S1:E3 - LaTrice Woodard is In The Studio with Calamity Jane
In The Studio with Calamity Jane is a show highlighting the incredible women of Las Vegas!
This episode features LaTrice Woodard, a professional hair and makeup artist in Las Vegas.
Get to know LaTrice as she shares how she got started on this path, her inspiration for moving forward no matter what, and her hilarious response to what she wants to hear God say at the Pearly Gates. You can catch more of LaTrice on her YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Instagram.
If you're an amazing woman in Las Vegas (or know one), fill out the form for a chance to be In the Studio with Calamity Jane!
Transcript:
Hi, my name is Jodi, also known as Calamity Jane. Welcome to another edition of In The Studio With Calamity Jane.
Our purpose with this series is to highlight the amazing women in our community and put them in the spotlight for a moment. Joining me today is LaTrice Woodard.
Hi LaTrice, welcome to the show.
[LaTrice]: Thank you so much for having me.
Tell us a little bit about your work.
Well, I am a professional hair and makeup artist, and I go around the Las Vegas area and I make women feel beautiful about their self inside and out.
How did you come to start in this field?
I would say in high school. I started out doing my cousin's hair. I lived with four of my cousins and we all basically had to learn how to do hair, 'cause my aunt wasn't having it. She was like, you guys are gonna learn how to do your hair if you guys want your hair in all these different, you know, braid styles, so that's where I started. I started in braiding, and then it turned to me working with, or not working with, but doing my friends' hair. So the guys from the basketball team or the football team, they wanted their hair braided so they would always come to me.
The guys from the basketball team wanted their hair braided,
so they always came to me.
And then I guess years passed, had a few kids, and in between all of that I always went back to doing hair and I would pick up little methods like from different shows that I would watch, or when YouTube started flourishing, I was always on YouTube learning new things. And as time progressed, it was a means for me to actually make really good money. And in between working multiple jobs, I was always doing hair.
As soon as I moved to Vegas is when I was in a good spot to where I could actually quit my job and I went to cosmetology school and that was a year ago, and ever since then I've been going with the flow, and it's been taking me to amazing places.
What do you feel makes you successful?
I feel when my clients are happy, and they return to me, I feel that that personally is a success for me. I know there are times where you will have those customers who, they're like, mmm, you know, they're not too sure about you, but even in that case, if they still come back and return to you, then, I would really contribute that to being successful.
What piece of advice would you give a new entrepreneur who is just starting out?
So one piece of advice I would give to someone who's starting out in this industry is to not give up.
Don't give up. Turn discouraging events into learning experiences.
There's times when you have clients, they're not happy, or people you work with that aren't happy with your work, and it can be a little bit discouraging, but as long as you can take those and turn them into learning experiences, then you could take it further. You could be successful, so just don't give up.
And now, the famous questionnaire that was asked for 26 years by the great Bernard Pivot and made famous on In The Actors Studio:
What is your favorite word?
I think my favorite word would have to be fuck. I use it a lot, like what the fuck? Are you fucking kidding me? I can't help it sometimes, so. It would have to be fuck.
What is your least favorite word?
Okay, my least favorite word is something that I've been preaching to my kids lately.
It would be "I can't".
They throw it around so loosely that it's a little bit irritating because I know that they can do something, and they don't have that same confidence in themselves that they should, and so that would probably be something that I wish would stay out of my house would be I can't.
What turns you on creatively, emotionally, or spiritually?
One thing that kind of motivates me and gets me going is when I wake up every morning, I have to say a prayer. You know, I've been getting a lot into my Word lately, and just the feeling that I get after I say a prayer, I just know that everything's gonna be alright after that.
So what turns you off?
One thing that turns me off is people that are hesitant about me. I know that you can't really do anything about how someone feels, but when I can feel how you feel about me, it kinda rubs me the wrong way.
What is your favorite curse word?
I think my favorite curse word, can I say besides fuck, would be bitch, like, biiiitch. And it's not always meant to be a bad thing. I don't think I've ever called anyone a bitch being mean. I think I just throw it around loosely, like, in casual conversations like, bitch, or,, like honestly I do, I use it a lot.
What sound or noise do you love?
I love the sound of nature, like I have been, like at night when I go to sleep, and I've been doing it for about two months now, I put on either YouTube or Google Play Music and I put on meditation music and usually the first things are like raindrops.
So when I'm trying to get my rowdy kids to sleep, I turn off everything, and I say, you guys wanna listen to some raindrops? You guys wanna hear raindrop drip drops? And it's starting to make night times much easier for me.
What sound or noise do you hate?
I hate the sound of grinding teeth. Oh my gosh, it irks me and I can't understand how people do it, it kinda makes me feel like eh. I hate that sound.
What profession, other than your own, would you like to attempt?
I would love to be a truck driver. I hope one day that once everything's established with everything that I wanna do, which is a lot, that me and my fiance can go and be truck drivers together. And the kids are off living their life, and we just tour the world driving trucks.
What profession would you not like to do, like ever?
Once I made screens. Yes, I made screens. I was a manual laborer, it's piece work. So you have the frame and then you take the screen and you bring it across and you have a little gun and you whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. I don't think I would ever do that again.
We got paid like two cents per screen, and we had to bust 'em out so it was a lot of work. That's one profession I wouldn't do. I'd rather scrub toilets than do that kind of piece work.
If Heaven exists what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
When I arrive at the pearly gates - 'cause I know it does, Heaven exists - I want Him to say, "LaTrice, turn around, it's not time.'
[Jodi]: Thank you for being with us today, LaTrice.
[LaTrice]: Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you for watching. Join us for the next edition of In the Studio with Calamity Jane, where we put another amazing woman from Las Vegas in the spotlight.
