Often with our dreams, our timelines can keep getting pushed back. When the things we really want get delayed, it may feel harder to keep your eyes on your dream.

That’s what’s so powerful about April Kayganich’s story: she always knew there would be pivots and shifts in the journey, but that she would one day reach her dream. Her story is one of patience and resilience and doing the damn thing in a way that feels best for you. 

Now, if you’ve listened to Wholehearted Coaching: The Podcast for a while, you know I don’t generally do interviews. But, for the summer, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to interview women who I feel embody what courage looks like.

These are women that, if you looked at them from the outside you would say, “Oh my gosh, they’re amazing! They’ve made it!” And sometimes, we put people on this pedestal and forget that they’re people just like us with their own worries and fears.

These Courageous Conversations are all about the journey towards their big thing and what that journey looked like: the beauty, the joy, the difficulty, and the even the heartbreak of going after your dreams. It is the most incredible journey, but it’s also one with a lot of challenges. I have a feeling that as you tune into these conversations, you’ll realize that you have so much in common with these amazing human beings and that going after your dreams is scary, difficult, and also incredible.

*Before you dive in, I want you to know that I have a free 7-day guided journal that filled with reflective journal prompts that will transform your life! Click below to grab your copy today:

A quick bio about April Kayganich

Born in LA, but raised in a suburb of Detroit, April knew from a young age that she was very passionate about hair and art. Where she grew up, there weren't many people that had hair like hers, so at the age of 10, she started cutting her own hair. What followed suit was that soon her friends were wanting her to cut their hair and friends of friends. When April found out that she could pursue a license in Cosmetology through a program in High School, she couldn't decide between focusing on hair or going to Art School. Her parents didn't think that hair would be the best option for the future, so she ended up pursuing a Bachelor's in Graphic Design after graduating from High School. Halfway through college, April dropped out and all she could think about was eventually getting enrolled in Cosmetology school. It happened, but not until she was 26. She graduated from Avenue Five Institute in Austin, Tx and currently she runs her own studio in South Austin. April loves to work with ALL textures and types of hair. What was most important to her was that no matter what your hair was like, how you looked, or the color of your skin, that you could come to her space and feel welcome.

April Kayganich has since made a name for herself in Austin as a Texture Specialist. When you accept and embrace your natural hair, you accept and embrace yourself. There is so much that goes into being a stylist who works with natural textures because there is a history of politics and racism tied to letting your hair be free. Being able to educate and teach people about that history and why we should keep loving our natural texture is very near and dear to her heart. She loves being able to help people transition away from chemicals like relaxers or heat damaged curls to embrace how their hair grows out of their head. She loves to create color customized for every person who sits in her chair as well as bringing curls to life by sculpting and shaping the hair. Her favorite thing to do with hair is to make it bigger. The more volume, the better in her opinion.

When she isn't doing hair, you can find her with her head in a book or a paintbrush in her hand; traveling to different countries, road trips, spending time with her family and pets, going to museums, drinking too much coffee, rollerskating or cooking are some of her favorite things.

April hopes to one day, open a boutique salon and spend half of her time behind the chair and the other half traveling. She wants to be able to bring education and her ways of approaching hair in its natural form to salons all over the country and one day the world.

April Kayganich is the self-proclaimed Curl Whisperer. If you have hair that has any type of texture or pattern to it, go check out her work. So, I booked an appointment with her to get my haircut and it was the BEST haircut ever! As I was sitting in her chair, I had one of the greatest conversations ever just getting to know her and I knew I wanted to share her story.

Can you tell us a little bit about little April? How did she grow up? What did she see? What was her life like?

Little April had hair that she did not understand.

I was born in LA, but we moved to a suburb of Detroit when I was five and the neighborhood was predominantly white. At the time when we first moved in, there was one other Black family across the street from us and we were the only interracial family.

My dad's Serbian. My mom's Black and the oldest of nine, so I have 36 cousins. I was around a lot of people that looked different for me all the time, but they looked the same because they were my family. So, when I got to a certain age, I was just thinking, “Who's gonna do my hair?”

My mom was only going to do it for so long. I've gotta start doing it myself. I didn't trust anyone because I felt if nobody looks like me or I don't see hair like mine in a salon or walking around, why would I go there?

So I started cutting my own hair at 10. My mom was not happy about it, but I didn't do that bad of a job. I didn't get made fun of or anything. I always try to be self-aware and that led me to wanting to do hair. At that time, I was in middle school and when I got closer to high school, I had friends asking me, “Hey, you wanna do my hair for homecoming or snow coming? Do you want to cut my hair? Do you want to dye my hair?”

And at my high school, we had a lot of trade options and you could actually sign up to go to cosmetology school. I talked to my parents about it and they were like, “Nope, hairdressers are dumb. They don't make money. You need to focus on your art in a different form and make sure you go to college.” So, even though I had my dreams crushed a little early, I still pursued it later in life. I went to art school and I still did my friends' hair.

All of this passion came from me realizing how different I was from everyone else.

Mainly, I wanted to make sure that people like me didn't have to feel that way.

I didn't want anyone to feel outta place if they went to the salon. I wanted people to feel welcome. Even when I was in school, if I saw people getting picked on or bullied, I wouldn't let that happen. I would stop it. I think that just comes from me wanting people to feel like they're accepted and know that nothing's wrong with you. Your hair is not crazy.

You shouldn't be made to feel like you sit down and someone’s just complaining about how much hair you have or saying all these misconceptions that people have about hair, especially when it comes to melanated people that have curly hair. We definitely get more discrimination in salons based on our hair type.

Now, as a business owner, I realize that people come to me for the very reasons and things I used to be so ashamed of or tried to hide when I was younger. But now, that’s my superpower and that’s what I’m hearing in your story. Those things that made us so different and so weird are now what make our bread and butter which is beautiful.

Thank you. I feel really lucky because my mom didn’t relax her hair and she would not let me relax my hair even though I wanted it straight. My hair was curly until like fifth grade when my mom started letting me get it blowdried. I didn't like my hair and I didn't know why I didn't like it.

It wasn't like I didn't like a part of myself. I was proud of my mom and I was proud of my dad. I was proud of being half Black and proud of being Serbian and I more identified as a Black person. So, it was one of those things where I felt I wanted to run my fingers through my hair or I wanted it to be straight because there just really weren't any products for curly hair.

For me, as a Middle Eastern woman, first generation immigrant, getting a “higher education” was the thing in our household. Tell us about your experience of going to art school instead of cosmetology school.

I'm a very, very strong willed and stubborn person. So, me and my dad mostly had the exchange about no cosmetology school and instead, focusing on my art. So, mainly I am a painter and I draw, I mostly draw more than I paint, but I do a lot of things. I love charcoal. I love pastel. Like I knit anything: fibers, fabrics, ceramics. I do it all. But my main thing that I wanted to do was get my degree in Fine Arts and led to another disagreement.

My dad said, “Oh no, you're not gonna draw and paint all day. You're going for graphic design. You need to use the computer.” At that time, the computer was everything and I hated computers. I wanted to make art with my hands. But, since my parents were helping with school, it was one of those things where okay, fine. I'll go for graphic design.

As I was applying for schools, I just was thinking,

“I'm going to do hair one day. I'm going to get to cosmetology school.”

The funny thing is I ended up dropping out of art school halfway through. It was a mixture of things. It was some health issues, but I was also a little cocky. There were a few introductory classes where I was like, “Why am I taking this again? I've already done this.” As I'm older and have reflected on that, I realized not everybody had the same programming that I had in high school. Everyone comes from different backgrounds. So it's almost like your first year is starting over.

I just didn't wanna draw 500 cubes in two point perspective for my homework. It was ridiculous. So, I dropped out and I moved back to Michigan and I kept telling myself, I'd get to hair school. I just needed to save up the money.

At the time, I was 19 and I kept saying that to myself and I didn't get to hair school until I was 26.

Whoa, so what happened in those 7 years?

I worked random retail jobs and eventually went to food because I knew I could save money and I could always get a job. And my thing is, if I'm gonna work any kind of job, I don't care what it is, I'm going to be the best one at it. So this happened and after a month my boss was like, “Our regional manager wants to come meet you!” because I was the girl who could get everyone's order taken and everything would flow nicely.

They had never had that and they wanted me to train people. So then they promoted me to “The Dream Team” and I got to travel to other states and cities, work at stores and train new employees and even managers. Then, they wanted me to be a manager. So I was making salary in my early twenties at this job and I had health insurance and a 401k. I always tell people, “If I'm picking trash, I'm gonna be the best trash picker. That's just how it goes.”

What was going through your mind that you ultimately wanted to go to cosmetology school? Were you worried? What was going on internally for you?

I was never worried that I wasn't going to get there. If anything, I would have those moments of, “You need to get your shit together.” You need to focus on why you're working this job, which is you want to get to cosmetology school.

I did look into it a few times in Michigan, but the only options I had were Aveda schools and when I looked at the curriculum, there wasn't much about texture. From what I did learn when I did go to hair school is texture is what determines every single thing you do. It determines an appropriate hairstyle for someone. It determines how you formulate your color. So, I didn't want to go to a school that wasn't going to focus on what was most important to me which was hair that was not straight.

So, I was working towards a goal and I just had to make sure I wasn't judging myself in how long it took me to get there, because I knew if I really wanted to do it, I would do it.

That’s so important for people to hear: the timeline sometimes isn’t what we think it’s going to be or what we know and to not judge ourselves during those moments but remind ourselves that we’re going to do it. We’re going to get there and this isn’t taking away, you’re just taking your time.

So, you’re this manager at Pot Belly, getting benefits, salary, travel. What happens next?

I started working at Pot Belly when I was 20 or 21 and this is actually a funny story.

Before I left for art school, I dated a guy who wanted to come with me and I didn’t want him to. Not because I didn't care for him, but because I wanted to focus on school. I wanted it to be my thing. I had to do this on my own.

So, we ended up running into each other when I was about 22. It was so random and strange because when I ran into him, he was with a regular that used to come into my store and it turned out that was his boss. We hadn't seen each other since I was 17, since I left for art school, so we ended up reconnecting. And after a year of mini drama between us, I ended up telling him I can’t be in Detroit anymore and I was going to move.

It was really sad. It was when the recession was starting and a lot of people were losing their homes in Detroit, people were getting laid off, and my job was secure because everyone needs to eat, but I just didn't wanna be there anymore.

I just needed a change and I wanted to move to Oakland and go to hair school. So, I told him he could come with me or not. He wanted to, but suggested Austin, Texas instead. That was an absolute no for me. I was like, “I'm not moving to Texas!” I felt like they still hunt down people just because they're Black. But, I did some research and Austin seemed like the better choice economically.

So I ended up in Austin because of this person, and I'm very thankful for that. And I got into hair school a couple years after moving here.

So, in those couple years, were you saving up? Were you trying to find the right school? What was going on in Austin?

So, I didn’t have anything. I got rid of my car and moved with no job because Pot Belly wouldn’t transfer. At the time, they were training me to be a general manager and I gave them plenty of notice, but they said they didn’t have any opening for me. The only thing they could do was demote me and I thought, “Absolutely not!” Once you’ve been a manager, you can’t go back down. So, I quit and didn’t have a job. I had money saved up and it took me a bit to find a job, but I just went to what I knew - food.

My first job was this drive-thru salad place. I love healthy eating, so this was totally my vibe. One day, I was talking to this woman in the drive-thru asking what she did and she did hair. So, I asked where’d she go to school and how much it cost and that put in my mind like, “Ok, I can do this.”

I focused on saving while I switched to another job and quickly became a manager and got my own store. I did that until I got to hair school. Then, I worked a $7 an hour job as a receptionist at the first salon I ever worked at. I also started bartending until I started school about a year later.

At the time, I didn’t have a car, so I would have a bag of my clothes for school and bartending. I’d get up early to go to work, go to school, and go bartend. I probably got about 2 hours of sleep a night for 18 months.

I never looked tired. I never complained. I was just like, “I’m gonna do it.” I just wanted it so bad and I knew it was going to pay off if I could just see it through.

If you’re consistent and give yourself a routine, you can get through anything like that.

I set myself up strategically. When I first went for my interview at the salon, I told the owner I eventually wanted to do hair. She said that was great and that I could be her assistant and that’s what happened. When I started school, I started off as part-time to keep my job at the salon and bartending.

At a certain point, the owner’s assistant would be leaving and I knew I wouldn’t be done with school in time if I stayed part-time. So, I spoke to the admin at school and asked if I could switch to full-time enrollment and to the salon owner to work shorter hours so I could finish sooner. Then, I went to school during the day, work in the salon for a little bit, and then bartend if I needed to.

I finished hair school 2 months early and was able to start assisting a couple weeks after I graduated. I had to take my state board. You take a written test at 1,000 hours and when you graduate and you’ve paid all the money you owe them, they release your hours and you get to take your practical. That’s when you’re physically doing things and getting graded by a proctor.

Wow! So you did the damn thing. What was that like for you finally realizing that you did it?

I was so happy and my school was really cool. I was one of the older people there, but I was so happy to be there. I felt this was what I was supposed to be doing and everything just really fell into place.

I didn’t have any issues in school, I would always pass everything, I was so passionate, I would get so frustrated if I didn’t get something right right away. I’m also a lefty and there weren’t a lot of lefties in my class, but my first teacher was a lefty who could also cut with her right hand. So, anytime there was something she was teaching the class, she would show me how to hold my hands and that was very helpful.

Now, you travel, set your own schedule, go to different salons. How did it morph into that? How did you get to the place of doing the work that feels best for you in your field?

When you're done with hair school, you have to figure out what you want to do. Very few people will go and open their own salon right out of school. There's many ways to work in this industry, but most people are either going to go to a commission salon, which means they have a receptionist that books their appointments and they only get a percentage of the services they do. Then there's independent contracting or booth renting — which is technically what I do now — where you are responsible for everything: you get your color, you book your appointments, if nobody comes in, you make $0. You have to generate your own traffic.

So, when I was in hair school, I started using Instagram and I was posting my pictures from school, my mannequin heads, or my clients that would come in. When I finished school, the plan was to assist for a year. While I was assisting, I would take clients until maybe 8 or 10 o’clock if I wasn’t bartending after. After that year was up, I got a chair and I was already booking about two to three months in advance, which is pretty impressive for somebody new, but it was all word of mouth.

I wasn't doing any kind of marketing besides Instagram, but my clients were referring me. So, I started getting booked out more and more as an assistant and I knew eventually I wanted to go out on my own because I wanted to keep most of my money.

I eventually went out on my own maybe three years after I was on the floor on my own. Someone I knew had a space and they had a chair. And I was like, I need to do an LLC, I found an accountant, I was doing all these things, so I could be set up properly. And because I was booking out so far, I was terrified. What if I leave and nobody comes with me?

Sometimes in the salon industry, there's certain owners that let their egos get in the way when people leave so they won't let you take any of your contacts. They won't tell your clients where you went. I feel very lucky to be very clear and honest with people that I've worked with and are in my life. So my boss was very, very sweet and was like, Hey, you know, we'll even make an email for you if you want and I really appreciated that.

So, all of my clients came with me, which I did not expect at all because people are allowed to leave if they want to, they're not yours. They don't belong to you. So, then I started booking out like six months in advance and then eight and I was like, holy crap, what is happening? This is crazy!

I was doing that for I think three years before I got into my own private studio, it's like and that allows me to travel as long as I pay my rent and that’s fine. But, I had to put the furniture in there and create the whole vibe which the bottom line is I want my clients to feel comfortable. I want them to be happy and have good hair. And I’m always terrified, like every time I raise my prices. And everyone needs to remember this: you need to raise your prices. You’re your own boss. Who’s giving you your raise? It’s you! If you’re constantly putting yourself through training or education, it’s important to realize you need to pay yourself and know that it’s okay if people say it’s “too expensive.” It’s not. It’s just not in their budget.

So, I'm always thinking, “Am I good enough for this?” It's the imposter syndrome thing that pops in from time to time, but you have to stop doubting yourself all the time because there’s somebody else out there not doing as good of a job as you and they’re not doubting themselves charging probably 2 to 3 times more than you.

I love that you’re bringing this up because, from the outside looking in, but there’s something so assured and grounded about you and the way you present your work. So, just hearing this I’m thinking you should be charging that!

Every time you level up in any way, there’s going to be that fear and the power of what you do is you don’t give into or listen to that fear or let fear limit you. You just acknowledge that it’s there and you do the damn thing anyway.

I will say when I have listened to that fear, that's when I've had the situations where I say, “This is why you don't do that. This is why you don't let someone book this type of appointment if you've never met them. Why did I compromise what I do? Why did I compromise for this person?” I've gotten to the point with the money part of it where I say, “Nope, this is what it is like. This is what it takes.” And I don’t explain it.

If someone doesn’t want to pay my price, that's okay. I can gladly recommend something else, but the times I've had that happen, I've had those people come back. And this is a constant work. You have to tell yourself you’re enough, you’re worth it, and it’s ok.

*To hear the full interview, tune into episode 119 | Trusting your Timeline with April Kayganich wherever you love listening to podcasts (or click here) and don’t forget to connect with April Kayganich below.

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A quote to take with you:

“I knew if I really wanted to do it…

I would do it.”

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About your host, Shirin Eskandani