"There's no point in taking potential to the grave. When I die, I want to be all used up and I want the same for every person I come in contact with." - J. Renee
J. Renee is an entrepreneur who defines her purpose as transforming other people's lives and has built businesses based on that purpose. She is best known for her expertise in the beauty industry as a celebrity-experienced hair stylist and makeup artist but she is also the owner of Shop All Things J. Renee, The J. Renee Signature Hair Collection, Founder of the Mind Your Business Workshop and the I'm Every Woman Mentor Program and she is a motivational speaker. She most recently published her first book, The Upgrade and just opened The J. Renee Salon last month.
J. Renee started her first business at the age of 21, which was her image consulting business entitled, Phase One Image Consulting. Although she took the route of entrepreneurship, her first business was not her passion. She knew what she truly desired to pursue but at the time she didn't think it was possible so she developed her image consulting business because she knew it was something she could do. Even though her first business was successful, J. Renee discovered quickly that she wasn't happy and decided she would rather take a risk and jump into what she really wanted to do.
As an entrepreneur who is successful in various industries, she realized the importance of understanding her purpose and why she was created in order to build businesses focused on the idea of transformation. She believes that we can do anything we want to do but we should be able to explain to people why it makes sense that we are successful in everything we do. It's important to find the one idea that can translate into anything. She also stresses that entrepreneurs should establish themselves as a brand and not as product. Once people know what to expect from your brand, then you can create products that reflect that. By using Oprah and Diddy as examples, J. Renee realized that you can sell anything you put your name on once you've established yourself as a brand.
In order to accomplish this goal, she saved her money and established her personal life first as it related to her personal goals and allowing herself to be ready financially to utilize her personal credit instead of taking out business loans. She purchased a house and a car while opening her online store and then focused on pursuing her other businesses. She invested 7 years into her first book, The Upgrade, which she published in May 2015 and in September 2015, she achieved her long term goal of opening The J. Renee Salon. Although her dreams have been achieved, she keeps progressing as she is currently working on the preliminary release of her second book.
J. Renee's work has been featured in Jet Magazine and Bride Today Magazine, on various television shows and networks, to include GMC, BET, and ABC, and live broadcasts and award shows, to include The CMA awards, as well as The Stellar Awards.
J. Renee is evidence of what hard work, dedication and passion can lead you to achieve and that you can be and do anything you want if you set your mind to it. I am excited to see how her purpose of transformation continues to transcend into other people's lives.