
Tuscaloosa Entrepreneur Cuts Ribbon on New Charm Academy Cosmetology School
A huge crowd gathered on Tuscaloosa's Greensboro Avenue Wednesday to celebrate the ribbon-cutting at the Charm Academy, a new cosmetology school from an entrepreneur who is no stranger to the community.
The new school is another venture from Erica Grant, who already runs the Charm District on Hackberry Lane and represents District 5 on the Tuscaloosa City Schools Board of Education. She and her husband DJ also own and run the hugely popular Catch A Taste restaurants and food truck.

The school will teach students cosmetology and barbering, help them achieve instructor certification and teach them about natural hair and how to treat and style it across an eight-week course Erica Grant has put together based on her own 22 years of experience.
Those classes are expected to begin in March.
The support the Grants have earned was on full display Wednesday, with more than a hundred people including Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, Council President Kip Tyner, Superintendent Mike Daria and many others there to wish them well.
"I think today speaks to the power of personality - Erica Grant does not know how to fail. Erica and DJ Grant see a problem and find a solution and it is an honor and privilege for all of us in our own way to be on this journey with you," Maddox said. "On behalf of this city, thank you for the risks you take, thank you for the vision that you have and thank you for what you're going to do to prepare the next generation to go out, make a living, save a little bit for their future and build a better community."
DJ Grant, who co-owns the couples' restaurants and food trucks, said beauty has always been Erica's passion and although his role in the Charm Academy has been more in the background, he is in full support of her new venture.
"What better time than now? We went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, but there's no need to wait. What better time than now?" DJ Grant said. "Today is that now. Congratulations to you Erica, God is going to bless this school - you won't have room enough to receive the blessings that are going to come."
Grant herself took the mic after several others spoke and spent a heartfelt half-hour thanking everyone involved with getting the Charm Academy off the ground, from DJ and her "Fab Five" children to her "girl group" and the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, her longtime clients and her friends at the TCS Central Office.
"This has definitely been a struggle because I'll tell everybody, there have been no grants, no loans or lending, all we have had is chicken and hair - that's it," she said. "And love, and good credit! And so I appreciate anyone who's come out to do something for us and support us - I just can't thank people enough."
She said Wednesday was a special day for the ribbon-cutting as January 15th is both Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and Founders Day for AKA, the first US collegiate Greek organization established by and for Black women.
Learn more about Erica Grant's Charm Academy here, and stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread for more coverage of restaurant and retail development in our community.
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