Some people find their purpose in a classroom. I found mine in the middle of rebuilding everything.

I'm Ciara Wallace. Speaker, entrepreneur, kinship caregiver, licensed cosmetologist, peer tutor, woman of faith. I know that list sounds like a lot. It is. That's kind of the whole point.

My story starts in 2004 at NC A&T State University. No parents to call for help. No one to co-sign loans or explain how financial aid worked for an independent student. I was working more than I was studying just to keep the lights on and pay out-of-state tuition. Eventually I had to make a choice between surviving and staying enrolled. I chose to survive.

I went to cosmetology school. Then my grandmother passed away. I gave up on school entirely and went to work full time. For eight years I worked as an administrative assistant in government contracting. Stable. Safe. Not mine.

When my oldest brother died, something shifted. His death gave me the courage I couldn't find on my own. In January 2019 I took the leap and opened Ciara Lox Beauty. It was everything I'd dreamed about.

Then COVID hit.

Salons were ordered to shut down. For months I had no income. My business wasn't structured properly so I didn't qualify for PPP protection. I found out sitting in a grocery store parking lot, in between Instacart orders, just trying to survive. The SBA rep called and told me no. I cried so hard I had to take my contacts out and put my glasses on.

That parking lot is where this chapter of my story really started.

I enrolled at Midlands Technical College because I never wanted to be that vulnerable again. I wanted to understand how to build a business that could survive anything. What I didn't expect was finding my voice, my community, and my calling inside those classrooms.

I graduated with two associate degrees. I served as Student Advisory Board President, Chapter President of Phi Theta Kappa, and a peer writing tutor. I was nominated as an International Presidential Candidate for PTK and recognized as a Coca-Cola Academic Team Bronze Scholar. This fall I'm starting my bachelor's degree in Public Relations at the University of South Carolina.

I still run Ciara Lox Beauty. Built it from the ground up. Kept it going through every season that should've stopped it.

I tell you all of this not to impress you. I tell you because leadership that's lived hits different than leadership that's only studied. And if you're sitting in your own version of that parking lot right now, I want you to know restoration is real and it's possible for you too.

That's why I do this work.