Daily Inspiration: Meet Chandra Chriswisser

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chandra Chriswisser.

Hi Chandra, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been a hairdresser at heart ever since I can remember. I was around 10 years old I started using my younger siblings as practice models by always giving them makeovers and messing with their hair. In high school, I started doing all my friend’s hair playing around with coloring and even cutting I am sure it never came out that great but we always thought it looked good.

As the oldest of four, I was always tasked with the constant babysitting duty. Both my parents worked a lot so we were on our own quite a bit. Having so much responsibility at such a young age pushed me to want to get going and start my life. I tend to be overly determined sometimes and was able to graduate from high school 2 years early.

I did more research and found a school in Arizona when my mom took me to tour it the moment I stepped inside I knew it was my place it didn’t smell like perms the instructors looked stylish and the owner of the school specialized in high-end European hair techniques. This was what I was looking for I convinced my parents to let me move away at the age of 16 and start my life.

After receiving my cosmetology license I went to work for a salon in Scottsdale as an assistant and was lucky to become part of an amazing team of hair stylists. They became my mentors and I learned so much from them. There were no open stations at the time and I assisted and waited 2 years before one had opened up it was worth the wait after assisting for that long I felt like I could handle pretty much anything with my clients.

I was able to become the highest-producing stylist in that salon within just a couple of years. I stayed there for 11 years and in 2008 myself and a fellow stylist left to open our own. I had been doing hair already for so long that I thought having my salon was going to be pretty easy… Wrong! Owning your own business is a completely different challenge than just doing the job. We went through many trials and failures trying to figure it. You have to constantly pick yourself back up and try again.

In 2010 I became pregnant with my 1st child at this time the economy was still in a struggle the salon was struggling financially and my husband’s job was also down it was a scary time no one tells you that when you start your own business if it’s not doing well then you don’t get to pay yourself I think maybe I was naive to this thought you think you can make it a success but often times things don’t work out that way.

A few months after my daughter was born my husband and I had to file for personal bankruptcy we lost our house and completely changed the way we lived. We had to find a house to rent and my husband took on extra jobs to make ends meet we did manage to make it through and the salon started to turn around and get busier.

With that mission being the driving force in the last 7 years we have grown to have over 30 team members, 2 locations, we have an education team, a marketing team, offer an apprenticeship, and we have a culture of support, success, and teamwork. Because of the systems, we have put in place we managed to survive the pandemic and even grow our business during that time opening our second location in April of 2021.

In January of 2022, I stepped away from being behind the chair which was the hardest decision I have ever made I love doing hair and I love my clients many of who have stayed with me for over 20 years. I can now focus my energy on growing the business and fine-tuning our processes to make everything even better.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Many obstacles and struggles. Being young and having no training in how to manage people. Not having good financial literacy. No knowledge of marketing or how to grow a business. Juggling a family, a team, working behind the chair, and running a business. I learned pretty much every lesson the hard way.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
Fashion has been my passion my whole life. As a very young girl I used to love dressing up in my grandma’s old clothes, she used to have all these old hats and shoes that were straight out of the ’40s and ’50s and I used to play with them for hours. To this day I have still kept some of those old pieces of clothing she had.

Contact Info:

• Website: ohanasalonaz.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ohanahairlife?igshid=YzA2ZDJiZGQ=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ohanahairlife/
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/user/ChandraOhana