Self-employment
Jordan-born, high-flying hairstylist finds fulfillment in CanadaA beautiful dreamMemoza Jam is on the edge of her dream. |
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 [ 2007-07-28 ] |
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© 2007 Jupiterimages Corporation
The 35-year-old London, Ont., resident recently opened a beauty spa aptly called Memoza's Beauty Spa -- a world away from her beginnings in Jordan, where she was once classified as a person without a country.
Jam's parents were sent to Jordan from Palestine in 1948. Her mother, Nadera, is Jordanian. Her father, Zaid, was Palestinian.
The family later moved to Syria where Jam's mom opened a hair salon, while her banker father travelled on business.
"When I was seven, I heard on the news about a beauty business that took care of every woman's need -- they didn't have to leave the shop for anything, it was all done right there. That was my dream for ever and ever," says Jam.
At 13, she started helping at her mother's salon and after high school studied to be a medical lab technician. But after graduation, instead of a lab it was the skies that beckoned.
Jam became a flight attendant with Yemen Airways and later Qatar Airways.
In 1992 her father came to Canada and in 2000, Jam and her family arrived.
"At first I thought, Oh my god, where are the people? Damascus is a much bigger city than London," she says.
She began studying to obtain her Canadian high school diploma and, after graduation, began working at a hair salon -- which is where she met her husband, Jeffrey, a computer programmer and owner of a game development company called Spinning Reality.
"I was the new girl and a new customer came in, so I was the one who had to cut his hair. I was nervous because where I'm from, girls don't cut boys' hair," she said, adding that the haircut wasn't very good.
After working at other salons, Jam decided to strike out on her own -- but not without trepidation.
"I'm the kind of person who thinks and dreams, but I need a kick to get me going," says Jam. "My husband was a great, great help -- he was the one who made my dream come true."
She found a location on March 30 and had her own business set up 10 days later. Now, with an additional employee, Jam sees her dream taking shape, and she couldn't be happier.
"It's the best thing I've ever done," she says. "I'm happy and excited every day I walk in the door and my clients are very, very awesome. It couldn't be better."
On the Internet: www.memozasbeautyspa.com.
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