Today we’d like to introduce you to Kari Boss.
Kari, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began my journey as a blogger through an emotional breakdown in 2017. I spent that year working on my body for my weight loss journey and had felt pretty good about myself. I ate clean, worked out, everyone that knew me and saw me always had great positive feedback for me, and I will kill it. I stayed consistent and was shedding weight like crazy.
I’ve always been on the chunkier side, and I’ve always had meat on my bones. So with me slimming down so much, my natural figure was starting to show. I live with my aunt, who by the way has been an amazing blessing to me throughout my beauty career. Well, one day I stopped by to talk to her in office to chit-chat, and she made a comment about my legs. She said “You look like you’re going to break in half! I’m not going to have to call a doctor for you am I? You’re starting to look sickly.”
At the time I was still wearing clothes that were too big and baggy on me, so I replied, “no I don’t my clothes are just big.” She then said, “oh maybe because your legs go all inward is what makes them look kinda Holocaust-y.” Wow! Ummmm, excuse me … I am a little, and my legs are naturally skinny, I was still working on building muscle, so I confidently replied, ” no I don’t, I do have skinny legs, but I’m working on them.” She just kept staring at them, with a worried look on her face. I said, “What? I look good, I’m fit, and I look good.” She just continued staring worryingly.
That was it. I couldn’t take the energy she was giving me while walking away I said, “stop staring at my legs you’re making me feel bad.” I walked down the hall to my room upset and flopped on my bed, I put my face in my arms on the mattress and just started balling. I just balled and balled! In my head, it felt like I was spiraling! I had a vision of what I wanted to look like, and that’s all I was going by.
No one knew what that looked like but me. I hadn’t had any interruptions in this vision and the comments she gave me hurt so bad! I was nowhere near my goal yet, and I knew that, so why did I let these comments bother me? Probably because it was the only negative type of feedback I received throughout my whole journey that year. And to have those comments coming from my aunt hurt entirely. I know she didn’t mean any harm, I know she didn’t mean to cut me up like that. But I’m glad she did.
She opened up my writing door back up for me. I’m not sure what it was in that moment of balling and spiraling in my head, after the crying moment I pulled my phone open to the notes section and just started flowing with writing. Tears were streaming down my face, nose all running, hard breathing, the words kept flowing and flowing, I couldn’t stop writing (typing lol). I wrote down everything I was feeling at that moment. Thus, creating my first blog titled, “Issa Blog.”
I downloaded WordPress, created an account, and posted it on there. I was nervous, but I made a post about it on Instagram and Facebook and shared with my friends and followers. I wasn’t too sure what the rest of the world would think about it, all day I was nervous and anxious. After a couple of hours, I checked back on my social media to see if anyone said anything. To my surprise, I got a lot of positive comments!
My people loved it!! (I am referring my friends, followers, readers as my people because they are in fact, people. People with their own thoughts and opinions, and to have them take the time out to read my words and thoughts means everything to me.) From then on, I continued making blog posts! It was therapeutic to me in a sense. In real life, I have trouble expressing myself verbally, this helped me organize my thoughts and read what I actually think.
I’ll be honest; it’s been a while since I’ve wrote my blogs! I am working a second job that takes up a lot of my time, I’ve put my blogs and writing on the back-burner. What I have been doing is actively acting as a blogger as much as I can on my Instagram KARIBOSSTX. I separated my hair and makeup posts from my personal posts. A bit frustrating at first, but so happy I did. I’ve been managing my two Instagram’s as a Hair Artist on one, and a Blogger/Influencer on the other.
Tiring, yes, but I love that I have created an active interaction with my people! Since working on KARIBOSSTX, I have gained people who look at my created content, read my blogs and have earned affiliations with companies that have given me my own code to share with my people for their sites. Which is really cool! I never thought I would be where I am today, but I’m happy I am!
Has it been a smooth road?
The road on your journey is never smooth pavement. There’s cracks and bumps and traffic along the way! At the beginning of blogging, I struggled with putting myself out there as a person. I’m not too open about myself, initially I’m reserved, quiet, and the fear of showing my emotions and feels was nerve wrecking. I just had the ‘fuck it!’ (Excuse my language) mindset.
I would much rather regret the things I’ve done than the things I didn’t do. So I said “fuck it” and put myself out there. Which was a blessing! Many could relate to me and many thought I was inspiring and interesting! Who wouldn’t love that?
Now that I’m out there, I think I still struggle with creating content that my people may or may not find inspiring or interesting. It’s still nerve wrecking making blogs, with the final thoughts of “is anyone even going to like this? What if people think I’m weird? I went deep and revealed a lot of myself, am I going to regret sharing this?”
But like I said, it’s better to regret what you’ve done instead of still living with the feeling of woulda, shoulda, coulda. I do have a regret of when I gained my affiliation codes; I didn’t make proper posts thanking the companies for asking me to join, I just kind of created content and threw my codes out there. Like what? Who am I to just throw my codes out there? Lol.
Continuing to be grateful and humble is something I can’t lose sight of! I never want to blow up and act like I don’t know anyone. I also struggle with managing BOTH my accounts, KariBossBeauty and KariBossTx. I hope to be able to have them complement each other as ‘sister businesses.’
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I’ve referred to myself (my business name) as Kari Boss, an aspiring blogger and influencer.
Kari is short for Karina. No one in my family called me Kari growing up. In fact, it was everything but Kari! My best friend Mimi starting calling me Kari, and I liked it, so I stuck with it. The name Boss started way back. I started calling myself ‘Da Boss’ back when I first got Facebook in 2011. I always knew I wanted to be my own boss.
I hated that I had to go by the rules of the corporate companies I worked for. I knew I wanted to be in charge of something, even if it was just me. Which now, I am my own boss. I am my own business. I manage myself. I constantly go through periods of self-reinvention.
I was still being referred to as Kari, so I stuck with that, and decided to bring back the old “Boss” attitude. Resulting in Kari Boss. I decided this year my Hair Artistry profile needed some reinventing as well. I changed the name to KariBossBeauty. (In an attempt to start the ‘sister’ businesses)
As a hair artist, I specialize in creating customized colors and toners for your hair. Tones and colors that fit you entirely with your personality and skin tone. Creating custom makeup looks, giving you that Boss Glam feel! I feel like a Boss, and I want all my clients to feel like Bosses too!
I work alongside my best friend Mimi (MimiBeautyTx) in a suite. We have created the name ‘Beauty Brujas’ for our combined artistry. It has been so amazing working with my BFF! We share clients and combine our powers and skills to create Boss Glammed Babes! We love our clients! We love what we do! We love our business!
As a blogger, my writing ranges a bit from my deep feelings, emotions, dreams, goals, memories. My Instagram is a bit based off of me being a Gemini. I have fully embraced the Gemini way of having ‘two personalities’ a ‘good and bad’ a ‘quiet and loud’ and so on. And I share that with my people.
As an influencer, I am open to being different, being creative and letting myself be free. I’m a hair artist, writer, and model. I do it all!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Dallas has grown so much over this past couple of years! Our city is expanding rapidly in all areas of business. It’s an amazing place for bloggers to start out. There’s so much to still discover and explore.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1400 Hi Line Dr, Dallas, TX 75207Suite 65
- Phone: (469)401-8739
- Email: karihairandmakeuptx@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/karibosstx
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/karibossbeauty
- Other: http://karibosstx.wordpress.com/
Image Credit:
Bella Med Spa, House Of Lunit, Grime Fiends, Olivia Arratia Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
