When Sincerae Theresa Mosley opened the Mosley School of Cosmetology in 2017, the space measured 2,800 square feet.
Today, as she walks through her school, the space covers over 6,000 square feet. The school is located in Kentwood, Mich., in a building off 44th Street and Breton Road. Mosley has to don her coat against the chilly spring day to check on her other property across the parking lot—rental suites for graduates to begin their careers as hair stylists, estheticians and nail technicians.
She could never have imagined that when she cut the ribbon to her tiny space, it would grow to accommodate over 50 students and help them start their own businesses after graduation. The school hums with vibrant activity—men and women of all ages who, like Mosley, have a dream and a calling they wish to fulfill.
Mosley has a small office in the school where she conducts the day-to-day operations of the business. That includes answering a number of emails from young women asking her to be their mentor. It’s more than Mosley could have ever dreamed—but it is everything she’s prayed for.
When she first started out as a licensed cosmetologist, most people told Mosley that it was impossible to open a cosmetology school. It was impractical. It was expensive. It just took too much time. But God had shown Mosley that this was what He wanted her to do. In fact, he had gifted her as a cosmetologist from the beginning. As the second oldest of seven children growing up in Saginaw, she learned how to do her younger sisters’ hair before school every morning.
“I’ve always loved doing hair,” she said, “but I never thought I’d do anything with that love.”
Later on, as a young mother putting herself through school, she started styling hair out of her own home. That was how God led her to her calling.
After attending cosmetology school and becoming a licensed instructor, she noticed something about typical hair salons—very few stylists knew how to style kinky, curly, textured hair like hers. When she set out to open her own school, she was determined that she would teach all hair types so no one would feel excluded.
That determination turned into Hair for Hope, a program in which she teaches Caucasian parents of adopted African American children how to style and care for their hair. Mosley hasn’t been able to continue this program since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic but is hopeful that the seminars will restart.
“I believe this is my purpose,” she said. “I know this is my purpose.”
God equipped Mosley for her journey through everything she experienced, both good and bad. She remembered with a laugh how her teachers would give her math problems in grade school to get her to stop talking. Now, she loves numbers and uses that skill to run her business. During her time as a student in Cornerstone University’s Professional & Graduate Studies, she developed the business model for her school as a class project and gained the additional skills she needed to effectively run her school.
Part of God’s preparation for Mosley included teaching her to be obedient. One night, Mosley woke up from a sound sleep to the LORD speaking to her.
“He said, ‘Will you go when I say go and stay when I say stay? Will you do when I say do?’” Mosley recalled. She said she was so excited, until the reality of obedience sank in. Then she became afraid. Even still, the journey that God was about to take her on transformed her life forever.
A year later, Mosley was on her way to My Salon Suites when God showed her the location where her school is housed. During every car ride, she would practice being obedient and talking and listening to God. On that particular day, God said, “Over there.” And where he led her was the strip mall that would one day house the Mosley School of Cosmetology.
Tears sprang to Mosley’s eyes as she thought about everything she went through to get to where she is today.
“If I can overcome what I went through, anyone can,” she said. “My goal is to help people see that. Everyone needs somebody in their life to look up to.”
