LA’CHAUNCEY’S TRANSFORMATION: How COVID-19 Helped This Black-Owned Business

Rabria Moore/Journalism Student

Black-owned businesses, like many others, have suffered due to COVID-19. Chauncey Pegues, owner of LA’CHAUNCEY’S TRANSFORMATION, didn’t let the pandemic stop her. 

Pegues’ story is a bit of a twist on the standard pandemic tale. She launched her new business even after witnessing the devastating effects of COVID-19. 

“(The lockdown during the pandemic) did inspire me to go ahead and start working on my salon during COVID, because we were shut down and couldn’t do anything,” Pegues said. 

Pegues was initially nervous and scared that potential clients wouldn’t want to come to her salon because of the possible threat from the virus. However, her business has experienced the exact opposite.   

“Oh my God, it’s so successful. I am booming,” she said.

Pegues said that, as a hairstylist, she has been trained on how to properly sanitize her salon to ensure the safety of her clients, so cleaning during COVID wasn’t a problem for her. She also only allows one client in the salon at a time to make sure that clients aren’t interacting and potentially spreading the virus. 

Sitting in Pegues’ chair is becoming more and more difficult for her clients, but they are very grateful that she’s in business. 

“She makes me feel free,” Reva Curry, one of Pegues’ clients, said. “Coming in, trying something new. This was something new for me.” 

Curry said that the customer service provided by Pegues is one of her favorite things about the salon. 

“First time I responded to her, she replied fast, so it was easy,” Curry said. 

Pegues said that hair has always been her passion, calling it her gift from God. 

“I’ve known what I wanted to do since I was a little girl,” she said. “I knew I wanted to own my own salon, and it’s paying off for me big time.” 

Pegues owns one of more than 400 Black businesses in Oxford.