hi Selena, what do you want your legacy to be?
When being asked about what I want my legacy to be I think about the Tupac Shakur poem a Rose That Grew From The Concrete. I want people to remember how hard I worked for everything I got. I Growing up in Detroit with a single mom I always looked to mine as Superwoman. She raised two children, worked, two jobs and moved us out of the city, all the while making it look so easy. I took that mentality I saw growing up and decide that I could be Super woman too, because anything can be achieved through hard-work. While running my beauty brand, doing hair, and being a full time social media influencer may look easy it is HARD. I also would like for people to remember how much I cared about my people. With great power comes great responsibility and when my hardworking starts paying off I want my legacy to be a hero who uses their power to give back to their community. Growing up in on the west side of Detroit I wouldn’t say it was terrible but it most definitely wasn’t the best environment. I saw things that needed to be improved in my community and at one point in time it even hit home. Now that my goal to be able to use my talents and resources to give back to communities like mine. And last but not least I want people to remember that I was human. I struggled, I fell, I prayed, I cried, and I got back up and just tried. No matter the deck life has handed you, you can do it. Remember that through prayer, hard work and determination you CAN and WILL accomplish anything. I want my legacy to be just like poem a display that even in toughest and ugliest circumstances, life can become beautiful.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I want the world to know that I always knew that I was different. I always had a love for beauty, fashion, and helping others and I know my path does exactly that. I don’t limit myself to just one career. I want the world to know I have come far from where I started however, I still have a ways to go to the future I am envisioning, I have trial and errors but I never give up. I was born and raised in Detroit Michigan until I was 14. My dad was in and out of jail but he always provided for us, while my mom was a stay at home mom during my younger years but then got jobs as we got a little older so we would spend a lot of time with my grandma and step grandfather. My grandma was like my best-friend I was always with her since I was a baby, as I grew up, she was the person I always went to for everything. Who I would tell what I wanted to be when I grew up. She was the one I would tell all my feelings too. And who helped me discover my interested in hair and makeup, always letting me play in her makeup, wigs, and playing dress up in her fancy high-end clothes. She always made sure I stayed kind and friendly to others and always told me to never judge anyone because you never know what they’re going through so be kind to everyone you meet. I was in the second grade when my grandmother died and that was the worst day of my life, it was like a piece of me was gone and the emptiness carried with me as I grew up and I didn’t even release the emotional affect it caused me until I started finding myself and learning who I am. My mom moved me and my brother to Novi my freshman year of  high school for better education and opportunities but moving there didn’t mean we got that. When I lived in Detroit, I saw a lot growing up that I could have been negatively influenced by. In my neighborhood I saw drugs, robberies, and murders but instead of falling into those things I would practice my braiding skills on my mom and friends and experimented with makeup. My home life was complicated as my parents were together in a toxic relationship. They tried to stay together for me and my brother but that just made things worst. We moved to Novi which was the suburbs so something that I had to get use too. I graduated from Novi High School in 2017. While I was in high school I would practice hairstyles and makeup on myself for dances and special occasions and sometimes on my friends. I didn’t take my passion serious while I was in high school because no one around my had the same interest I had so even though I knew college wasn’t for me I was unsure of what path I would take to become successful in life. As I was on social media I would see these people becoming super successful in the same career I was interested in and I knew if they could do it I could do it too and I follow my dreams. So, after high school I took a year off to complete what I wanted out of life that I would be passionate about and design a plan on how to achieve that goal. During that time, I continued to work a 9-5 job since that was one thing I always did since I was 16. I worked mainly in fear because I knew cosmetology school was going to take a lot of time and I had bills to pay and wanted to make sure I had a solid plan. Mid-summer of 2018 is when I started cosmetology school while I was working at my Pei Wei job. In cosmetology school I met one of my best friends there and she told me about an opportunity to work in a shop even before we got done with school. At first it sounded too good to be true. Her auntie said we could share a suite together and go half for the booth rent but then I thought about it and said I don’t have constant clientele to afford booth rent even through it was cheap. Then her auntie said she was going to hand her clientele down to me and my friend because she didn’t want to do hair anymore just run her salon. So, I agreed, and we moved in our suite together I quit my job at Pei Wei with blind faith everything was going to work out. A couple months went by and I still didn’t have the clientele like she promised and financially it didn’t make since to constantly pay booth rent with the small clientele list I had at that time. I told her I was leaving the shop packed my stuff out and took it to my mom’s house where I was living at the time. I had to make some scarifies and started doing DoorDash and Grubhub while doing hair from my mom house and continuing with cosmetology school. Most of the styles my clients were getting were faux locs, braids, silk presses, weaves. There were so many times I thought I wasn’t good, or I should quit because the locs where unraveling and presses weren’t as silky and cute as I wanted them to look. Even when I kept going and they got better I still thought I could do better for my skillsets and for my clients. I was always so hard on myself. You know what they say you are your own worst critic, and I was.  Around that time, I was also going through depression and didn’t even recognize it.  I was losing friends and didn’t want to be bothered by anyone, it even got to a point of unhealthy thoughts of harming myself and when it got that bad, I spoke up. I told my family and the friends, and they were there for me in the worst time of my live. I was still in cosmetology school, but I was applying to assistant jobs and waiting to hear back from those job interviews was agonizing as no one would ever call back. I finished cosmetology school June 2019 I had till June 2020 to get my license. So, I know myself and know I have test anxiety, so I was going to wait a little time to really be prepared for my test because I knew it was hard also, I had finally got another job working at CVS warehouse. Working at CVS was just a reminder that this was not the life I wanted, and it motivated me to keep going so I don’t have to work at a job I didn’t love. I took the practical test November 2019 I was so nervous, but I passed. And I planned on taking the theory part in April 2020 but then the pandemic hit, and I couldn’t take my test and June was coming up and I knew I only had till June of 2020 but luckily, they pushed my time back until October of 2020. The first time, I took the written test I failed and was so disappointed. When we went on lock down, I had to quit my job at CVS because my mom had healthy issues and I didn’t want to expose her to covid, so I was able to get unemployment which helped me get grow my clientele and continue to work on my technique and skillset. I was getting so blessed even though I was still disappointed by not passing my test I was able to get my own apartment, and which allowed for me to have more space to continue working on my skills and constantly get better with my techniques and I took my test 2 more times but still didn’t pass. I was ashamed and I realized I needed to change where I was because I wasn’t happy with the vibe and energy and I needed to focus on studying and gain new inspiration and perspective. So, I decided I needed a new start and I thought where do I go that’s always makes me feel happy and at peace and that was Atlanta. Every time I visit the vibe is great and felt like my old self and inspired and I enjoyed the feeling that people around me believed in me and wanted to help me succeed. When my lease was up, I committed to the decision to move to Atlanta. In August 2021 I took that step and moved all on faith. I have family and they have helped me network and since I have moved here, I landed a new job in a new salon where I will be assisting and getting more mentorship to build my clientele and I have finally I took my test and I finally passed just when I was about to give up. I’m so glad I didn’t give up because I finally got my license and will be coming out with my own hair line soon and other business ventures as well.  I want the world to know how resilient I am and yes there have been many times I have wanted to quit and give up, but I didn’t. And I knew exactly where I wanted to be and where I see my future headed. It took a lot of faith to come to Atlanta but believing in yourself is one of the most powerful things you can do. There’s more to come and different areas I plan on venturing into with fashion and real estate and there will be more of Selena Crystal Robinson to come. This is a fresh start and a new beginning with great opportunities ahead.

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?
So starting the week off on Tuesday and your flight comes in I would take you to get lunch at one of my favorite seafood spots which is juicy krab, after that, we just shop around Lenox mall for a little bit then get dinner at the old lady gang. Wednesday we would go get brunch at the select after we were done we would head over to the botanical garden as soon as we were done with the garden we would go take some cute pictures at the girl mob museum, then go get dinner at krab queenz for seafood and daiquiris. On Thursday we would spend all day at Atlantic station they have so many restaurants to choose from along with some shopping and they have events going on regularly. Moving onto Friday we would go to the real milk and honey for brunch after that go to paint sip socialize and have fun painting then head to dinner at orient express for some sushi and hibachi. Lastly, on Saturday most likely sleep in that day then go to the loaded potatoes bar for lunch after that go to the skyline park to go have fun later that night end it with going to the boogalou bar.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Everyone in my life has made a big impact on who I am today, I would love to give a huge shoutout to my family, support group, the people that have been there for me when I was at my ups and my downs. First, off my mother Nicole waller the woman I look up to for everything, who was and still is my role model, she taught me to be the determined, hard-working, strong, independent woman I am today she has always believed in every dream I have and helps me achieve that goal and get to the next one. My brother who I looked up to and taught me not to try to impress others to always be myself and be unapologetic about it. my best-friends basically my sisters Janajah, Kiara, Kailynn, Jada, and Makaila. They have been with me this whole journey they have always supported, encouraged, and given me motivation to never give up, even when I was at my lowest and wanted to throw in the towel, they were there to uplift me, speak affirmations, pray over me, let me practice on them and they always listened to every dream I had and helped through the process and still are here for everything coming in the future. And lastly, I have to thank the Lord himself because he is the only one why I am still here today without him I would not have been blessed with all I have done so far and all for what I still have yet to come.

Instagram: Selenacrystal_ & original.selenaa

Twitter: 0riginal_selena

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/selena.robinson.963

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCOc2UpntuqPWSG5GMRMIbRw

Image Credits
I mainly took most of the pictures but my mom did take some of them for me shoutout to my mom Nicole Waller thank you!

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