From Cosmetologist to Business Operations Strategist of the Year

From Cosmetologist to Business Operations Strategist of the Year: What Building It the Hard Way Actually Taught Me

In April 2026, I was named Business Operations Strategist of the Year.

And my first thought wasn’t about the award. It was about every woman who trusted me with her business before anyone put a title on what I do.

Because the award is a moment. The path is everything.

Here’s what that path actually looked like

I didn’t go to business school. I didn’t climb a corporate ladder. I didn’t have a mentor who handed me a roadmap. I started with a cosmetology license and a mortgage I signed at 19 years old... and I figured the rest out in real time.

I taught myself e-commerce through YouTube videos. I built an online clothing boutique from scratch. I went through multi-level marketing companies... not because I didn’t know better, but because every experience, even the hard ones, taught me something I’d eventually hand directly to someone else. I studied psychology and human development in college. I became a certified keynote speaker. I spoke at Macy’s about body positivity.

I also failed things. I questioned myself. I spent time in seasons where I didn’t know if any of this was adding up to anything. I know what it feels like to be building something with no guarantee that it’s going to work... and doing it anyway.

Every single chapter... the ones that looked like detours, the ones that didn’t make sense at the time... was building the thing I didn’t yet have a name for.

The most qualified person to help you isn’t always the one with the most credentials. Sometimes it’s the one who’s actually done it — and knows what breaks, and why, and how to fix it.

What an unconventional path teaches you that a textbook can’t

When you learn by doing... really doing, not observing from a safe distance... you develop a different kind of intelligence. You learn to read patterns in real time. You learn that most business problems aren’t unique... they’re variations of the same handful of root issues wearing different outfits.

My background in psychology and human development didn’t just teach me about systems. It taught me about people. And that matters... because businesses don’t have problems. People have problems, and those problems show up in their businesses. When you understand both the operational side and the human side, you can actually help someone move. Not just tell them what to do. Help them move.

That’s what distinguishes my work. Not a template. Not a one-size-fits-all framework handed over in a PDF. A real, eyes-on, pattern-recognizing, implementation-obsessed partnership... with someone who has been in the thick of it herself. Who knows what 2am business panic feels like. Who has made the hard calls. Who isn’t going to hand you a shiny strategy and disappear.

Why I built the Wild Legacy Wealth Society

I kept meeting women who had everything it takes... talent, drive, vision, grit... and were still exhausted. Women who had built something real and couldn’t figure out why it felt so hard. Women who were quietly wondering if this was just… what entrepreneurship was. If the exhaustion was just the price.

It’s not. But nobody was telling them that. So I built the room I kept wishing existed. And I filled it with the best people I know... attorneys, accountants, marketers, strategists, etc... because I believe access to that level of support shouldn’t be reserved for people with massive budgets or the right connections.

The award belongs to every woman who let me into her business. The one who called me in the middle of a crisis. The one who came in convinced she couldn’t scale and left knowing exactly how. The one who told me her nervous system settled when we started working together.

That’s the work that got recognized. And that’s the work I’m here to keep doing.

You deserve a business that works for you. Not one that works you into the ground.

Come be in the room. The Wild Legacy Wealth Society is where that work begins. Click here to join ⬅️