Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Cochran
Hi Sophia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Royal Oak, Michigan and quickly moved to Frisco, Texas at 4 months old. I spent my entire childhood in the same home, until my parents divorced, even then my mom still kept our childhood home. Growing up in Frisco, I never had a ton of friends and I never felt like I fit in. I came out as bisexual in middle school, I had crazy colored hair, I wasn’t your typical “Frisco girl”.
My senior year of high school, I had been in active addiction and landed myself in rehab after being laced with fentanyl and meth. I went to a few different places but spent most of my time at a Mormon facility in Southern Utah. I witnessed and experienced discrimination for being LGBTQIA+, it was particularly bad for the transgender or non-binary residents. That was the point I realized I wanted to make a difference in the LGBTQIA+ community.
After leaving rehab, I took some time to continue recovery on my own and then decided to go to Cosmetology School. I fell utterly in love with doing hair and knew immediately that’s what I was meant to do.
I graduated and immediately got a job as a Commission Hairstylist in Oak Cliff, this is where I found my passion for low-tox hair. I’d never encountered a low-tox salon before, and after learning more I realized the importance of it. Eventually the commute to South Dallas became too much after moving further north to Celina. So I found a booth rental salon in Frisco, and 6 months later I left to open my own suite.
Opening my suite, Indie Haven Studio, gave me the freedom to create one of the safest spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals to get their hair done north of Dallas. It gives me the freedom to provide the most high quality holistic, low-tox services to every client in my chair. It’s been one of the most stressful jobs I’ve had but I am so proud to say I truly love coming to work every day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I struggled in the beginning of my career with finding my place. I’m very particular about my environment especially when it comes to work, and it was hard to find a place that had everything I needed and wanted to make my business successful authentically.
The hair industry can be toxic at times and I don’t think anyone can be truly happy in a toxic environment. Being able to create that safe haven for myself and my clients is something I’m extremely proud of.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a hairstylist, I specialize in gender-neutral haircuts, razor cuts, color corrections and vivids.
Indie Haven Studio is unique because we offer a gender-neutral, hourly service menu. This is different from your typical mens cuts, women’s cuts, mens color, women’s color menus. Everything is by hour and you simply select how long your service will be and I’ll achieve what I can in the allotted time slot. Most clients will reach out to verify how much time to book for!
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Another thing that sets Indie Haven apart is the fact that we’re gratuity-free. We do not accept monetary tips, we’d much rather our clients write reviews on our Vagaro and Google, refer friends and family and tag us on social media!
Some clients bring us plants to add to our collection which we’ll, of course, graciously accept. 🙂
Pricing:
- $85/hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mysite.vagaro.com/indiehavenstudio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiehavenstudio?igsh=MWowN3R2anNtZ2lmZg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Image Credits
Photos by Adeline
