Meet Patricia Opurum | Engineer/Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patricia Opurum and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patricia, how do you think about risk?
Risk is hard but a necessary factor in living life to your fullest potential. I think calculated risk is a great place to start. One calculated risk that I took was going to college. For some, that would not be considered a risk. However, I never planned to go to college. I was terrified, but I took that risk because one of my teachers believed in me and pushed me to go.

As I have grown my career, I have taken roles that required me to take risks because the assignments were outside of my comfort zone. This risk taking has opened several doors for me in corporate America.

Starting a business is a huge risk, but I don’t think I would have been able to take this step had I not been slowly building to this point of risk taking.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One thing about me is that I love what I do. Even in times when I didn’t love the role, I made it my own. I never let my role define me, I always look for ways to define the role the way that I think will leave an impact on everyone that I work with and my company. I work hard, but I am very passionate about what I do.

I’ve crawled around pipe yards, I’ve written welding procedures, and I’ve overseen construction sites. Some people look at me and think that I’d never get dirty in the field. The funny thing is that I love it. I’ve also developed and executed strategy for teams and business units.

I think ultimately, I love the hustle of work because I love to see when those who work with me or for me are excited to come to work because they know their purpose. The hustle is not only about material or financial reward, its more about fulfillment of knowing your purpose and helping those around see their potential.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would love for my friend to be immersed in the culture of Houston. So, we would have to go to the heights and walk to all of the historical sites along with the trendy transition to artistic murals, restaurants, bars and boutiques that makes the heights fun and unique.

Next we have to go to river oaks shopping district on a Friday night to have dinner at La Colonial or Steak 48 and sit at the patio and watch people dance to the live band performance.

On Saturday, we could go to Herman Park to enjoy the beautiful scenery and hopefully catch a show at the Miller Outdoor theatre. If possible, grab a drink and something to eat at hotel Zaza.

Sunday would be a great day to visit discovery green and do some roller skating and then grab a bite to eat a rodeo goat in East Downtown, then I could give my friend a tour of my business in East Downtown.

Since my friend would be staying at the Post Oak hotel, we could have dinner at Mastro’s and sit by the pool with a drink to end the evening.

If there is a concert in town that would be a must, but I always recommend coming to Houston during the Rodeo to get the full experience. There are so many other cool places such as Memorial Park and Montrose area that have amazing restaurants and fun activities also.

Houston is very big on fashion, so the Galleria, Upper Kirby, River Oaks Shopping District and Highland Village have so much to offer if you want to do some shopping while in town.

We have also gotten into dinner and a show so my friend has to try Ciel, Seven and Koya.

So much to do in Houston!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost, I’d like to thank God for his love and grace because I would not be where I am at today without it. My husband, Uzo, has been my rock of support and my children, Victoria and Josiah, have been a true blessing of encouragement and love. My friends, Alexandria Harris and Ronke Ade, have prayed over me in this journey and have been consistent sources of positive energy. My friends, Jamika Phillips and Cher La Piere, have been great role models of female business owners. I have several other family member and friends that have been sources of encouragement along the way.

As I reflect back on this journey, Mark Batterson’s book “Chase the Lion” was a significant source of guidance for me. In the book he stated, “the size of your dreams is the size of your faith in God”. That really touched me in a way that I never expected. I never thought that I would go to college, but I had a teacher, Mr. Wilfred Stewart, that never gave up on me. I knew that my parents could not afford to pay my college education, but I miraculously received a Chevron engineering scholarship from Junior Achievement. That scholarship didn’t pay for everything, so I was grateful to work in the Cullen College of Engineering and obtain internships through Inroads which helped pay for other expenses and tuition. All of these people and organizations helped me reach my dream. However, my dream didn’t stop there.

As I started to think about my purpose, I realized that my achievements were only because of those angels that I mentioned before. It made me think, how can I do the same for others? Again, my dream grew to entrepreneurship because this would allow me to provide jobs and opportunities to others. So, day by day I worked, and I prayed to push towards this dream of becoming an entrepreneurship.

My final shout out is to my grandma Charlene. She passed away in 2015 but I still miss her dearly. Before she passed, she told me that she was proud of me because I was living a life that she only dreamed of. I want her to see from heaven that we are capable of greatness. The sacrifices that she made has made my dreams possible.

Website: www.eternalbeautysalon.com

Instagram: eternalbeautysaloneado

Linkedin: Patricia Opurum (Rushing)

Facebook: Eternal Beauty Salon and Spa (Patricia Opurum)

Image Credits
Roy Harvey Pheonix Photography Fred Agho Photography LLC