Living in Legacy

When you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, most say they want to follow in the footsteps of a parent or an idol. But Dena Stanley knew from a young age that she wanted to carve her own path.

Born in Oklahoma City and now a resident of Fort Worth, she is described by her mother, Sharon Cole, as a “stick of dynamite.” After surviving childhood abandonment, family abuse, and motherhood at 16, Stanley decided to take her future into her own hands. She went back to school, earned her GED, and obtained an associate’s degree in medical billing and coding.

Stanley moved to Dallas in 2013 and met a trucker whom she says “wasted the type of money that would change” her life. Although she had never pictured herself driving a truck, the earning potential outweighed any fears she had. Stepping into a domain where she would be one of very few women operators was something that Stanley saw as an opportunity, not an obstacle. Her unwavering faith and commitment to self-improvement had carried her through some of the darkest periods of her life, and she would use those same qualities to excel where others settled. She quickly rose in the ranks and was earning the type of income she had always envisioned. The most important accomplishment was a personal one: meeting the love of her life, Al, whom she credits as her biggest support. The pair would share their lives on the road together, earning the team drivers of the year award in 2023, the same year they married.

After 10 years of sacrificing and saving, she now had the resources and support she needed to pursue her dreams. She left trucking for good. Before the year was out, the couple would open A&D Salon Suites, a multi-suite salon studio at 807 Washington Dr. in Arlington.

As a child, Stanley told her mother, “I’m going to have my own business one day and make a lot of money,” and after nearly half a century of intentional effort, she finally held the keys to her beauty empire in the palm of her hand.

Stanley aims to create spaces where clients feel comfortable while being serviced but also comfortable in themselves. She and her mother both live with Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia (CCCA), a form of hair loss that primarily affects Black women in middle age. Known for her beautiful hair her entire life, once Stanley began to embrace her new self and cut her hair completely off, she said her baldness became her superpower. She was determined to be confident in her truest form, and she contributes this permanent shift to her faith, healing the traumas of her childhood, and the unwavering love of her husband. She is a licensed hair-loss specialist, and her goal is to make sure everyone who comes to her feels loved, appreciated, and, most importantly, confident to be themselves.

Stanley is a business owner who leads by example, and she has created an environment that daughter Mashyla Burge says “feels more like an extension of our family than a place where we work.” Mashyla occupies the main suite, and next door to her is 29-year-old Keanna Jones, who also excels as a woman in a male-dominated field as a barber. Watching Stanley run the business smoothly, with grace and confidence, has inspired both women to own their own suites in the future.

Most weekends, Stanley is doing a lot, making sure that everything runs smoothly in the suites while simultaneously working outside for her husband’s business, Al’s Country Smoked BBQ. Before making a single sale, she takes the stylists’ orders and personally delivers their plates, another example of the community she has built. Stanley performs these tasks with an energetic and deliberate pace but never at the cost of her welcoming smile and warm countenance that is tangible when you are with her.

When asked what success meant to her, her answer was simple: “Building a community and leaving a legacy. I can’t teach confidence if I’m not showing it.”

Stanley is expanding her community with a podcast titled Healing on Purpose, in which she invites guests to share their own personal stories of triumph over adversity. Dena Stanley isn’t just building a legacy. She is living it.