Meet Shantai Jones | Entrepreneur

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

Hi Shantai, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
Being a business owner is a constant battle of questioning, figuring it out, wanting to stop, trying to be patient etc! When you no longer enjoy the work is when it’s time to reconsider the business you’re in. However I do believe that sometimes as business owner’s we get so caught up in not seeing the results which causes that feeling of being stuck or wanting to give up. Every-time I would catch myself wanting to give up something would always redirect me to keep going and that was always my sign to continue to persevere.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started off babysitting at 15 years old. It was my first job ever and I was getting paid pretty good for a first time job. I knew I wouldn’t make this type of money forever so the idea clicked and I decided to start my own hair business. I would always wear extensions and wigs, so I thought why not find a vendor and promote myself? And so the research began. After testing out different vendors and finding one with great quality hair, I purchased my logo, designed my website and launched my business. I’ve always been pretty good with editing and graphics so that really helped with creating content. Two years later I took a graphic design class in school, which allowed my skills to improve. I became very passionate about creating things and got my Adobe Certification. This sparked the beginning of a new venture. I decided to create an Instagram page for my graphic design and offer it as a service. From making logos, business cards, flyers etc.
The lessons I learned along the way is that failure is good! The more you fail at things, the quicker you are able to learn and apply new tactics. I also learned that risk taking is essential, you never know what could pop so why not just give it a try? Being an entrepreneur especially as young as I started wasn’t the easiest. I still had school, and work so finding the time to work on my business was necessary.
I want the world to know that Dee Luxury Co is about a young girl that started from scratch and was able to be successful in the hair industry. My company is about making women of all ages feel luxurious wearing our hair.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best-friend was visiting the area I would start with going to have breakfast at Snooze. They have amazing breakfast! The gluten free pancakes with a matcha tea latte is my go-to. After that I would take my best-friend to the galleria for some shopping. The galleria is a huge mall in Houston, TX that has almost everything. For lunch I would stop at True Food Kitchen to have a taste of their Hummus followed by a delicious vegan lunch.
Before the sun set we would head for a walk at the park and connect with nature!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate recognition to my mother for always supporting my vision. From taking me to the post office at 15 years old to ship products, to dropping me off at work four days out of the week while promoting my business cards everywhere she went. I would like to give credit to Kevin Trudeau, Jay Shetty, and Boniface Ogunti for allowing me to improve my mindset in order to be successful in business. Last but not least, I would like to give credit to Ms.Andrews at Bellaire High-school, for teaching me graphic design and being an amazing at it!

Website: deeluxury.com

Instagram: Dee.Laurent

Youtube: Dee Laurent

Image Credits
@bphotography713