Meet Sharee Crawford | Miss. Proficient Hands

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

Hi Sharee, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
What was my thought process behind starting my business? To be honest it was never a thought I was born for this. I knew as a little girl that I would be a successful business woman and I also knew how I was going to execute the plan to become that woman. Believe it or not, I  was 6 years old when I learned how to braid hair. I always copied my mom’s hair style on my doll’s head.  I would practice day and night on my craft, knowing I was destined for greatness. When I was 10 I had my first client. I remember telling my mom I was going to be big from braiding hair. The crazy thing about my story is I was a child telling my mom I was going to do hair and open up a big hair store in Atlanta. At the time I didn’t know NOTHING about Atlanta but I knew it was a a part of my vision lol . I recall going to the beauty supplies store with my mom to get the braid hair so she can braid my hair,  I told my mom that I hated the pictures displayed on the packs of braid hair. I told her one day that I will have my own braid hair brand and my picture will show my creativity on the packaging. As of today I have done just that by creating my own braid hair line (thank you Lord!!) That was one of my plans on becoming the business woman that I am today. I opened up my own hair shop called Proficient Hands. I built my brand off of faith, I wrote down my vision and God honored my plan. I have my Proficient Hands Luxury hair care products and my Proficient Hands Braid hair / BraidTalk Comb. It was never a second thought to me about starting my own business. I live, sleep and eat business, I was born for this and I will never fail at it because failure has never been an option.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Being a young single mother of two, I was living in a based on income apartment you know working a regular, dead in 9-5 Job at a call center. Then life happened, my truck started giving me problems, no air my tires, truck use to break down when I stopped, I had to get out every time to fix it while being in traffic. My kids were young at the time so they didn’t realize what was going on. This was in 2014, I stopped working due to car trouble and I didn’t have any way back and forth to work. So I decided to go to college for nursing and to be honest I didn’t know what I was thinking and  I knew deep down that wasn’t my passion. Now, here I am broke with two kids looking at me without a care in this world, I went to sleep crying, praying, asking God to show me what I needed to do. Forgetting all about that passion God gave me when I was birthed into this world, not realizing my biggest gift was in my hands, LITERALLY. He brought back the vision from my dreams that he had given me when I was a little. So that’s when faith kicked in. I moved my living room around and set it up as a small beauty shop. I had a table full of hair products but didn’t have ANY clients. But one thing that I knew was that they were coming. I felt the blessing coming my way, I could feel it running through my body. I had an old friend who laughed at the idea of me setting my apartment up like a shop with no clients. See, I was walking by faith and not by sight. Her laugh and smart comments did the opposite of discourage me, it made me believe in myself even more. I began to pray over my business, I told God that I wanted my braids to stand out from others, that when people see my work they know Proficient Hands did it. In FEBRUARY 2015 I had so many clients that I couldn’t keep up. I was consistent, I would work 5am till 5am non stop, I set goals for myself that I began to crush. I wrote down my goals, I wanted to brand myself and go to cosmetology school. Once I graduated I wanted to open my own shop then drop all of my Proficient Hands Hair Products. As of today I have met and exceeded all of my goals that I wrote down in 2015. Nothing was easy for me being a single mom trying to balance home life and running a business but with God on my side I got through all the challenges that came my way.

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?
I love Buckhead! I would take my friend to the Toast on Lenox for breakfast or Atlanta Breakfast Club. I love Peter St. It gives me black culture vibes.  I love all the restaurants on Peter St.

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?
I would like to thank God for all he’s doing in my life and the blessings he has given me. I would like to thank 4mas Grooming Inc for spreading the word about my company. My kids Martez & Zykoria Mcmillian they are the reason behind me never giving up. Also my family, my mom (Gabrielle Davis for showing me what a hardworking woman looks like) my dad (Tremayne Davis for his encouraging words in my time of need) my sister and my cousins. The Crawford Family for always being there.. now it’s one thing to have family backing you but my Church Family Word of Truth Holiness Church Pastor Darryl Dees and First Lady Belinda Dees for the prayers they pray and the love and support they have for me. I’m very thankful and I appreciate shoutout Atl for this opportunity. I pray nothing but  blessings over this company.

Website: www.proficienthands.com

Instagram: proficienthands_sharee

Facebook: Proficient Hands

Image Credits
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