Tunapuna braider builds her own success, now mentors young girls to become entrepreneurs<\/p>\n
What began as a skill for Tunapuna entrepreneur Latoya has developed into a career, a beauty business and an opportunity to help another generation of young women create their own path.<\/p>\n
Latoya, owner of Latoya\u2019s Beauty Bar, describes herself as a braider, educator and mentor who is now using the experience she gained through her craft to train young girls and women.<\/p>\n
Her focus includes young women who dropped out of school, did not complete their education or became mothers at a young age.<\/p>\n
Rather than simply teaching them how to braid, Latoya wants her students to understand how a practical skill can be developed into a profession and eventually a business.<\/p>\n
She said some trainees are also given the opportunity to work as paid interns at her salon, allowing them to earn while developing experience with customers and working in a professional environment.<\/p>\n
Her mentorship starts young.<\/p>\n
Latoya said she trains girls from as young as eight years old.<\/p>\n
During an appearance on \u201cOn What Yuh Know\u201d, she proudly showcased the work of one of her 14-year-old students, highlighting what young people can accomplish when given an opportunity to learn and practise a craft.<\/p>\n
Her message to young people is that there is more than one pathway to success.<\/p>\n
\u201cUse your hands. Make something out of yourself,\u201d Latoya encouraged.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everybody is supposed to be a doctor or a lawyer. Some of us are supposed to be entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n
For members of the public interested in learning the craft, Latoya\u2019s Beauty Bar offers a one-month course costing TT$1,800. Latoya said payment plans are available and participants receive certification after completing the programme.<\/p>\n
Although much of her mentorship focuses on girls and young women, she said men who are willing to learn are also welcome.<\/p>\n
Latoya\u2019s Beauty Bar operates in Tunapuna from Monday to Saturday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and can also be found on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.<\/p>\n
Having developed her own career through the beauty industry, Latoya is now focused on helping young people recognise the potential in their own abilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the living proof that once you take your craft serious, you can make something out of yourself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For the young people passing through her salon, the lesson is therefore about more than braiding. It is about learning a skill, developing confidence and discovering that their own hands could become the starting point for their future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tunapuna braider turns her craft into success while training the next generation of entrepreneurs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-trinidad-and-tobago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}