Keyonna Moore: Battle Of The Hair
Soon-to-be Empire Beauty School graduate, Keona Moore, had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, traveling to Nashville, TN, and competing among other top stylists from around the country. Moore began her beauty career by enrolling at Empire Gwinnett in August 2021. With graduation approaching soon, Moore continues taking every opportunity given to her.
Empire Gwinnett educator, Mrs. Syreeta Hawk encouraged her class to participate in the Sport Clips Haircuts “Battle of the Hair: Student Edition.” This is an annual competition, receiving entries from top stylists all over the country. This year, six top performers won an all-inclusive trip to Sport Clips’ National Huddle in Nashville, TN, competing to win a $5,000 scholarship, a $2,500 prize pack, and a private class from one of Sport Clips’ vendors.
“This competition allowed me to travel to Nashville, TN for an all-expenses-paid trip. The experience was a lot of fun and I had the opportunity to meet people. I always tell others when they are touring the school to make sure you participate because you never know what will happen.”
Moore entered this competition by selecting a male model, creating an original haircut, and submitting before and after images. From there, the images were judged by a panel of haircare experts. Although Moore did not win the competition, she is thankful for this opportunity.
Since Moore was in middle school, she had an interest in the beauty industry with everything hair related. Then, in high school, Moore began doing other people’s hair which is something she enjoyed. Moore liked it because she was able to help other people feel happy and good about themselves.
At Empire Beauty School I learned more hands-on and from a textbook. The textbook is important because it teaches you concepts such as chemicals and color. Being hands-on is a great way to learn too. My knowledge expanded and is something I want to share with others so that they don’t go down the wrong path.
Participating in competitions is something that Moore is familiar with throughout her journey with us at Empire Gwinnett.
My most memorable moments would be any time we have events and competitions, I love participating in them. The activities make it fun and you want to come to school. We do holiday competitions, nail competitions, hair competitions, and anything that they give us.
With graduation happening this July, Moore discusses the next big step in her beauty career.
My goal is that by 2024/2025 I want to start my own salon in Gwinnett, I have already begun having conversations on how to get this started. This salon would have hair, nails, and everything else. I want to give the full MVP experience. My advice to future students is to always think big and always participate. Never give up on your goals because you will get to the end and you will succeed.
Empire Gwinnett educator, Mrs. Syreeta Hawk was able to accompany Moore on her travels to Nashville, TN.
My experience with Sports Clips Huddle for 2022 was absolutely amazing! As an educator, I was there to support my student Keyonna Moore who was a finalist in their Haircutting competition and it re-sparked my passion as an educator and a stylist. I was so motivated to come back to work and teach my students what I learned! I learned new teaching techniques and it made me proud to be the only representative from Empire Beauty School there. Keyonna and I learned so many things together and got to share each other’s passion for the industry! If I wasn’t an educator I would love to be on the Sports Clips Creative Team, that is just how good the show was. Everyone was so nice, especially Mrs. Mary, the love was just jumping off of her for this industry! Thank you for allowing me to experience that, I am forever grateful!
For more information about Empire Beauty School, or how to enroll, please visit https://bit.ly/LearnMoreAtEmpire