The Gap in Beauty Education: Preparing Beauty Entrepreneurs
The Gap in Beauty Education: Preparing Beauty Entrepreneurs
Cosmetology programs teach students the craft: cutting, coloring, styling, but one critical piece is often missing: how to run a business. As EsiSonia Sotoglo, CEO of the Angela Johnson Leadership Foundation (AJLF), points out, “They teach us everything but how to be entrepreneurs, which is alarming because the cosmetology trade provides the foundation for self-employment.”
This gap in financial education has real consequences. A recent spending tree analysis revealed that minority business owners, particularly Black entrepreneurs are denied loans at an alarming rate of 39% compared to their counterparts. While credit scores and debt-to-income ratios are often cited as reasons, the deeper causes include financial illiteracy, decades of being labeled “high-risk”, and systemic barriers to accessing capital. Even when funding is secured, these entrepreneurs often face predatory repayment terms, making it even harder to build sustainable businesses.
In Maryland, there are 4,523 beauty, cosmetics, and fragrance businesses (NAICS 446120). Although no racial breakdown is available, a significant portion are likely minority- or Black-owned. These businesses stimulate the economy, create jobs, and strengthen communities, yet many are held back simply because they lack the tools, knowledge, and fair access to capital needed to grow.
The need to address this is urgent. According to Forbes, “Entrepreneurship is particularly important to Gen Z. In a 2021 study, 53% of Gen Z respondents hope to run businesses in the next 10 years.” If the next generation aspires to own businesses, we must equip them with financial literacy, business education, and easier access to funding to level the playing field across all communities.
At AJLF, our mission is to empower emerging beauty professionals with funding, professional development, and essential resources to help them launch and sustain their businesses. Cosmetology is more than a trade, it is a launchpad for entrepreneurship. By prioritizing financial education and equitable access to capital, we can ensure the next generation of beauty professionals not only survive but thrive, building businesses that endure, grow, and make a lasting impact in their communities.
References
● Sophinos, L. (2023, May 30). A Beautiful Path to Entrepreneurship: It’s Time to Change Our Perception Around Beauty and Wellness Trades and Tech. Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2023/05/30/a-beautiful-path-to-entrep reneurship-its-time-to-change-our-perception-around-beauty-and-wellness-trades-and-tech/
● Lindzon, J. (2021, May 11). Why Gen Z is so keen on entrepreneurship, and what that means for employers. Fast Company. Retrieved from:
https://www.fastcompany.com/90631769/why-gen-z-is-so-keen-on-entrepreneurship-and-what-that-means-for-employers
● Survey Shows High Loan Denial Rates for Black-Owned Businesses. (n.d.). NBC News. Retrieved from:
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/survey-shows-high-loan-denial-rates-for-black-own ed-businesses-250391109880 
Warrior Glam 2025: Honoring Strength, Beauty, and Resilience
Warrior Glam 2025: Honoring Strength, Beauty, and Resilience
On October 10, 2025, the Angela Johnson Legacy Foundation (AJLF), in partnership with MedStar Oncology, hosted our first annual Warrior Glam, a heartfelt evening dedicated to celebrating the beauty, strength, and courage of breast cancer patients and survivors.
Held during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Warrior Glam was more than an event, it was an experience of love, healing, and empowerment. The evening featured professional makeup sessions, mini photoshoots, and pampering services designed to remind every woman that she is seen, valued, and radiant, inside and out.
Each patient received one-on-one care from talented volunteer MUAs who poured their hearts into every brush stroke. The room was filled with laughter, joy, and heartfelt testimonies like:
“This is the best I’ve felt in a long while.”
“I feel so free.”
“This is my first time getting my makeup done, I’m 60 years old,” one woman shared, tears streaming down her face.
These moments reflected the true purpose of Warrior Glam: to uplift women who have faced some of life’s hardest battles and remind them of their undeniable beauty and resilience.
We’re deeply grateful to our in-kind sponsors who helped make the event unforgettable, from capturing stunning photos and video to providing refreshments, beauty products, and thoughtful gift bag items. Every detail contributed to an atmosphere filled with love, celebration, and empowerment that our guests will cherish forever.
Through this event, AJLF and MedStar accomplished our shared goal: to bring positivity, dignity, and light to women walking through their healing journey. Warrior Glam was a celebration of survival, sisterhood, and the unbreakable spirit of every woman who continues to fight with grace and courage.
Thank you to everyone who made this possible, our volunteers, MUAs, sponsors, and the MedStar Oncology team. Because of you, these women left not only feeling beautiful, but believing they are beautiful.
Stay connected with AJLF as we continue to serve, uplift, and empower our community through beauty, wellness, and purpose.
The Angela Johnson Legacy Foundation
Honoring resilience. Empowering beauty. Inspiring legacy.
Back to School Glow Up 2025: A Day of Confidence & Community
Back to School Glow Up 2025: A Day of Confidence, Care, and Community
On Wednesday, August 20, 2025, the Angela Johnson Legacy Foundation (AJLF), in partnership with The CORE Foundation, transformed the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown into a hub of love, care, and empowerment for Montgomery County students.
The Back to School Glow Up was more than just an event, it was a statement. A statement that every child deserves to walk into the first day of school feeling confident, cared for, and ready to succeed. Here is how it went.
Professional Hairstyles and Haircuts: Local talent showed up in a big way. Five barbers: Matt Diggs of The Showroom Mobile Barbershop, Fooks The Barber, Yova The Barber, Icy The Barber, and Rene Holtman and four stylists: Favour of Style Plus Salon, Nisha, Isabel Alonso, and Seray of Styled by Renegade volunteered their time and skill to give kids fresh, stylish looks. From fades and trims to braids, curls, and twists, every student left with their heads held a little higher.
School Supply Kits and Backpacks: Thanks to The CORE Foundation, students received backpacks packed with notebooks, paper, folders, pencils, erasers, colored pencils, and pens. In total, 120 backpacks were given away, along with 600+ school essentials.
From Inspiration to Action: A Letter From Our Founder & CEO
A Letter From Our Founder & CEO
Dear Friends, Family, & GHS Cosmetology Alumni
In 2014, the world lost someone truly extraordinary, Angela Johnson, our beloved cosmetology teacher, gifted stylist, and woman of unwavering faith. But more than that, we lost a mentor, a mother figure, and a radiant light in so many of our lives.
She didn’t just teach cosmetology, she shaped lives. I know this because she shaped mine.
We all have that one teacher, the one who believes in us before we believe in ourselves, who nurtures us like their own, and who helps us see the greatness we didn’t yet recognize. For me, that teacher was Mrs. Johnson.
She had a rare gift, the ability to see beyond your current circumstances and speak directly to your purpose. In a world that often dismisses and overlooks young people, especially in vocational spaces, Mrs. Johnson made her classroom feel like a sanctuary.
She saw potential where others saw problems. She reminded us that excellence is not just about skill, but about how you carry yourself, how you treat people, and how deeply you believe in what God placed inside of you.
Even when we doubted ourselves, she never wavered. She stood in the gap for so many of us, praying, guiding, pushing, and loving us into our calling.
When she passed, I knew her story couldn’t end there. I couldn’t let her legacy be reduced to a memory. I wanted it to move. I wanted it to multiply. And after nearly half a decade of planning, with her son Angelo’s blessing the Angela Johnson Legacy Foundation (AJLF) was born.
AJLF was created to carry forward the values Mrs. Johnson lived by — Respect, Integrity, and Service, and to extend the same love, structure, and belief she gave so freely to a new generation of beauty professionals. We offer scholarships, workshops, business mentorship, and salon sponsorships, all tools that help aspiring cosmetologists not only get licensed, but thrive in business, in life, and in purpose.
This is more than an organization. It’s a movement of legacy-fueled love. It’s what happens when one life touches another… and that love keeps going.
If you’ve ever had someone believe in you before you believed in yourself, you understand why AJLF matters.
If you’re a student dreaming of the salon chair, the studio, or the beauty business you’ll one day build — this is for you.
If you’re a stylist, educator, or industry leader ready to give back, we need you.
Angela Johnson lit the path for so many of us.
Now we shine that light forward in her honor, and for every dream yet to come.
With gratitude and purpose,
EsiSonia Sotoglo
CEO, Angela Johnson Legacy Foundation
