{"id":42070,"date":"2020-03-25T12:41:36","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T17:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/?post_type=stories&#038;p=42070"},"modified":"2026-03-27T16:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:24:26","slug":"fusion-beauty-academy","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/es\/client-stories\/fusion-beauty-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Fusion Beauty Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201c[A4CB] ha sido un factor importante en el crecimiento.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>LeAnne Drake<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>At age nine, LeAnn Drake was braiding her own hair. By seventh grade, she was braiding for friends; by ninth, she had clientele. She worked after school and on the weekends, on her front porch in Joliet, at her grandmother\u2019s or at her cousins\u2019 houses. \u201cBy the time I got into my adult life,\u201d says Drake, \u201cI was the go-to braider in my community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There weren\u2019t braiding-specific licenses in 2009, so Drake attended cosmetology school, first to obtain a license and then to pursue a teaching degree. She continued to hone her braiding knowledge through salon work and trade shows until, in 2016 she opened her own brick and mortar: Luv\u2019le Style Salon. Over the past decade, she hasn\u2019t slowed down. After the salon, she created a haircare line and in 2023 she realized a long-held dream: opening her own braiding school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fusion Beauty Academy has been thriving thanks in part to support from Allies for Community Business (A4CB). A4CB\u2019s Northern Illinois Community Ventures loan program offers capital to entrepreneurs like Drake in Joliet, Rockford and South Suburban Cook County to sustain, expand or start their businesses.<strong> <\/strong>Nicor Illinois Community Investment (NICI) loans the money to A4CB, which enables this program to exist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LeAnne-teaching_2.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41940\" srcset=\"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LeAnne-teaching_2.webp 1000w, https:\/\/a4cb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LeAnne-teaching_2-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/a4cb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LeAnne-teaching_2-768x512.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The loan through A4CB helped Drake buy equipment and inventory and fund a marketing budget, which she\u2019d never had before: \u201cIt\u2019s been an important factor in growing.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, the school has expanded to include cosmetology and barbering and roughly 30 students have graduated with licensure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSeeing the students evolve from uncertain learners into competent, licensed professionals is deeply fulfilling,\u201d Drake says. \u201cIt reminds me of what I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drake sees her impact on Joliet as one of twofold empowerment: \u201cMy advocacy for natural hair and braiding, I feel like it shifts the perceptions in the beauty industry,\u201d she says. \u201cThese skills deserve structured and respected training.\u201d And economically, \u201cMy program expands the community because it provides business education, a pathway to entrepreneurship.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those pathways aren\u2019t just working behind a chair, Drake says, \u201cYou can go into sales; you can go into creating a product line; you can work on film and TV.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, Drake hopes to open a second salon to offer a professional home for graduates trying to build a client base before striking out on their own. She also has plans to expand programming at the school, take her product line nationally, and write an e-book. It will be a busy five years. \u201cI don\u2019t feel success yet,\u201d says Drake, \u201cbecause I\u2019m not finished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41939,"template":"","services":[23],"industries":[],"class_list":["post-42070","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","services-prestamos"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fusion Beauty Academy &#8226; Allies for Community Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/es\/client-stories\/fusion-beauty-academy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fusion Beauty Academy &#8226; Allies for Community Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201c[A4CB] ha sido un factor importante en el crecimiento.\u201d LeAnne Drake At age nine, LeAnn Drake was braiding her own&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/es\/client-stories\/fusion-beauty-academy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Allies for Community Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Allies4CB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-27T21:24:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LeAnne-teaching_1-e1765301402951.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"783\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Allies4CB\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/es\/client-stories\/fusion-beauty-academy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/a4cb.org\/es\/client-stories\/fusion-beauty-academy\/\",\"name\":\"Fusion Beauty Academy &#8226; 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