Loc'd-Tele

This week, co-founder, Brittney Laryea got to tell the Athens startup community the story of how The DRB came to be. 

Brittney was the student-entrepreneur chosen to present for Startup Stories, an event hosted by Four Athens that highlights the story of the very beginnings of businesses. Athens businesses Creature Comforts and Sons of Sawdust also told their stories at the event. 

Below is the transcript of the story she told. In her words, “It was random, but not so random?” 

*story begins*

Hey, Thanks for that amazing intro! and thanks for coming out tonight.

My name is Brittney Laryea and I’m the lead co-founder of The Dorm Room Beautician.

The DRB is an end to end marketplace for freelance beauticians to connect, interact, and complete transactions with potential clients at and around Colleges and Universities.

So that was a lot. Let’s backtrack to how The DRB came up anyway…

We know all about #BeautyOnABudget here at The Dorm Room Beautician! It’s how we got started in the first place!

@thedrbco is all about #beautyonabudget just like this #TwistsTuesday FEATURE @jonelleberry at UGA . Having options when it comes to stylists saves YOU 💰💰 including the option to #DIY or sign up as a stylist yourself as a side-hustle 😉 Go to thedrb.co to submit a request from stylists in YOUR area! #athensbraids #athenshair #braids #thedrb #thedrbco #thedormroombeautician #athensstylist

A photo posted by The Dorm Room Beautician (@thedrbco) on Mar 15, 2016 at 12:19pm PDT

Doing your own hair can help you save time and most importantly, money! The bonus: if you can do it on yourself well, you can probably make some extra cash by doing hair for your friends and others! Trust, someone will ask you who styled your gorgeous locks. Many DRBs get into freelance styling by learning to style hair on themselves first! Just like our #TwistsTuesday IG feature Jonelle did with her Havana Twists. Jonelle completed this beautiful and fun summer style on her own Havana twists! She does her own hair to avoid going home and to stay pretty around a packed student schedule! 

We know you’re wondering and the answer is YES,you can do it too! Here is one of our favorite DIY Havana Twists tutorials by YouTube hair, beauty, and health guru, @beautifulbrwnbabydol​. 

Check it out to watch and learn how you can achieve this protective style on yourself (or send us a request at thedrb.co if you’re in the Athens, Ga area and we’ll take care of it for ya ;))

It’s Spring! Which pretty much translates to Interview Season when you’re in school. Whether you’re looking for an internship for the summer or your first full-time position after graduation, looking your best is always top of mind! Because of some lingering societal stigmas about which hairstyles are or aren’t considered “professional”, styling your hair can seem like huge challenge for naturalistas in any style.

No Fear! This #TIPsyThursday we’ve collected 4 of our favorite tutorials for natural hair, dreadlocks, braids, and the like to help you #expressyourself in the workplace and interviews while staying professional.

For naturals:

For Locs:

For Braids & Twists:

For…everthing?:

I don’t purposefully allow the accents of your name to fall flat on my tongue like the European English demands or the language to sound chopped and misheard.

If I don’t say your name correctly, don’t shrug and say it’s ok because people have been doing it all your life. Your mother worked hard to name you that name, with all its syllables and apostrophes and hyphens and inflection.

I don’t want to disrespect your heritage, your culture, your great grandmother or grandfather and their struggle.