Ever since she was a teenager, Sess Lee Cannon has loved experimenting with her hair. The Illinois native, who is biracial, said learning to style her curls made her feel more confident in her own skin.
At age 20, Cannon (who goes by Lee) dropped out of college and took a full-time job at a sunglasses company after learning she was pregnant with her first child. But it was a random encounter with an artist at a tattoo parlor that got her thinking she could turn her passion into something that made a profit. The artist, Lee says, complimented her friend on a haircut Lee had just given her, which sparked a conversation that ultimately changed her life.
“He said, ‘Where’s your salon?’ and I told him I didn’t work at one, that I just did hair for fun,” she told CNBC in an interview. “He said, ‘Well, you might want to reconsider what you’re doing for a living. It’s clear you have a gift.’”
The next day, Lee, who says she “craved the creative freedom” she felt doing hair signed up for classes at a local cosmetology school. She quit her day job as an accounting clerk and dove head first into her studies. Her grandparents pitched in to help with babysitting duties while she worked part-time as a waitress to pay her tuition and bills.
Since 2017 she’s been the owner of Flourish Curls Salon in Arlington, Texas, a natural hair haven on a mission to teach their clients how to care for their hair –providing workshops and other online resources, including a monthly hair care challenge, which gives participants products and styling tips to help them live their best natural hair life. In 2023, the salon brought in over $1 million in revenue and left Lee with a salary of over $100,000.
Lee says social media has been one of the biggest keys to her success, allowing her to share tips and expand her brand. The salon currently has over 215,000 followers on Instagram and brings in clients from all over the country who want her to care for their curls.
“Having a strong social media community helped a lot,” she said. “There’s also not a ton of salons that specialize in curly and natural hair in our neighborhood — many cosmetology schools and salons still don’t train their stylists to work with those textures.”
The salon’s success has allowed Lee to bring other stylists and ultimately spend more time with her four children.
“In my 20s, I thought that to be successful, I’d have to work 50-plus hours a week,” she said. “But I’ve been able to build a six-figure career from working three days a week most weeks.”