Website design By BotEap.comI rushed back to work as soon as my treatment was over. Everything was the same, but I was different. My colleagues were excited about the minutiae of marketing materials, and I was like, “Wow, that used to be me.” I felt that I could make a bigger contribution, but I wasn’t sure how.

Website design By BotEap.comPeople often asked me to talk to their family or friends who had cancer. One of the first questions people asked was, “What’s wrong with my hair?” I had worried about that, too, and wondered if it made me shallow and vain. But when you’re healthy, hair is just hair. When you’re sick, it’s a completely different thing. It is the moment when you make a very private fight public.

Website design By BotEap.comI warned people about buying wigs by sharing my own terrible experiences. The vendors rushed in, tried to pressure me and didn’t want me to bring a friend for advice. I started my company so others wouldn’t have to go through it.

Website design By BotEap.comI got into the wig business. I met with wholesalers, retailers, and stylists in the Brooklyn Wig District and spoke to women who wore wigs. I hired four part-time stylists, each of whom had a connection to someone with cancer. They bring samples of wigs to people’s homes and style them however the customer likes. My prices, between $50 and $5,000 for a wig, depending on the hair, are comparable to wig shops because I have no overhead.

Website design By BotEap.comMy three oncologists posted my brochures in their offices on December 17, 2003. I got my first client on the 23rd. I had helped 100 clients when my business started full-time in October 2004. I am now establishing agreements with other women to expand to a handful of states.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is not the kind of business people write the name of in case they ever need it. You won’t know about the company until you need it. I trust word of mouth from doctors and service providers. I knew I had arrived this November when my company was added to Oxford Health Plan’s preferred provider list.

Website design By BotEap.comI soon began receiving calls that were outside of my geographic area (women in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and West Virginia), which led to a new service called Look Just Like You. Women send us pre-chemo photos with their hair styled to their liking and we recreate that style and color in a wig.

Part of my philosophy is that any franchise should give back to the medical community. All of our business expenses are charged to credit cards that return 2% of the case back to St. Jude’s Hospital for Cancer Research. I also intend that one day we can contribute to cancer research trials.

Website design By BotEap.comMy business is all about service. I will not accept a franchisee who cannot treat customers with the same level of compassion and care that we provide in our existing territories. That’s a lot of work on our part: extensively interviewing potential franchisees and their character references and employment references. We have to make sure they’re excited about the impact they can have on others, not just the business.

Website design By BotEap.comFrankly, by far the most important thing is to raise awareness, to let people know that this type of service exists. I often say that a client won’t hear from us until he has to. You don’t file away the Girl on the Go name so you’ll have it one day in case you need it.

Website design By BotEap.comMany of our clients find us online and some find us on the American Cancer website – the New York City chapter includes us. When people find out about us, they say they feel very lucky to have discovered it. I wish I had the funds to do advertising that would reduce the role luck plays in finding us.

Website design By BotEap.comSheril Cohen Story

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