If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “It’s too late to change careers,” Damia Rosado Gary has a story to tell you.
After 20 years spent working as a hairdresser, Damia is now enrolled at South Piedmont and planning a career in education. She’s balancing her coursework with a job at a local school and the responsibilities of raising two children.
She is proof that anyone – even those who think it’s too late – can start over in life.
“If you’re even considering going back to school, that’s your answer,” Damia said. “It’s not like you have to commit to an everyday situation. Education nowadays is designed for what our world is. You can go to school online, at night, on the weekends. Our minds need to be challenged. You should try.”
Born and raised in Connecticut, Damia graduated from high school and, as far as she was concerned, was done with school forever.
“I am really hyper. I didn’t want to sit in a classroom. I became a licensed cosmetologist and a hairdresser,” she said.
After several unsuccessful attempts to start a family, Damia set aside her dream of motherhood and went into business for herself. But the doors of Work of Art Salon LLC had only been open for two weeks when she found out that – finally – she was pregnant.
Nine months later, her daughter came into the world. Then just over a year later, she welcomed a son.
“I did my son’s gender reveal at my daughter’s first birthday. I give God all the glory,” she said.
She still cut hair, but she closed her salon. Her babies became her top priority.
During those first few years of motherhood, she and her husband relocated their family to Matthews, in pursuit of warmer weather and a sense of community they lacked in Connecticut.
Early on in his childhood, her son started showing signs of developmental delays. At 5, he was diagnosed with autism.
“That’s when things really started to change for me. I got really into development and early childhood education and how the brain develops. I read so many books. I took a big plunge into it all,” she said.
Her experiences with raising a child diagnosed with autism inspired her to make a career change. She is now pursuing a degree in Early Childhood Education at South Piedmont while also working as an exceptional student education assistant at Union Preparatory Academy. Eventually, she wants to become a classroom teacher or perhaps open a childcare center. She’s not entirely sure what her next chapter will be, but she knows it will be focused on supporting children who have special needs – and their parents.
“The hardest part for me so far about going back to school has been the technology – I’m not the techiest person – and just balancing everything. But I’ve learned so much already. I’m expanding my growth and knowledge, and I’m excited to keep going,” she said.
“If I can do it, you can too.”