Rakeem Jones: Fayetteville businesswoman finds her passion in health and wellness
In a recent Facebook post, Flip Flop Sauce creator and founder Carl Pringle said: “Once you find your IT, build and protect your IT, IT is unlimited.”
However, sometimes your IT finds you. Pringle is a community advocate known for feeding the community through his “Lunch On Us” initiative. Through those servings, he created Flip Flop Sauce. With determination and consistency, he was able to get his sauce into major food retailers like Food Lion.
Pringle’s passion for serving the community helped him discover his IT. Many millennial entrepreneurs erected their business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among that number was 26-year-old Fayetteville native Quanetta King.
Upon graduating from E.E. Smith High School, King wanted to be like actress Kerry Washington’s character Olivia Pope from the hit TV show, “Scandal.” She left Fayetteville for Charlotte to enroll at Johnson C. Smith University in pursuit of her degree in political science.
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While enrolled, King was afforded the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill through an initiative for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She worked as a social media analyst, whose responsibilities included publicizing information from the United States Capitol.
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She worked alongside Republicans and Democrats and gained first-hand knowledge of how the nation is run. However, the job was not fulfilling.
She returned home to Fayetteville to teach social studies to 8th-graders. It was at this time, in 2020, she began her weight loss journey, employing holistic methods. She lost over 100 pounds and discovered her passion for health and wellness.
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King continued to teach full-time while she researched the health and wellness market. During her second year of teaching, she partnered with a spa owner from New Jersey named Rodreaka Sales, an esthetician at The Vanity Room Skin Studio.
The partnership led to the opening of Vanity Suites, a hub for those entering the beauty and wellness field to offer services.
King did not become complacent. She offered body contouring, or body sculpting, services. Body sculpting refers to non-surgical procedures that shape the body and tighten loose skin.
King admits it was a struggle working as a teacher and also owning a business. However, she never gave up and continued to research; eventually, she was introduced to colon hydrotherapy. Colon hydrotherapy is a cleansing method that utilizes eight gallons of water to flush out the colon.
She opened a second location in Eutaw Shopping Center after quitting her job. She poured into Vanity Esteem fulltime. The name, Vanity Esteem, is an ode to her maturation. This first-generation entrepreneur believes outward confidence must start from within.
Before graduating college, in the spring of 2016, King joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. One of the AKA’s five basic tenets is to be of “service to all mankind.” King is doing her part through education and the application of holistic methods that not only benefit her community but the entire community.
At her young age, she is one of the only minority colon hydrotherapists in the area. Though she has a political science degree, her true passion is health and wellness.
“Health and wellness are a priority, not an option," she says. “If you don’t take care of yourself, who is?”
Vanity Esteem is King’s way of being a service to mankind. The business is located at 803 Stamper Road, Suite W in the Eutaw Shopping Center. To find out more information and book services, log on to www.vanityesteem.com.
Salute to Quanetta King and every activist getting active. Peace.
Rakeem “Keem” Jones is a community advocate and father of three from the Shaw Road/Bonnie Doone area of Fayetteville. He can be reached at keemj45@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Jones: Fayetteville businesswoman finds her passion in health and wellness
