Daughters Of Zion CNPP Grantee Announces Alisha Taylor- Accentuated by Alisha As The DOZ CNPP Entrepreneur Of The Week- October 9, 2022 – October 15, 2022

Alisha Taylor

Accentuated by Alisha

Phone #   +1 (901) 730-3122

As part of our follow-up to the progress the Daughters of Zion CNPP grantee is making within Memphis, Shelby County, and beyond- we are highlighting the weekly Entrepreneur of the Week award. When asked why Alisha Taylor was selected as the entrepreneur of the week, Dr. Gerald Kiner, PhD declared, “

Alisha is unbelievable. She is a master of her craft. Her knowledge of her field is second to none. Alisha is a true expert. I’ve met many experts but none that actually care about their clients like Alisha does. I am so proud to be associated with her and even more proud to announce Alisha as our entrepreneur of the week.”

Alisha Taylor answered several questions for the entrepreneur of the week.

Q: Please tell us your full name and the name of your business.

A: My name is Alisha Taylor and the name of my business is Accentuated by Alisha.

Q: How did you come up with that beautiful name for your business?

A: Being in the beauty industry, I think, a lot of times what we do is accentuate, we’re adding to. I don’t like to look at it as creating something that’s not already there. So, we’re just adding to. And since it goes with my name, I added Accentuate. 

Q. What business are you actually in? What do you do? 

A. I am a licensed cosmetologist. I am a certified trichologist, as well as a hair loss practitioner. 

Q. What is a trichologist?

A. A  trichologist is someone who studies hair and the scalp. So, someone may have problems with alopecia, whether that’s through medication, issues with underlying conditions. Perhaps the breaking down of testosterone, you know, which leads to dihydrotestosterone, which is the leading cause of hair loss. 

Someone can suffer hair loss for a number of reasons. The best way to determine what your options are or what the reason may be is to do a consultation. As I kind of learned about trichology, I started to learn about things like food combining, as well, and kind of learning about how those things play a part with the body. If you don’t have good health or a good digestive system, you know how that plays a part with nutrition. Our hair is a part of our excretory system so that’s the last thing it thinks that’s not important if you don’t need your hair to survive. Although, we know that it can be a lot mentally for one to kind of go through hair loss. So, whenever something happens to the body, a lot of times your nutrients from your hair are being stripped. We just kind of have to take a deeper dive into what is going on with that individual person, as well as it relates to their lifestyle. 

So, I kind of like to look at everything from a very holistic standpoint, in making sure that I’m kind of, targeting whatever it is that that person is suffering with. 

Q. I’ve never heard anybody, a cosmetologist, use so many scientific terms as you use. What separates you? How did you go into this field, because the average cosmetologist only focuses on fixing hairstyles? What made you separate yourself from not just fixing hairstyles, but actually taking care of a healthy grade of hair?

A.  I think I’ve always been concerned with health as it relates to just the health of the person’s head. I say we can throw a wig on all the time, but we never take the time to kind of deal with the foundation. Before I was even old enough to work, I worked for a trichologist as well. At that time, I wasn’t interested in it, I just knew I wanted to do hair. My mom actually suffers from hair loss as well, so, those are some of the determining factors I feel like that kind of led me into this is what I have to do. 

Some people look at trichologists and say, “Well, it’s too expensive.” So, I am trying to come up with things, like one thing I have implemented is Afterpay, or some different payment plans, but I do want to partner with a financing company to kind of give people options, because I know it can get pricey with some of the programs, but I am working towards finding a solution for some of those things as well. 

Q. When you say you do scalp consultations, what does that consist of, and how much is a scalp consultation?

A. So, right now consultation is $75, and that does consist of a questionnaire. You would need to fill out the questionnaire, it will go over things like your medical background, if you’re taking any medication. Just kind of get to know a little bit more about your hair. Maybe what you do professionally, say for instance if you work around a lot of toxics. You know, that may play a part with your hair loss as well. Just kind of getting the background information on that, as well as performing analysis with a scope. I will take a deeper look into the follicle to see if there’s any inflammation or any scarring. We have what’s called CCA or scarring alopecia. A lot of times if those follicles are gone, then it’s probably not going to regrow and one way to truly find out if that is gone is through biopsy, but we do have other products that will kind of see if that will allow it to go if it’s truly scarred. 

Q. How long does it take before you start seeing a difference? 

A. Just like anything else with working out, I would say at least three to four months, depending how long you may even have the hair loss issue. If you had it a while back then we may not be able to recover 10 years of hair, but maybe five. So, it just depends, because one person can be suffering from several different types of hair loss, or there could be several determining factors that play a part of why they’re experiencing hair loss. 

Q. How did you find out about the Daughters of Zion Community Navigator Pilot Program?

A. I had heard about the Daughters of Zion through a coworker of mine, who heard it from another coworker. I love the program, I will definitely say for anybody to come here. Even in my chair when I talk to my clients, I definitely talk to them about it, because I’m definitely about uplifting. And I like what you guys have here and how you give practical steps. That’s one reason why I like my church too. A lot of people tell you, “Okay, this is what you should do, but they don’t give you the guidelines or the directions. So, I do like that Daughters of Zions presents that to people and it’s just not, okay, after Saturday it’s now, let’s do one-on-one, you know, let’s do life with this person. So, I would definitely suggest it. I have been coming for maybe a couple of months now. It’s been awhile, but Saturdays are sometimes hard for me because of doing hair, however, I do tune-in to Zoom, but I definitely love it. 

Q.What would you say to someone who’s thinking about, who’s looking for a cosmetologist, who doesn’t know that they may need a person to treat their hair as well? What would you say to that person? 

A.  I would say don’t limit yourself. The reason I would say that is because a lot of times we think of, oh, I’m scratching, or I just dig. I looked at someone’s scalp that just scratched, it was a very small scab on their scalp. So, just typical things that we’re normally doing that we’re not really thinking about, could just improve the health of our hair.  So, just kind of, even improving those day-to-day activities, even if you’re not suffering from hair loss. 

Q. What would you say to someone that’s reading this article now, on why they should come to you?

A. Well, hopefully because I have integrity. I find it very important to kind of get to the problem itself. You know, I have a client who I recently had a consultation on, who suffers from thyroid. You know, I could have just said, “Well, this is the issue with your hair loss and this is what I suggest.” But I go even further, I’d even given her juicing recipes that help towards thyroid. Avocado is great with thyroid. So, it’s just kind of really digging deep and going into what that person needs, instead of just thinking about myself and what I can gain, but actually being here for the client.

To sign up for free DOZ CNPP business coaching and training use the link below:

http://daughtersofzion.org/intake-form/