Focused & Fearless
An Interview with Ashley Crews CEO of HairVentionZ
Who is Ashley Crews?
Ashley Crews, is a New York native who now resides in New Jersey where she runs her own mobile hair care and wellness business (HairVentionZ, LLC) which unlike a typical salon she provides services on a consistent schedule and gives her customers the convenience and flexibility that life demands. Ashley provides services to both men, women, and children who are struggling with dry, brittle, and damaged hair. She works hard to restore their hair back to its natural luster and shine, by way of protective styling, product recommendations and healthy hair care regimens, so that they can feel as beautiful on the outside as they do on the inside. She does this, not only by treating and implementing protective hair styling, but also by educating her clients on the role nutrition plays in the health of their hair. Ashley also works as a Public Health Educator for the Department of Health in New Jersey. She holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Health and Physical Education and a Masters in Human Services Counseling and Health & Wellness.
She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist holding an additional certification in Nutritional Therapy. She has over 10 years of experience in the public health field focusing on disease prevention and health promotion. Her work, as a hair specialist has been featured in Hype Hair Magazine 2019 and she is an author, as well. She released her very first ebook on her 28th birthday titled “Growing Natural: A Guide to Healthy Hair and a Healthier You”, which you will find helpful information on her transitional journey back to natural hair and how both of her passions work together to promote healthy hair and growth. Those interested can find a downloadable copy on Amazon. She also co-authored an anthology called, “Thrive Girl Thrive: The Women’s Guide to Abundant Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Well-Being”, which launched August 2019 and can be purchased on her site, HairVentionZ.com.
Ashley’s passion for hair developed at age 9 when she became fed up with being teased at school for the hairstyles her mother put into her hair. She had enough! And gradually with a lot of practice and hard work, Ashley became her own first client, and it grew to family and friends and now she has a consistent client base. Over the years, she became certified as a natural hair care stylist and consultant and certified in sanitation and hygiene for textured hair stylists. She is currently set to launch her own hair care line and haircare essentials tailored for babies and the everyday naturals who love to wear protective styles, so be on the lookout! She is very excited that she has the opportunity to share her gift of beauty and wellness.
“Hair is my passion, Health is my life” CEO of HairVentionZLLC.
“Hair is my passion,
Health is my life”
-Ashley Crews founder of HairVentionZ LLC
Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became an entrepreneur in the first place?
Being a business owner has been a rewarding experience for me. It has challenged me in so many ways, and has pushedme to higher limits I did not know I could achieve. It allows me to offer a service to others on my terms, having control of how and with whom I want to do business with. It awards me an extra stream of income which I reinvest into my business for continued growth. I became an entrepreneur because a colleague of mine encouraged me to pursue that route. After receiving my master’s degree, and being in the workforce for some time, I knew I wanted something more. But it was hard to think of an idea that wouldn’t end with me having to work two jobs. My now close friend and colleague at the time, had seen how well I did my hair when I would come to work everyday, so she suggested I do the same on other individuals' hair. It took some thinking and resonating with the idea before I would commit. After all, I had been styling my own hair since age 9, allowing me to have over 16 years of experience. But I stopped doing hair for some time to finish school. So, creating a business styling hair was not on my radar, but how could I neglect the talent God had given me? So I decided to create my mobile hair care and wellness business in November 2014 and it became an LLC in May 2018. I had no clue that it would grow to what it is today. I launched the business in Maryland and I have been in New Jersey just 3 years and my business is continuing to thrive mostly by referrals. My business is my baby, my love! It allows me to help others. Something I enjoy doing so much. Styling hair and teaching wellness is my passion. And watching the confidence in my clients grow after styling their hair is one of the things I find truly rewarding. I created HairVentionZ initially to style little girls hair as a convenience to their mothers. As it grew so did the mission. My mission is to inspire men, women and children to embrace their natural hair and understand the connection nutrition has on hair growth and healthy living within the natural hair community.
What has been your greatest influence in business and why?
My greatest influence in business today are all of the entreprenuerial hair gurus I watched and studied as I was developing my business and marketing my brand. These women are geniuses in their own right and what I learned from them will forever be instilled in the HairVentionZ brand, and hopefully soon, empire. I remember watching MahoganyCurls videos on youtube, and The Chic Natural, and watching Monique Rodriguez turn her product into an empire. I’ve witnessed greatness and inspiration at Bronners Brothers, Ubiquitous, and the Circle of Sisters hair shows. The hair seminars and fests and the off the book styling consultations connected me with so many like-minded Hair-shinistas who created even more of a drive for me to market my talent into a product I know people can benefit from.
Life as an entrepreneur is very exciting and also challenging which can create a lot of mixed feelings. However, even though owning and running a business solo can get tough and exhausting; even when it starts to challenge my soul, I still believe that all of it is worth it. I’ll keep running my business because I know it helps people and it helps me become better at what I do.
Congratulations!!! on your new hair line please tell us more about it?
Thank you I am super excited about it. I have been working on this line for a while now just brainstorming ideas, researching, packaging and adding and mixing products. The idea behind creating a haircare line stemmed from me doing my routine styling technique which consisted of me always massaging my clients scalp with my DIY hair oil and completing a scalp assessment. In doing so, I found that many of my clients suffered from some type of scalp issue making it my responsibility to help my clients overcome slow hair growth, breakage, dryness, and thinning areas in their hair and scalp. I just became a new mom and I began to use the product on myself more than ever. I suffered bad postpartum shedding, losing mostly all of my edges. Since using the product, the shedding minimized and my edges are starting to appear again. My daughter suffered from a bad case of cradle cap and I created 2 natural products to help her overcome it with little to no hair-loss. I used the product on her hair from 3 months old and watched how it transformed her hair not only with growth but moisture and shine and that gave me an idea to add a baby line. I hope to launch it onher 1st birthday. I encourage you to be on the lookout for my haircare essentials I will be releasing soon as well! that naturalistas and those who wear protective styles can benefit from. The vision for my Haircare line is to help everyday people overcome hair and scalp issues the natural way!
Please tell listeners where they can go purchase your products for your new hair line?
My products can be purchased on my website in the shop section www.hairventionz.com Release date will be October 2020.
Please tell readers how they can follow and support you on all social media platforms?
Please follow and support HairVentionZLLC by visiting my website: www.hairventionz.com and my social media handles; IG: @Hairventionz, FB: HairVentionZ, YT: HairVentionZ. I can emailed with Business inquiries, hair questions, or collaborations ash@hairventionz.com.
Thank you!
About Ashley Crews
Ashley Crews was born and raised in Manhattan and Bronx, NY. She now resides in New Jersey where she runs her own mobile hair care and wellness business (HairVentionZLLC) which unlike a typical salon she provides services on your schedule and give you the convenience and flexibility that your life demands. Ashley helps both men, women and children who are struggling with dry, brittle, and damaged hair, restore it back to it’s natural luster and shine, by way of protective styling, product recommendations and healthy hair care regimens, so that they can feel as beautiful on the outside as they do on the inside. She does this by not only treating and protective styling the hair but also educating her clients on the role nutrition plays in the health of their hair, while also working as a Public Health Educator for the Department of Health. She holds a B.S. in Health and Physical Education and an M.A. in Human Services Counseling /Health and Wellness. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist holding an additional certification in Nutritional Therapy. She has over 10 years of experience in the public health field focusing on disease prevention and health promotion. Ashley’s work has been featured in Hype Hair Magazine 2019 and she is an author times two. She released her very first ebook on her 28th birthday titled “Growing Natural: A Guide to Healthy Hair and a Healthier You, which you will find helpful information on her journey back to natural and how her two passions work together to promote healthy hair and growth which can be downloaded from Amazon. Ashley also co-authored an anthology Thrive Girl Thrive The Women’s Guide to Abundant Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Well-Being which launched August 2019 and can be purchased on her site. Her passion for hair developed at age 9 when she became fed up with being teased at school for the hairstyles her mom would put in her hair. She had enough! And just like that she became her own first client, and it grew to family then friends and now she has a consistent client base. Over the years Ashley has obtained her certification as a natural haircare stylist, consultant and sanitation and hygiene for the textured hair stylist. Ashley is currently set to launch her own haircare line tailored for babies and the everyday natural who likes to wear protective styles, so be on the lookout! She is very excited that she has the opportunity to share her gift of beauty and wellness.
