Panama City, Florida, where I was born and raised, is also the city where I graduated from high school, attained my cosmetology license, and my Associates degree. My best friend in high school hid her diagnoses of leukemia during our senior year and started wearing a wig to school. It was not the best-looking unit, but I also had no skills to help offer her a better solution. 

I believe that story has been an underlying drive throughout my journey. Right after high school, I started cosmetology school and participated in community theatre at night. I fully intended on being a successful actress, but I found a bigger need for a hair and makeup artist; and that is where I switched my focus. 

I obtained a Bachelors in Acting while working on the hair and makeup for the collegiate productions simultaneously, but I had to know more about wig making. While attending UNCSA (University of North Carolina School of the Arts) for graduate school, I found a passion for building wigs for theatre, tv, film, and opera and all the nuance that went into each piece. Right after graduating with a Masters in Wig and Makeup design I became a wig and makeup supervisor for touring Broadway shows.

During my second season, COVID-19 struck and put my industry on hold. Although an unfortunate circumstance, I saw an opportunity to spend time creating something that will outlive me. 4 weeks after being furloughed, I took the wig building skills I had nurtured, found a demographic of people who could benefit the most and breathed life into The Beauty Menagerie. I’m now in the business of helping people and I don’t plan on looking back.