For many, one of their favorite personal experiences is having a great conversation with their hair stylist. This experience is not new to Eunice Boateng’s clients at The Hair Thairapist.
Boateng has been doing her own hair and her teammates’ hairs for some time, and now, thanks to Boateng, the members of her track and field team at Syracuse all have great hair.
Although she has been doing hair for fun, she started taking her vocation seriously during the coronavirus lockdowns. Hair salons shut down as the virus swept the country, so Boateng started doing her friends’ hair, and a business idea blossomed.
Hair styling skills run in the family. Boateng’s mother and sister owns a hair salon in Ontario, Canada. Although she did not dabble in the salon business back home, Boateng can now do anything from wigs to cornrows for both men and women’s hair.
Now, Boateng is planning her own hair business like her mother and sister, but with a twist.
As a pre health psychology student at the College of Arts and Sciences who knows the importance of mental health and wellness, and as an outgoing person, Boateng loved getting into deeper conversations with her clients and get to know them well. She has a great bond with her clients and had a tear-jerking talk with her client a few weeks back. Having this kind of relationship with her clients, she realized that The Hair Thairapist is definitely the right name for her business.
Boateng was one of the students participating in the Startup in a Day event hosted by Blackstone LaunchPad at Syracuse University Libraries at the Bird Library this semester. She felt it was wonderful to see a variety of businesses involved, including those like hers that are not solely technology based.
She has a big future ahead of her. Soon after graduation, Boateng will be busy thinking about graduate school and running The Hair Thairapist. There might even be her own salon popping up in the future!
Story by LaunchPad Global Fellow Natalie Lui ‘22; photo supplied