Meet Keisha Carpenter-Ricks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keisha Carpenter-Ricks.

Keisha, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up close to Ft.Bragg military base in Raeford, North Carolina, but after three years in high school JROTC, I knew that life wasn’t for me. I self-funded college 100% which is one of my greatest accomplishments. I worked tirelessly to pay my way through undergrad and earned my Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from North Carolina A&T State University in 1991.

I was licensed in real estate, in North Carolina, in the late ’90s and worked as a Site Acquisition Specialist for a telecom carrier in Charlotte NC.  I later accepted a great opportunity to work in the Dallas area for a telecom tower company as an Account Manager and Zoning Manager. After many years of working in corporate America, I was laid off after 9/11. Although I enjoyed my work, I’m passionate about parenting so I took advantage of this opportunity to stay at home with my two youngest children for seven years in the early 2000s.

My dream “job” was always to be a mompreneur balancing self-employment and motherhood. In this case, I could have the freedom to do work I enjoy on my own schedule and still be accessible to my children.

I always had a knack for doing natural hair. Maintaining my daughter’s hair became noticed by people and was a fun hobby for me to learn to grow healthy, beautiful, natural hair. Around 2008, natural hair was trending from a business opportunity perspective. I converted a room in our home to a salon and started taking clients. That grew tremendously and in 2010, I opened NappyBliss Natural Hair Salon in Desoto. We remain one of the top natural hair salons in DFW serving hundreds of clients annually.

In 2017, I decided to get licensed in real estate again to work in the robust DFW market. Transitioning out of my salon to real estate full time was quite difficult. The hardest part was transitioning clients to other stylists in the salon. However, most of my clients understood the opportunity I had to level up as an entrepreneur. I still serve a small number of clients in the salon, but I’m in the real estate marketplace full time now and doing quite well having closed approximately two million in sales during my transitioning year. This year, I am on target to close in excess of that in the first six months of the year.

Being a wife of 16 years, a mom of 14, 15 and 24-year-old children and a woman in business has been everything I hoped! I have been able to develop as a successful entrepreneur and nurture my growing family.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Entrepreneurship always presents challenges as you develop and grow your businesses. For me, the lack of startup capital in the early years caused me to be creative, and think out-of-the-box in order to be successful. Faith and determination also played a big part in having the needs met in the business in order to turn a profit. From procuring a lease space to build out, to supplies, everything was done on a shoestring budget in the early years.

I’m also a workaholic. Work/life balance was always a juggling act. Early on, I would spend upwards of 60 hours a week in the salon. I was always sure to have a comfortable space to have the kids do their homework and eat, but there’s no place like home. My husband and I are both full-time entrepreneurs so many times, the children had to be “salon kids” until the last client was done.

In retrospect, I don’t think I would have changed a thing though. My children have learned a lot about entrepreneurship by watching my husband and I grow our businesses. They want to be a part of developing our businesses into a family empire. That makes it all worthwhile to me.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
If you Google me, you will see in the many reviews online that I’m known for my professionalism and customer service in addition to my business acumen. This makes me very proud. I believe in treating people like I wish to be treated and it shows up as I serve my clients.

I’m currently carving out a niche as a luxury real estate agent. In January, I completed The Accredited Luxury Home Specialist (ALHS) coursework and am in the process of procuring my official designation.

As a Realtor, I’m super excited that I just negotiated and contracted on my very own building for my salon. We are scheduled to close on our property in June. We will no longer lease space but we own our own building.

I believe I set myself apart from other women in business by my servant attitude toward my clients that’s dignified yet humble. I believe that my businesses and how they are operated are a reflection of my character. Integrity, servitude, and relationship building are core values that I want to leave my clients with.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
There’s a saying, “I wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey!” and it’s really heartfelt and true for me. If I had to start over, I wouldn’t do anything differently.  There are many paths to the same destination. The lessons I learned on my pathway to success have been invaluable and worthwhile. They have caused me to grow in unregrettable ways.

I believe the most important elements of my success have been prioritizing my family’s needs and balancing with my client’s needs.  To be a wife, mom and a successful entrepreneur of multiple businesses,  I couldn’t ask for anything more!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.keisharicks.com www.nappybliss.com
• Phone: 972.863.1510 (realtor) 469.939.3764 (salon)
• Email: keisha@keisharicks.com
• Instagram: Instagram: keishacricksrealtor nappyblissnaturalhairsalon
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/keishacricks www.facebook.com/nappybliss

Image Credit:
Justin White

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