Vanessa Howard knows what it’s like to have nothing – and that’s why she is giving back to girls and women who are facing the same struggles she did.
When Howard was just a teen, she was the victim of domestic abuse, had three children of her own, and just $1.75 to her name, according to CBS News. The youth eventually got the courage to leave her “drug-infested” household in Tampa Florida, to see if she could make it on her own.
CHECK OUT: Tattoo Parlor Covers Up Racist Tattoos Free of Charge
Decades later, Howard was finally able to open her own business, and aptly named it the Giving Hands Hair Salon.
As a means of uplifting other girls living in poverty around Tampa, the 62-year-old provides free services one day a month. Almost 300 women and girls from transitional housing and homeless shelters have benefited from Howard’s free styling.
“I believe everything we go through we go through for purpose. I truly believe that nothing happens by coincidence,” Howard told CBS News. “I would encourage other broken women, business owners — all of us have a story and I believe that we should use what we’ve been through to help others.”
Cut Out Negativity: Click To Share The News With Your Friends (Photo by Giving Hands Hair Salon)