Meet Angel Toney of Gaudy Lockes in Gardena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angel Toney.

Angel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve loved hair my whole life. Everything about hair excites my spirit and tingles to my fingertips. My 1st client was my late little sister. As kids, I practiced on her day and night. Hairstyling literally just came natural to me. I would watch when I got my hair done and literally take the skill home and practice on my sister. Sadly, she was killed in a car accident in 2013 at the age of 21. Life through me for a loop.. but I continued with my independent business. I later took my business more serious and created my DBA for myself. Gaudy Lockes was now birthed and official. When I first started out with my business, I literally only had about three clients. I barely made booth rent at the salon and I could even barely pay my cell phone bill to even allow clients to call me. Rough was not even the word. Obviously, this is before social media so business was word of mouth and flyers. Business got so bad for me I had to give up my car and apartment and moved around from couch to couch.

The thing is when you really have a dream and a goal it doesn’t matter what it takes to get there, you’re going to strive to get to the end of the tunnel. I knew my worth and I knew my time was coming. I kept at it moving from salon to working out of a house and back to a salon. I even played myself by having low deals just to grab new clients. My persistence and diligence kept me in the game. My clientele started to build stronger and stronger. My work got even better by the head. I started to get so busy I began to build my brand by starting with a booking app. I needed organization… I couldn’t believe that I was finally getting a consistent clientele. Social media grew fast and I started to take full advantage of the free promotion through hashtags and various promo deals. Currently, I’m renting a booth at Glamorous Mane Beauty Bar in Gardena, CA. This is not the end of the road for me… you’ll be hearing my name for a long time. Ms. Gaudy Lockes

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road was not smooth at all. Becoming a full-time entrepreneur requires a lot of time and your own MONEY. My first few years were so hard. I truly wanted to quit. I was always broke, yet always working. I had no money management or time organization skills. My business was so slow in the beginning that I have to give up my car and apartment. I was literally homeless living from couch to couch. No where would hire me for some reason. I just pushed my way through all those hard days I never gave up!

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m a hairstylist/wig maker. I specialize in healthy hair for back women. The styles I have been most known for recently have been ponytails. Which to me is funny because I just started doing ponytails in 2018 and now it’s my most requested style. What makes me proud of my company is sticking to my background of professionalism. I grew up in private schools from k-12. I was always taught to speak proper and be professional in everything you do. Sometimes it’s very hard to keep your standards and morals when life hands you certain situations. From what I see on my reviews on my booking app, clients are very pleased with that from me and I believe that sets me apart from slot of stylists.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Faith has been the only characteristic to my success. I believe that faith is the key to my diligence of even continuing my day to day duty in my business. It’s not the skill set but the mindset that will drive you to success. Faith is the substance of things hoped for yet the evidence of things unseen.

Pricing:

• Ponytails $75 and up
• Weaves $200 and up
• Customer made wigs $250 and up

Contact Info:

• Website: www.styleseat.com/gaudylockes
• Phone: 3109547229
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @gaudylockes
• Facebook: Gaudy Lockes

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