When the unexpected happens, you must ADAPT!

That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. Just a week and half fresh off my trip to Atlanta (from winning the Huetiful Hair Idol Contest), I’m still trying to put everything into perspective.

  Pictured with Myleik, PR rep for Heutiful and Ken, owner of the Heutiful Hair Steamer

Just a little over a year ago, I started my YouTube channel with the intention of losing 60 pounds and going completely natural in 160 days. After both goals had been reached, I planned on doing something else with my spare time and deserting my YouTube channel or deleting it. But after uploading a few videos, getting a handful of subscribers and interacting with them, I was hooked!

What started out as a way to get my video skills up to par with my writer counterparts (yes, I’m a journalist, folks!), had soon become my favorite hobby. It was so much fun to learn how to edit videos, make graphics, and put together something I thought was mildly entertaining and share it with other people who, to my surprise, thought the same thing.

Although I never conquered my first goal of losing that double digit number (I’m still working on that *sigh*), actually taking the drive to Ann Arbor to get my big chop was a definitive moment for me. While I knew my look had changed because I cut my hair (for the very first time in my life!), I had no idea this would be a change that could line up so many opportunities for me.

                                     After my Big Chop on August 7, 2010

Just a few weeks after my big chop, I met Etta FLYY Epsy, Jeniffer, Markquisha and Tisha at the Naturally FLYY Detroit meet-up and soon after, began vlogging and doing product reviews for www.NaturallyCurly.com.

                           My first time meeting with Jen and Etta October 2010

I thought that was it for me! I had gained new friendships with women who had natural hair like me and ROCKED it in it’s curly/kinky state and scored an opportunity to try new products out for free! What else could possibly top that? 

Ummmm, what about some money? That’s what happened a few months later after I had became YouTube Partner. I think I went hysterical when I got that email accepting me into the program.

That’s when I knew everything had to change. I wanted to make better videos, do more unexpected things (hence the Solange Spoof C.R.EA.M.Y. and Natural Beauties in the City) and keep people guessing. But still, I had no idea what more YouTube had in store for me.

So what’s the point of this little adventure tale? Never assume that what you do for fun, might blossom into something so much more. And if it does, RECEIVE it! I’m still trying to and my God, it is so hard! To try and see what others see in you and believe that, has always been the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. It happened when I was trying to be a writer, and now it’s happening with just about everything else.

If you reach a point where your life takes an unexpected turn and your future looks bright down that road, you might as well keep strutting down that path. Now excuse me while I go follow my own advice and hopefully continue to receive success along the way.

-CharyJay