A Natural Affair Beauty Lounge, located at 2869 Poplar Avenue in Memphis and at 1250 North Germantown Parkway in Cordova, recently became the first salon to become a signature partner with Memphis Shelby County Schools’ College, Career, and Technical Education cosmetology program.
Takeisha Berry Brooks, the owner of A Natural Affair, said that a path was created so that her student and stylist, Alicia, could obtain work study. This means that Alicia would attend school during the day, and after her classes she would go to the salon to not only work, but to obtain her cosmetology license while in high school.
Brooks prides herself on being able to give young stylists a place to start. She has been offering apprenticeship programs at her salon even prior to becoming a signature program.
According to Phil Dotson, partnership director of the division of college, career, and technical education for MSCS, it’s through partnership programs that MSCS is able to connect students and their coursework to companies in the community.
“Our kids have to be able to see the careers that are in their backyard, their communities, so that they can make that choice that they know what they want to do when they leave school,” he said.
There are two models of the partnership program. Dotson explained that the community partner program is the Adopt-A-School model, meaning that companies can partner with one specific school to “give kids what they need and to provide supportive services to the school.” Dotson said that the signature partnership program is what they “like to hang their hat on.”
Dotson said MSCS works to ensure that they are offering the right type of certifications, ones that will “make students more attractive candidates when they interview for jobs.” He added that there are more than 40 academic pathways, which gives partners the opportunity to introduce these pathways in real life.
Brooks is a graduate of Kingsbury High School, and was in the school’s cosmetology program. She said without that that foundation, she wouldn’t be where she is today. “This opportunity to partner is just a full circle moment, because I feel like I was chosen to show that vocational works in high school.”
“It’s a tight ship,” said Brooks. “To know that every day that I impact lives, and that they come to A Natural Affair to survive and have the confidence to say ‘Hey I can do this,’and to watch these girls get houses, go from driving raggedy to cars to brand new cars, and to see these girls moving up in life because of something I’ve established. My mind is blown.”
Brooks also focuses on teaching her students the business side of cosmetology. “They have to have some sense of direction when it comes to how money is dispersed,” she said.
“It teaches them how to create a work-life balance,” said Brooks. “Whether they’re single or have families, it creates a system, gives them some type of stability. That way when they do go out on their own, I hope that they continue to practice what they’ve learned at A Natural Affair.”