Monaco Muse: Hi Yvey, thanks for joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positively (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively?
Yvey Valcin: My parents were always kind and friendly. They had a lot of friends, so I’ve learned the value of friendship very early. As a business owner, having humility and intelligence when dealing with clients is something I thank my parents for every day. My salon welcomes individuals from diverse paths of life by providing exclusive services. I would say the salon is inclusive with an exclusive touch, if that makes sense. Well, my parents often said, “Don’t take anyone who comes your way for granted.” I use that approach with every new and exciting client.
Monaco Muse: Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
Yvey Valcin: I am Yvey Valcin, a lover of life, beauty advocate, and fashion stylist. I must have been 5 years old in this beautiful island called Haiti where natural beauties are the images that decorated my surroundings. My older sister Wilda was the hair guru in our neighborhood. Everyone loved her, as if she was the most popular and important person in the community. I always showed interest in what she was doing with the hair, I felt like I was her little assistant, but what I loved the most was how each person was being when she was doing their hair. I wanted to be like her when I grew up, make people feel good. By the age of 7, I started walking around with a pair of scissors in my pocket, I’d cut my friends’ hair, and they liked it 😊, and one day I cut my big brother’s friend’s hair, he liked it then I started to keep cutting others’ hair. Of course, I couldn’t see a monetary value in that, I’ve never seen a hair salon before, or any successful hair person, I liked it for the good feelings it brought.
Yvey Valcin: I’m not sure that my parents were big fans of it because being a hairstylist was not a thing, it didn’t sound impressive enough. My mother’s dream for me was to be a priest, engineer, lawyer, or a doctor as every immigrant’s parents would want of their kids. Well, that was a long time ago, but I did have a degree though in Environmental Engineering And Sustainable Practices to please my parents. Fortunately, that childhood passion kept inflaming in me to a point today I own a beautiful salon called YVEY where I get to express my creativity, bring a smile to so many faces, and celebrate that childhood dream every day.
See, passion is not a skill or loan but a gift, the payment is to keep sharing it, keep doing good with it. I am humble in my creativity and grateful for my success today, I must say. Because I love what I do so much, that passion takes me around the world, doing hair on some of the biggest stages, such as New York and Paris Fashion Week. I have the opportunity to train at various renowned places like Paris, Tokyo, London, Barcelona, to name a few. I’ve been featured in more than 30 magazines nationally and internationally. I was recently blessed with an Award for Best Stylist by African Achievement Awards, I was really happy.
My journey is not a familiar one, being a kid growing in a place where its reputation is not the most impressive in the eyes of the rest of the world, but that place gifted me with humility, resilience, and integrity to keep going. Today, I get to beautify the world through with that gift. Haiti, I do it for you, it is not where you started, it’s where you end up. I use my brand to reach out to underserved communities, I thought as a professional stylist in Seattle, it was important and necessary to bring my expertise to individuals undergoing chemotherapy at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, since hair is what I do, going through that journey with each patient shaped my view of what beauty is. That experience equipped me with humility, gratitude, and love.
Monaco Muse: What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Yvey Valcin: While business doesn’t have a sense of humor, you must have one to cope in tough times. As a salon owner, it could be hard to be the business and the artist at the same time. I’m blessed that I am well equipped to provide personalized service to each client. I think being personable and always giving my best in an authentic way, my clients can sense that. I truly enjoy the presence of each person sitting in my chair. I go above and beyond for my clients, plus the salon is a safe space to get beautified, I feel like my clients are my strategy for growing my clientele… they talk, they rave about me.. so I just focus on providing quality services and I love my clients…. We have a tight relationship!
Monaco Muse: Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Yvey Valcin: My business was open at the beginning of the pandemic, it couldn’t be a tougher time than that. It was really hard for hope to reign, no one knew, we all thought it would not last this long, but sometime, risk has to be taken in difficult time, that was me. I purchased a barbershop later turned into a salon, I was promised that the barbers would stay when I bought the place, unfortunately right after I bought it, everyone left one after the other. I persevered, I didn’t really see where to go, all I knew then I have some loyal clients out there, I buckled up, this is when passion is key, I wanted to give up but I was too passionate about what I do to let go. Resilience and faith were what held me up, so today I celebrate with gratitude.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yvey.com
- Instagram: @Yveythestylist for personal / @Yveysalon for business
- Facebook: Yvey Valcin
- Linkedin: @YveySalon
- Yelp: Yvey Salon
