Local Stylist Shows Shear Creative Genius

Chelsea Dorich always knew she wanted to use her creativity to find her niche but things weren't always easy.

Dorich was faced with the same questions that often plague all people of the artistic disposition: How do you transform something you love into something you can make a career out of?

Growing up in Poway, and attending Abraxas High School, Dorich was always a free spirit. She was an avid painter, sculptor, and writer. To find her muse, she hitchkiked across the country, and studied art at museums and a number of exhibitions and galleries. Eventually, her journeys led her back home to Poway, where she claims an encounter with illness finally helped her reach the right focal point for her career.

"I looked high and low, and left no stone unturned." Dorich said. "But in the end, it was a brush with sickness that finally helped me to decide that hair styling was what I was going to do with my life."

But when she came back, she was homeless.

Despite the lack of shelter though, she attended the Bellus Academy Beauty School where she graduated with honors.

"During the two years that I was going to school, I lived out of my car. It wasn't easy," Dorich said. "I had to go through a lot, but in the end I graduated at the top of my class. It was worth it."

A unique and inventive artist, Dorich didn't always agree with her instructors. When it came to method and style, Dorich often held to her own convictions in order to stay true to herself.

 "One of my teachers and I actually got into a number of heated disputes during my time in school," Dorich said. "His idea of the best ways to go about the curriculum and mine were often very different."

Acknowledging her original way of learning, Dorich found solace when the school's creative director took her under his wing.

"He sort of pulled me aside and told me that if I wanted to do things my way, that was alright," Dorich said. "I was lucky to have the support I needed to overcome those kind of challenges."

An expert in color, cuts, styling, and all elements of tress mastery, Dorich has worked with salons throughout the San Diego area and continuess to thrive and grow in her craft.

When it comes to success, passion is a key requirement for achieving your goals — Dorich is proof of it.