North Minneapolis cosmetology schools aims to cater to all skin tones and textures
MINNEAPOLIS — Taylor'd Cosmetology school was created to give students opportunities to learn about ethnic skin care.
"We've always been proud of our hair and our skin we just never had the space to be loud about it," said Taylor'd Cosmetology CEO Nubiah Taylor.
Taylor took her dream of being an esthetician and a business owner and ran with it.
"I'm the owner, the CEO, the instructor, manager, all those things," said Taylor.
Taylor grew up in North Minneapolis and wanted to do something to help others realize their dream of being a beauty professional.
"A lot of girls from the neighborhood would ask me what school did you go to where did you go to become a esthetician and so I was always sending them to Empire or Aveda and I said one day what's for us," Taylor said.
She says most beauty schools do not teach her how to work on clients from the Black, Indigenous and people of color.
"It was nothing about ethnic skin and nails, so I said you know what I'm going to bring that the North Minneapolis," Taylor said.
For the past year, Taylor'd Cosmetology has been teaching its students how to care for clients with melanated skin.
Taylor got a helping hand from a non-profit designed to give people of color the capital to start a business.
"The new impact fund they like to invest in Black business and so I went through this kind of shark tank competition and then I made it and I showed them my vision and then they gave me the money for the school," Taylor said.
Classroom instruction happens on one side of the building, and hands-on learning takes place on the other side.
"These are our five esthetician rooms where our students would come and take clients," Taylor said.
Students can't graduate if they don't practice on real people, so they need the community to help by booking appointments for eyebrows, facials, makeup and waxing.
Taylor says students from all different backgrounds are finding a place to learn at Taylor'd Cosmetology.
"We have 60% Black, about 30% Latino and about 10% white," Taylor said.
For students like Jasmine Winn, being at Taylor'd Cosmetology school is a dream come true.
"I want to be an entrepreneur, so I feel like I have this knowledge that I'm having being an esthetician and knowing the basis of what to do that going to help me succeed in life," said Winn.
Taylor'd Cosmetology is enrolling students for its eighth round of classes.
When the school reaches its second year in business, students can receive federal funding so they won't have to pay out of pocket to become an esthetician.
