Charlene Stepney still thinks a couple of French-speaking woman who got here to her salon years ago, brought along by a person who spoke on her behalf and watched her closely during her hair appointment.

“Because I was speaking French and it was weird, I started asking her questions,” Stepney said Thursday evening at her business, the Stepney Institute of Esthetics & Wellness in Homewood. “I asked her: Was that her husband? and she said, “No, it wasn't.” Then I asked her, was she safe? And she didn’t answer.”

Stepney said she believed the girl was a victim of human trafficking but didn't know easy methods to help her on the time.

“I still feel to this day that I let them down,” Stepney said.

Estheticians like Stepney are prepared to see clients from a big selection of backgrounds and life experiences, which might include survivors of abuse. In 2019, the law made it mandatory for all licensed beauty professionals to receive training on easy methods to handle difficult conversations and recognize signs of domestic violence and sexual assault.

On Thursday, representatives from the Crisis Center for South Suburbia offered training and perspectives during a session on the Stepney Institute. It was one in every of the primary of many offered to salon professionals of their schools and workplaces throughout October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. While the middle provides freed from charge Training Visiting salons and cosmetology schools like Stepney's all year long, Chris Alcorn Catena, director of support services for the Crisis Center, hopes to focus on resources for all cosmetologists within the South and Southwest suburbs who need to pursue further training requirement for license renewal.

“The reason it's so important to us is, quite honestly, because estheticians have a unique approach,” Alcorn Catena said. “A beautician is one of the few professionals who can touch you… My hairdresser will move the hair from the back of my neck. If there are bruises, they will see them.”

At Thursday's session on the Stepney Institute, the importance of addressing or responding to a client who’s showing signs of abuse was not lost on students. Crisis Center Community Education and Outreach Coordinator Tracy Curtis, herself a domestic violence survivor, delivered the training and emphasized the importance of providing support and resources for many who could also be in dangerous relationships.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 41% of girls and 26% of men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.

“It’s our responsibility to help,” Curtis said during Thursday’s practice. “It really is, because it affects us all. I was the one victim where my friend said, ‘I don’t want to get involved.’ So I don’t want to make someone feel so uncomfortable that they don’t get involved because they need the support.”

Curtis said anyone unsure about easy methods to support someone experiencing domestic violence can contact the crisis center's 24/7 hotline at 708-429-7233.

After the two-hour training, Stepney Institute student Tymeeka Fairfax said she was excited to learn the training was mandatory for licensing and thought she could apply what she learned outside of her work in the sweetness industry. She said that as a volunteer mentor to young girls, she recognized the importance of talking about healthy relationships early on and that the training provided latest skills for initiating and leading conversations about intimate relationships.

“Before I came to this class, I had a session with a group of girls who were talking about dating, and the conversations were all about 'I love him and he loves me,'” Fairfax said. “And I asked: What is love? Love language is one thing that should be transparent because if you know how to love someone, you can kind of take into account, okay, this is abuse and this is love – differentiate the two.”

But the legal requirement to train beauty professionals in domestic violence is met with some resistance. Stepney said since the mandate went into effect, she has questioned why the state has put the majority-female industry in charge of responding to a predominantly male-driven problem.

“I still often wonder why we were chosen,” Stepney said. “How much help are we really going to be?” The thing that never really gets talked about is how a lot of us find ourselves in abusive situations.”

Stepney said she hopes that in the longer term, estheticians shall be given more tools to guard themselves while continuing to support their clients and colleagues.

“As time goes on, hopefully the conversations will stay current and allow us to do more training,” she said.

Originally published: October 10, 2024 at 11:22 am

Misa Hylton, the mother of Sean “Diddy” Combs' eldest son Justin, has revealed that she has suffered her own “trauma”, which she says was “triggered” when she saw the disturbing video footage of her former singer Cassie Ventura shows that she was physically abused.

In an Instagram Post on TuesdayHylton, a stylist and designer who dated the rapper and music mogul within the early Nineties, also wrote that she was heartbroken for Ventura.

“It breaks my heart that Cassie has to relive the horror of her abuse and my heart goes out to her. I know exactly how she feels and through my compassion it has triggered my own trauma,” Hylton wrote on Instagram.

Hylton didn't elaborate on her own “trauma” or say that it involved Combs, who was just breaking into the music industry after they met. But she said she hopes the mogul gets help. “I pray that he really does his personal work and accepts it,” she said.

Hylton shared her message with two photos featuring all seven of Combs' children – including her 30-year-old son with Combs. She suggested that these children were in some way protected against the negativity that has long surrounded Combs, saying, “These young people were raised by women who want the best for them – we put God and education first and have always been united.” in our collective effort to support their dreams.”

Hylton wrote that the 4 moms of Combs' children supported one another as parents. Hylton also referenced two of the younger daughters in one in every of the photos, Combs' 18-year-old twins with model Kim Porter, who died of pneumonia in 2018. “Two of the youngest do not have their mother here and it was our duty to support them,” she wrote.

Hylton's message comes 4 days after CNN shared video surveillance footage showing an offended Combs, wrapped only in a towel, attacking Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. The video shows Combs chasing, kicking, dragging and hurling a glass vase at Ventura. The video corroborates parts of a civil lawsuit Ventura filed against Combs last 12 months that was settled in a single day, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The video will even surely increase the urgency of a federal sex trafficking investigation into Combs. said the Los Angeles Times. Although the video is unrelated to the federal investigation, it draws more attention to the continuing investigation. The LA Times has reported that Combs is the topic of a wide-ranging investigation into sex trafficking allegations, which led to a federal raid on his properties in Los Angeles and Miami in March. Combs was not accused of against the law and denied any wrongdoing.

While Hylton didn't mention Combs by name, her Instagram message might be seen as a rebuke to him, regardless that they appeared to be on good terms for much of the past few years. This was reported by People magazine that they remained close while raising Justin and Hylton attended Diddy's fiftieth birthday celebration in 2019.

However, in 2023, she appeared to air some grievances against her ex after Justin was arrested and charged with drunk driving, in line with People magazine. On her Instagram Story, Hylton wrote, “This is where the responsibility stops” for her after “years of sitting around pretending there's nothing wrong with you.”

Hylton seemed to be referring to Combs' lawsuit against alcohol company Diageo, which he sued for racial discrimination, saying they’d did not promote the Ciroc and DeLeon brands. Diddy signed a cope with Diageo to change into the face of Ciroc in 2007, although the marketing deal has since been cancelled. In 2013, they teamed up again to launch the DeLeon tequila brand.

“How do you go from being one of the biggest guys to making all your money from alcohol and suing the damn alcohol company,” Hylton wrote. “Sell something healthy that empowers people. I'm sick!!!!! NO MINES.”

But shortly after Hylton commented on Diddy's Instagram post, the 2 looked as if it would patch things up. He responded to her comment: “I love you, queen. Stay in the light.”