Conversations with Cait Piska

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cait Piska.

Hi Cait, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I’m Cait, I’m a high-energy hairdresser from Albany, NY. I’ve been an artist in some form or another for my entire life. Naturally, I attended art school and got my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, fresh out of high school full of dreams and expectations to graduate as a full-time professional artist.

While there I made several bodies of work about who people are and how loving them made me feel. I tossed kerosene into the flames of everyone I loved and captured it in color film, often recreating those feelings into paintings.

I’ve worked in the restaurant industry since I was 16, loving the social interaction and fast-paced environment, and continued to do so throughout my studies. After graduating I moved back to Albany and worked in a dark room processing color film, a print shop (making books, greeting cards, photo editing), and I volunteered at a local photography library. I had landed what I thought were my “dream jobs” and quickly realized how isolating office work is. While I do love the process of creating, I didn’t feel satisfied with how my career had turned out. Producing is not the same as creating. In Albany, I met very few people who could say they had succeeded in following their dreams and I knew I had to leave.

I sold and gave away everything I couldn’t carry by myself, packed up a UHaul trailer hitched to my Corolla and moved to Denver in August of 2020 with my cat Calvin. After much time isolated in quarantine, I decided it was time to move away on the pursuit of being myself, even if I’d never been to Denver. I had been making and selling massive amounts of tie-dye on Etsy and loved the excitement of people including art I made in their wardrobe. It was a feeling that I hadn’t felt since art school but I knew it wasn’t sustainable as a career. I started in the restaurant industry again in Denver to navigate the financial aftermath of quarantine and started working at a locally-owned print shop in the Santa Fe Art District. I quickly realized that I was still not doing work that satisfied my insatiable desire to celebrate the light inside of everyone, repeating the pattern that had disappointed me in the first place.

The night before my 27th birthday, in July 2021, I booked a round-trip one-day plane ticket to Santa Ana airport. The next morning I flew to Cali, ubered to the beach alone, set up my stuff, and hit me like a brick that I didn’t feel like I had any reason to celebrate. I had moved to Denver and still didn’t have any prospects for a career that gave me the opportunity to love anybody. I started researching and applied to hair school on the flight home that night.

I’ve been doing hair ever since and I have no doubt I am in the industry I am supposed to be in. I have met countless people in Denver who not only followed their dreams but succeeded at it. I learned that those people will always encourage you to believe in yourself and celebrate all of your excitement and accomplishments, and it’s my turn to be one of them. I’m a hairdresser because yes, I love to create, but truthfully I have a calling to show people ways they can love themselves. I truly believe the way we present ourselves in this world is important for our self-esteem. A little encouragement can go a long way and a haircut, fresh color, or new style can be a huge catalyst for somebody feeling good in their skin and spreading the love. It is so important to me that everyone has someone in their life who supports them, and I aim to be that person for as many clients as possible.

It is my dream to have my books full of clients who feel safe, seen and heard in my chair. To me, there is no joy like making someone see themselves the way I do. I not only get to hype everyone up, encourage them to believe, and feel like a Queen but I get to help them decorate their life with that same joy through hair. Arrow Beauty Denver is run by stylists who have been doing hair for 10-20 years and the reason they’ve had clients since the beginning is exactly that. I’m delighted to be a part of the team and have a chair where I get to do the same.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I had a friend of mine told me it would be easy to go back to school, for my cosmetology license, and work full-time at the same time. I called her a few months in to ask her why she said that and she told me, “I knew you wouldn’t even apply if I told you the truth.”

I grew up a big sister with a single mother who worked full-time and didn’t have much help. There is a lot of responsibility and a lot of bumps in learning how to navigate the world without precedent.

I think the biggest struggle was keeping the bigger picture in mind, playing the long game, and trusting yourself. I believe you’re always in the right place, even when it feels like you aren’t, and that there will forever be lessons to learn.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a fully licensed cosmetologist doing hair and being the best hype woman I can be at Arrow Beauty Denver on South Broadway.

My specialty is shags, mullets, and disconnected edgy and textured hairstyles for my punk rock peers. I’ve been a die-hard elder emo since 2006 and my love of the hardcore scene shines bright through my work. That being said I also find great joy in creating mega blondes, creating break-up hair, and sculpting looks for my wavy and curly clients.

What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future are to stay in Denver. I plan to continue my education, pack my books full of classes to keep learning and meet as many people through my work as possible.

I’m just going to keep saying yes, opening every door, and see where it takes me. I’m really happy where my career is right now but I can’t wait to find out what it leads to.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.arrowbeautydenver.com/
• Instagram: @caitandcolorr

Image Credits
Tan Boe