Alante Johnson balances both going to school and owning a business on campus.

Johnson, a junior communication studies major, runs A-List, a salon in Room 1705 of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Johnson went to a vocational high school, where for three years she studied to be a hairdresser.

“For the first year of high school, the students did not study their major, so I only studied my hair dressing major for three years of high school,” Johnson said.

“I got my hair dresser license before I graduated high school, before prom.”

Johnson said the stylist in 2013 did not continue their job as the owner of the salon, so the owners of the Union called her and offered her a contract.

Johnson said when she originally opened up the shop, she took appointments between her classes, but it did not work too well.

“Working in the breaks between my classes did not work well because some of the people I was working on spilled over into my class time,” Johnson said.

Now she said she does not start her work hours until she is completely done with her classes that day.

“I get my homework done at night after I get back from the salon,” Johnson said. “Or while I wait for the next person to come, I will be working on some schoolwork and if there are no appointments for the day, I close early and do my schoolwork then.”

Johnson said she has become an entrepreneurship minor after owning the salon and she has learned a lot since working at the salon.

“I’m training myself with money management and I have had some people to help me with some now and again,” she said. “The most important thing I have and I am currently learning is it has taught me professional development with maintaining a life and a business at the same time.”

She said once she is done with school, she hopes to open her own salon chain, but she is unsure if she will keep the same name her current salon has.

Johnson said her salon at Eastern is not just for women of color, even though that is who is advertised.

“I don’t just service black people. I want more people to come in and experience the salon for themselves,” she said.

She said it feels good to be her own boss.

“When people see me, they say they are proud of me,” Johnson said. “They are proud that I am doing what I actually want to do.”

Students can make appointments on Johnson’s website, styleseat.com/alantejohnson.

Stephanie White can be reached at 581-2812 or at sewhite2@eiu.edu.