Meet Nancy Gonzalez | Hair stylist

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

Hi Nancy, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I took a big leap of faith from deciding to leave the medical field. I needed to make a change for my family. My oldest son was about to start school, ever! I was stuck at at 8-4 job that was not going to allow me have the flexibility to go and pick him up freely. My husband was a truck driver and was in and out of the city.

I decided to sign up in cosmetology school at Paul Mitchell. I enrolled in their night classes. Shortly after signing up, I found out I was pregnant with our 2nd son. That’s when I really had no turning back. I wanted to do THIS for my kids. For a year long, I was working and going to school.

I had all the support from both families. Shortly after finishing school I started to assist at a hair salon in Arlington. I was there about 3-4 months when I started to see that my clientele was starting to pick up. I started to be more open for my clients. My clients started to refer me out to others and it slowly started to pick up.

As any other business, I have my good weeks and my slow weeks but during my slow time I take advantage and I try to promote myself more. I look for other ways to service my clients, to give them the best!

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?
I finished highschool not really knowing what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be in the medical field but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do.

I became a Zumba instructor which lead me to get my personal training certification. Shortly after a few years I stopped. Of course I enjoyed it but it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

I went to school to become a medical assistant to eventually move into the nursing direction. I started working for Mi Doctor family clínics. I worked there for a year and I worked at Childrens Medical Center in Dallas. After being at Childrens for almost 3 years I started to realize where I was at with my family.

I have a husband who is mostly out because of work. I have a son who was about to start school sometime pretty soon. The clinic I was working at didn’t offer part time and I didn’t want to leave either.

There had to be something that was going to be able to give me that change I needed. One day it finally hit me. Cosmetology school! I had worked at spa before and worked very closely with the hair stylist.

As far as I could remember, when I was younger doing my cousins hair was always a pasión of mine to do. I always loved styling their and as I mentioned before. I would even dye my sisters hair as I grew older.

However, coming from a Hispanic family I never really thought about becoming a stylist as a “career”. I was afraid that I would get judged about what I was doing for living. I brought it up lightly to my husband and the first thing he said was “ find out pricing and I will pay”.

I didn’t think about it twice and I looked into Paul Mitchell. Next thing you know, I was enrolled. All of this took place during COVID so I was only going to school in person 3 days out of the week and two days virtually. Shortly after I found out I was pregnant.

I was going to work during the day and school at night. I had to do this for a little after a year.

Boy did it become exhausting. It became more difficult after I had the baby. I thought I was never going to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I studied a lot when I had to do my testing for my cosmetology license.

I remember when I received my license in the mail I cried. Everything I had worked for had payed off and this was just the beginning.

I had built some clientele during school and have helped me jump start my career as a hairstylist. I knew there was a lot that I needed to learn so I had decided to jumpstart by becoming an assistant. I was there for about 3/4 months when I decided that I wanted to be on my own since I was starting to get more busier. I had to choose between assisting or losing appointments.

I’ve taken some color specialty classes that have helped me along the way on how I work. I’ve learned on my own and being open minded to new techniques and brands.

I’m currently looking into renting another suite or a chair at a salon. I want to make sure that the place I choose will be welcoming to my clients as it is for me. I’m looking into getting more services added other than just hair. I would like become a one stop shop for most of clients.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Fort Worth zoo- you can never go wrong with seeing animals.

Main event- I’m a kid at heart and I love playing games.

Pluckers- I can eat all day there if I could lol

Road trips- whether it’s just for the weekend or a week long trip: my favorite places to go to is south padre and Nuevo progreso.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I couldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for my family. My husband was the one who pushed me to sign up and helped me stay motivated when it was getting tough. My two sisters and my sister in law, who have been my Guinea pigs from the beginning. They were always willing to let me try a new technique/products. My parents who have always pushed me to finish and to stay motivated.

Last but not least my mother in law, for helping me take care of my little ones while I was working and going to school.

They have all played such a major part in their own way that I could never thank them enough.

Instagram: @HairbyNGL

Facebook: @hairbyNGL

Other: Tik tok: @hairByNGL