Vanessa Perez says she thought the plug was pulled on her future the Thursday before Memorial Day.
Sheâd worked as a hair stylist for 10 years, but when state health orders forced her employer to shut down, Perezâs world was altered in almost every way.
The only thing to survive, she says, was her determination to persevere.
âI was devastated when they let me go,â she recalls.
Later in the year, with restrictions eased a bit, Perez made a huge wager on herself. She opened Forma Salon on Second Street on Aug. 18. The reasons â and the effect â had everything to do with the pandemic, and in some ways, nothing to do with the pandemic.