About The Authors
James Jenkins
It was during this period that James set his professional sights on becoming a platform artist, with a particular focus on the techniques and standards associated with the Paul Mitchell brand. That path, however, was not without serious interruption. A difficult divorce destabilized his personal life and brought his professional ambitions to a prolonged halt. The period of recovery that followed was slow and required sustained personal effort. Additional losses within his family, combined with the ongoing demands of child support obligations, compounded the difficulty of those years. Rather than yield to those pressures, James made a deliberate decision to step away from the hair industry temporarily, taking on whatever work was necessary to meet his responsibilities and rebuild his footing.
James eventually secured a position at FX Studios, one of Maryland’s most exclusive salons, an establishment whose atmosphere and facilities set it apart from nearly any comparable setting. He brought full dedication to that role, developing his craft in an environment that offered both inspiration and professional challenge. In time, however, serious personal difficulties, particularly significant strain within his marriage, began to affect his focus and performance. Despite his efforts to manage both, the pressures became unmanageable, and he ultimately parted ways with what had been, for him, an ideal position.
In the period that followed, James sought greater professional autonomy and began pursuing collaborative arrangements with a range of independent companies, each offering distinct possibilities for creative and professional growth. Those partnerships, though entered into with genuine ambition, proved short-lived, as fundamental differences in direction and long-term objectives brought each one to an early close. It was during this period of transition that James met his second wife. Together, they made the decision to relocate to the South, with the aim of establishing a new beginning. He found a position at a salon there with a strong focus on the Paul Mitchell methodology, and within that environment, his confidence gradually returned, his abilities re-emerged, and a period of real stability began to take shape.
