wellcome my name is natasha sherman and i am your house anyone who has watched my show before knows that i am in awe and inspired by people who go through sometimes seemingly insurmountable challenges in life and then come out on the other side of it and then there are so many people who it's not even insurmountable challenges but just on a day to day basis continue to take their lives on and meet the challenges head on so my guests today are two such women i'd like you to help me well come first jennifer powell and jennifer is the owner of airports wash and blowdry bar welcome great and happy to have you here in cuba and my other g pharo she is a professional makeup artist a single mom and a singer so i'm not letting you get away with keeping that in the background thank you so much so you know jennifer i you know i've heard your story before it's quite incredible so you can grow up in new jersey yes i regressed small town roosevelt's yes story by eleanor roosevelt and it was small jewish community maybe three hundred people wow and i graduated started kindergarten graduated with the same fourteen kids wound waiting class was fourteen it was really small yes and i can relate i went to school in kind of not quite that small group but the same kids so you went to school got married at what age i got married later i got married about thirty two ok and was married for about well i was married for four years total but we were together for about a year and a half yeah so at some point along the way you told me that you weighed three hundred twenty five pounds correct and was this from a young age or did this happen as you go older you know i was always a larger girl when i was in eighth grade i was one hundred twenty five pounds for eleven but it wasn't i was big for the age of twelve and i was every you wanted i mean every started area it nine so i was a grown woman but the other kids in the class weren't as grown as i was so i always did stand out as the bigger kid but i was classified as the bigoted and you know i think getting out of the younger age kind of rolled into bad habits right getting older so if i was always the bigger kid and that was never going to change very right so you might as well just be the bigger cade and they always said bigger kids were always jolly ray you played that role too so yeah you were able to kind of like hi a little bit isn't that interesting how we do that we kind of live into the perception of others especially if we haven't been trained to see other possibilities but your husband loved you as a big woman yes he was what we call a chubby chase and he like the the love she was woman and i was very healthy i was a healthy big girl right but i wasn't a happy baby girl so i had looked into having baryonic surgery and you know he wanted me to be healthy naturally but he had some reservations and lo and behold i had the surgery done and we just kind of parted ways so if you were no longer had the same appeal for him correct quite interesting isn't it because so many people think that oh my god you know you i think you know that and it was nothing like that and you know it's funny how things i was like that nothing's changed like i haven't changed i haven't changed as a person corrections department as a communications officer yeah nerac so what did that entail and what was the challenge there for you working midnights i worked midnight so i went to ten o'clock at night and i would work to six am in the morning and as a communications officer what did you do well we were the eyes in the ears for the officers in the jail we had allowed inmates in with officers we had to secure their weapons yet if there was a code or what we call a panic where an officer can't get to the microphone they just hit a button and they're numbered one through one hundred and we have to locate their number in a book who the radio belongs to where the person is  a code for instance a code charlie officer powells panic button activate activated and that would deploy the other officers to that unit and i was responsible for calling the codes accessing the doors for the officers and securing them wow so it was a very high pressure job where everybody else could really take it down a little bit and i could when you had to listen all the time and be alert you know it's so interesting i'm going to segue to you brittany and then i want to come back to your story because from correction officer to airports is still very yes yes so brittany you know you when i chatted before and here you are this fabulous makeup artist and you've been working in the field of cosmetology and hair and makeup for a number of years you're a single mom started out as a singer so talk a little bit about that so ever since i can remember when i was two three four years old i was always into music my dad he played a lot of instruments he was in bands things like that so it's always been an outlet for me in creativity and i started singing in a conservatory mom's conservatory actually and that brought me a lot of places i was able to sing in front of a lot of you know lincoln center with big groups and be in play then it was a great that was all i love to eat breathe and sleep to music i played piano for ten years my mom with words enough to have me play piano because it was a pretty expensive  so i was into music in high school i ended up being in an occupy the group that was known for all around mama's county and allstate choruses and things like that so honestly my whole life was music and then you went to  for summer to berklee school of music in boston yeah and so that was super exciting i look back at that and i always say like wow is probably one of the best times of my life i was how to be sixteen years old and my mother let me go for like not the whole summer nine weeks or a little bit more than that and i've never been away from home and i lived in the dorms and it was just a great program to just kind of even see if you wanted to go to that college or b if this is something that you're passionate about and i absolutely loved it i sang in the concert like the big concert the end of the season which only a select few were allowed to use that i was a huge opportunity for me and i made a lot of friends and this is my life yes one hundred my lad going forward absolutely so you come back and you decide ok this is what i'm going to do and you apply yes so i applied to berkeley and you would get credit for the program in the summer so it was like a nice little leg that step in the right direction and i applied and i got in which is it was really hard for a lot of the other people and i was like wow this is so grateful so that was like it i was my whole senior year i'm like going to berkeley this is it and then i had that real conversation with my parents and just say you know financially we weren't able to do it so our decision was ok i let you go to brook del for a little while and get your credits and be able to work towards your main classes and then eventually work towards going to berkeley and i thought that was a great idea so i was like ok let's do this and i ended up going to berkeley scuse me brooke dale but it just wasn't for me i think i tasted the great amazing campus and just the vibe of the whole school and  basic yes all of courses that have nothing to do right if you're ashen so you know on the one hand that could be devastating that could kind of go oh well you know that dream is over with and that's a choice but interestingly enough from what you tell me you segue into another career but you never fully gave up on the music and also you didn't segue into a career where you felt deprived or bitter about your experience so talk a little bit about you know your next move so it was a little heartbreaking for me and i said you know what is there something else that i that i that i like that i you know i want to try a trade i want to try skills something that i know that i can always fall back on if music didn't work out for me so i thought i used to do my friends hair and things like that and i said you know what i'm going to try cosmetology school i actually really like that so i spoke with my parents and they said i think that's a good decision for you to have something on  scale and you know i was definitely upset about the whole thing because it was my whole life and so i ended up going to cosmetology school and i got my cosmetology license i looked a long and hard for a job to find because when you get into the field you know you don't have a clientele they just want you to be an assistant and it was hard for me and i needed to you know i really didn't find my path in the beginning because i was like a little lost in the sense like you know i had something that i focused on my whole life and i'm trying something brand new but i said you know this is something i really want to do for myself and i think i'll be good at it so i ended up going to a salon that i knew of and they took me right in and i was able to get a chair and start my clientele so yes yet you know what's interesting for me is there are choices all along the way giving up being better blaming but also there's something about the way that each of us operates that either opens other doors are closed says so stores so you went into a situation where typically they would ask you you need to bring a clientele you need this much experience and yet there was something about you that caused that bypass and that's one of the things i like people to take a look at like how am i operating in life you know as a coach it's all about how my operating in life what is it that i'm putting out there because we all know if you walk into a situation and what you're dragging with you is a bunch of bitterness and blame and you know sorrow whatever that comes with you whether you're speaking about it or not so jennifer i'm jumping back to you so you're a corrections officer and you're in the corrections facility then how did you get to hair ports well i always like you i like the creative aspect of my my  career but with the policy i got out of it today when i married my current husband he said you need a pension you need this you need that and and i agreed with him so i got out of it plus i wasn't a big fan of cutting and coloring or it wasn't what i wanted to do but being a cosmetologist there's so many different facets in the cosmetology industry yes makeup lack seeings you know all that so i was able to pick and choose once i was in the jail and somebody came to me and said about a blow drive or it was that's something that i that's the creative part that i like to do i like to do the last minute wafting and you know making people just you know what fabulous they have what they already have and i said to my husband i was interested in trying to do this and i thought i had a different avenue than most other dry bars to say and i thought it was something that i really wanted to do but i didn't know how to do it so i enroll in community college at mercer county small business administration and i took a class there the small business administration class i had a wonderful professor from the ms carroll fellow and she carla followed excuse me she was a genius she pulled this idea out of me and i really her everything that i created here wow she said you don't need to follow that path make your own and i was just going to buy a franchise and she said you you work all night long and we weren't when you work in a jail you're not allowed to bring any mechanical devices you know no cell phone nothing that can contain wife nothing so i really had to rely to pen and paper and i asked my other officers like what do you think of this and that and we we have female officers well so i was able to get a lot of reports feedback and a lot of times people are tired of a lot of stuff flew out of the mouth it was good stuff and i thought it was corny and funny but it really worked and going to those classes and this morphed out of that and i opened up small inside of and then it just grew really grew and the idea has caught on and we were able to get into clinic city airport for can know what's really great about that you know it's like that expression you hear it a hundred times and you know yeah yeah you know but when life gives you lemons make lemonade and so it's like you can't bring equipment into the jail and you're there all night and you're grappling with the idea of what do i do next and then you're taking this course and you're exploring things so instead of just sitting there going to have to wait till the morning you reach and you're not jail you got nothing wrong right but you're working there and it just it damn the fear is so dreary yes trav and that was they used to say the long work reader here you know welcome to the jail it was nice and they took a little break from the norm for them and you know they would call me from the unit he would about the overhead compartments can we use that and i was like that's brilliant you know so and i really give them a lot of credit for helping me with this as well and people love to contribute and so when you reach out it's so great on so many levels so what is it about what you would say you're working in the jail you have a steady job and you know what is it that had you reach for more why why weren't you just satisfied to stay there because i know this is destined for greatness i love so in everything that i am this  is a win or this i think there was a reason why i waited until i was in my forty's and i think that everything that i had in my life that had happened to me built up to this point and created this platform for me so i just feel like this was the time for me to i have the confidence i have the drive i am secure with my business plan and people that don't even understand the so now you have a location in hamilton chris and so people come in just to have their hair washed and styled correct yes we have parties  yes and and i love the concept you know with the  and you've got gates in your in your place correct so describe a little about the atlantic city aspect the atlantic city is a strict drive are so we don't do any washing there but we were able to be deployed directly to the gate so we have actual airline cards that have been converted and stations and we wheel out to the gate and we have rating curling flat ironing will do a blow dry for you just when a plane is coming in you sit there and wait there are actually when they're leaving so when people go through security we're beyond security we're t s a approved wow we're beyond security and people do certainly when they get off the airplane sometimes they want to go most flight to drink it's also a big stress reliever so it works it works both ways really convenient yeah it's great so i want to get back to you so now you're working in a salon and you're cutting hair and then you think oh i need to be even more creative and you know so i thought makeup and i never really were a lot of makeup but in cosmetology school i had done like a contest that they did and i used to shadows and i ended up winning first place and i'm like oh maybe there's something behind that so i ended up just getting myself together hair makeup done and i went into a location that is a makeup brand and i walked right in and she hired me on the spot so i ended and a half three years so you know it requires if you're listening what do you what are the skills that you think it takes to do that kind of quantum leap to something about that has to be inside step it's the willingness to look at a next step and i think too for me it's when i get too comfortable i'm not creating change and i want to create change within myself and my family so sometimes when i get too comfortable i'm  like what do i have to do something next i have to do something to disrupt my comfort do you know how many people spend their lives a void english and so for her it's like let me disrupt discomfort because i don't want just more of the same more of the same so i ended up working now for the company of ten years actually this month yeah i think you and i've had the opportunity to work in fashion week in new york city for seven seasons now and seasons i've worked and tribeca film festival festival and it's brought me to a lot of great opportunities i'm actually in a program right now through the company for facilitating and being a trainer eventually so yeah and then down the line i would love to open something myself you know a makeup studio or a hair studio or something and again i i appreciate your drive and what you're saying because to me it's like ok this is my next step this is something i would do and i know it's possible yeah and you know when we were chatting i said to you so what about the music because it's not that you have to go back but it was a love and a passion and it still exists and you told me that you tried out for the boys yes i mean how great is that and then yes so i it was always in the back of my mind like let me just do something with music again and you know i was like let me try out for the voice so it took me a couple seasons to actually get the will to do it i had been practicing i hadn't really been doing music so i was like let me just go so i ended up staying with my sister saw she was in new york and i was like i'm going to do this and i was in the jacob javits center and i was so so so so nervous i mean crazy and i went in and the experience in general was something i'll never forget it was surreal and he was just like ok here you go and it's kind of like charlie in the chocolate factory where they give you a ticket like the bold and i think you give me the red sheet i was like ok you're on to the next level and you walk out of the room and everyone seated at the ticket and you're like they're like oh she got through she passed and that was like the most amazing feeling because you know i honestly hadn't done it in so long but i knew i still had it in me so yeah and again that's  part of the whole thing is sustaining that belief in yourself yeah that i still had it in me for a while for her to get out there but you got out there and you're going to try again yeah so i made it to the second round the second round with a new york city where they kind of like this had cameras all in front of you and you're standing in the middle of the hot light and you're trying to trying to sing without being nervous and it was great practice for me and absolutely i'm going to go have tried again because i needed to just be in front of that and experience that's and know what to expect for next time so i'm ready july i think they're going to do it again psych never giving up you know this whole thing about and you know for me and i've you know i said this a good jillion times it's always frustrating for me to see people willing to settle for less than what's possible and part of the time is and i have empathy for it it's not seeing what's possible it's being stopped by you know all your lack of self worth or whatever it is but you know it's like everybody's got some potential and i always share my favorite piece of graffiti it was on a bathroom wall in a health food store in massachusetts and it said you get what you settle for and clearly you're unwilling to settle something i ask you what's the dream dream dream  t i would like to have my own pension for my employees i would like to have profit sharing i would like to have a product line a clothing apparel line i have i this isn't just a blue drive or this is going to be an empire and i want to be able to take care of my family it has nothing about nothing to do with making tons of money of course i mean you know th when i was a young kid my father said you will never call me up and say dad that i just graduated from will for you to get me you will go to college and you will do this and you will do that and that wasn't my path and that was not it  when this whole thing came about my father was like i think you have something now i only want him to see that to fruition so that is my drive that is my yeah my fourth and i'm going to make it happen and i just i just can't wait for it and i you know they say that it takes a couple of years to do it i see it now i've been doing it for three years and i see it i see the visions and that to me just keeps me mov going yeah but that's what i want i want to be able to and i also want to do something with moms because i have a lot of single mothers that work for me and i don't expect them i think it's bad when you say i can't come to work because my child's not feeling well are they not feeling well and you want to like my employees don't want to stay home when their their kids not feeling well and it's not that they're not feeling well and they're not good but i give them the option of bringing their child and yeah a lot to o don't you don't have to miss it if you don't want to i don't mind i'm going to have to start you here but i think that's fabulous i want to yesterday when i first got divorced i worked for a company that was a family owned business and they understood about family and you could do that and boy what a great thing that was as a single mom what's the dream well i kind of want to obviously do the same thing i was just my thirtieth birthday a couple months ago so yeah i'm going i know a nice milestone for myself so i feel like i'm in a really good place right now and you know with my daughter she's going to be four years old i i want something more and i feel like right now it's going to be having my own kind of same thing my own makeup studio and being i really want to do freelance as well so being in a national freelance artists and working with different celebrities and and just really know giving the option to women like you can do this like the been a lot of things that has been in my past there are things that i've had to get over hurdles but i'm here and i'm happy to your daughter yeah and i think that's one of the big things about having you here is this whole idea everybody's had crap happen to them and some of it really horrific and some of it just my god you know how come how come and and you don't ever want to make light of that but at the same time you're going to continue living anyway so what is it that you can reach for even though it seems daunting and even though it seems sometimes impossible so that you can expand and grow and thrive and i love your commitment to teaching other women and inspiring other women so we're at the end of our show thank you so much for being here thank you for being who you are and wow i can't wait to see what you create  my name is natasha sherman thank you for joining us