A talent discovered before she became a teenager has resulted in the career path for 36-year-old Dorine Calloway.

Calloway is a hair stylist at Purposely Purple Beauty Shop, located at 612 West Austin Avenue, which she opened in April 2021.

Calloway recounted her journey, stating, “I’ve been doing hair since I was 12 and I’m 36 now so over 20 years. I used to not like doing hair, I just did it because I knew how. In 2014 I went to cosmetology school and fell in love with it. I worked at home on hair and I used to work all kind of hours, some mornings, some nights. While I was in school I knew that I wanted to have my own shop because there wasn’t and still aren’t a lot of places that deal with ethnic hair.”

Calloway and her husband have three children, a 7-year-old daughter, a 15-year-old son and a 16-year-old son. Wanting to spend more time with her kids out the wheels in motion for Calloway to create Purposely Purple.

“I had a lot of people in my corner that were helping me out,” she said. “It was a Godsend because I wanted to be in a place where I could work with different types of textured hair. My aunt owns the building I’m renting right now. I was there for a little bit by myself and then Travis Curry joined me. We miss each other all the time though because we have our own hours. Most of the time it’s by appointment only, I don’t have set hours I’m there at the shop. That works better for me with being a mother. That was the main reason for me wanting to work for myself, being able to make my own schedule and be able to be the best mom I could. My hair shop allows me to be available to my kids a lot more than a traditional job.”

Regarding the Purposely Purple name, Calloway said, “I love purple for one, that’s my favorite color. I also came up with an acronym and I feel like it’s going to transcend beyond the beauty shop. It’s helping ‘people understand real pleasure in life experiences.’ I just love pouring into people. I talked about having this shop a lot, it came to fruition and I just love it.”

Calloway and her family have been members of Heartland Church for the past three years and she’s looking for additional ways to become involved in the community.

Career-wise, Calloway sees herself possibly expanding on her hair stylist business in the future.

“I’m looking to venture out into personal styling, dealing with beauty from head to toe,” she said. “That might be the next thing I do.”