It seems like only yesterday that I arrived in the United States, fresh-faced, nervous, and excited—but without two words of English. Fortunately, I had the number of a friend from Paris named Ricardo Gomez who had come to the D.C. area a year earlier. Ricardo was one of those super-suave hairdressers who'd landed in America and become an instant sensation with the D.C. crowd. Ricardo invited me to the Georgetown Salon where he worked. I was in awe. I looked around at the Ame

This is a photo of my mom and me in Paris in 1978. She's barely 21 here, and I'm about four. When I look at this photo, I can't believe how strong she must have been back then. At the time, she was just starting her career in a tiny Paris salon. She worked long hours, then came home and played with me until we both passed out from exhaustion. Unfortunately for her, I didn't stay this adorable. By the time I became a wayward teenager, my mother owned her own business, Dominiqu