At twenty, I quit my salaried factory job to become a hairstylist.

I went straight to the plant manager and asked, “How far can I rise here?”
He replied, “You’re a high school graduate, right? High school grads don’t get promoted—that’s just how it is.”

Hearing that, I knew I didn’t want a life where the ceiling was already visible at twenty.

Around the same time, I cut a friend’s hair for fun and felt an instant click—this is it—so I changed careers.

What drew me to hairstyling was the sense that there’s no fixed ceiling.
As long as I keep my drive, I can keep moving up.

In practice, I’ve taken step after step—moving to Tokyo, then to the United States—and I feel I’ve climbed to a pretty high place.

But I still can’t see the ceiling.

I’ll keep going, aiming for a future where the sky’s the limit.

— Aki