With These Hands: A Country Girl Came to Town

With These Hands is an inspiring story of the life of Selena, who, as a young girl in 1941, arrived in the big windy City of Chicago on a bus from Memphis, Tennessee by way of Clarksdale, Mississippi. She carried all that she owned in her two hands; her new baby girl in one arm, her suitcase and handmade quilt was in her other arm. Away from her mother, family and everything considered home, for the first time in her young life, Selena had no idea what the future held for her...but God knew.

As a young newlywed, new mother in a new town, she rose from cooking all of her meals in her one speckled pan to becoming a successful businesswoman who owned multiple Beauty and Hair Weev salons in Chicago and Detroit. Selena, who began as a "kitchen beautician," went from charging fifty cents a head in her kitchen to charging hundreds, and then thousands per head, in her professional salons. Teaching and sharing her craft of Hair Weev Technology with cosmetologists all over the world exposed Selena's perseverance, which has always been a part of Selena's nature way back then, and has served as an inspiration to many others ever since.

"Selena was the baddest chick to ever pick up a curling iron, but she was a legend when I started in the business."

Ernest Daurham, D'orum Products

"I lived in the Chatham neighborhood as a teenager. Miss Selena's shop on 83rd street was a hub for business in the community, and I remember thinking of her as a modern day "Madame CJ Walker".

Senator Carol Mosley Braun

"Oh, I have many memories about Selena's; it was across the street from the Tivoli (Theatre). I had many girlfriends who had their hair done at Selena's House of Beauty! Back in the day, black beauticians had reputations akin to singers and boxers today and that's why you went to their shops. Some of these beauticians had really big names and were crowded because of their name and the quality of their work. Selena's, of course, was rated among the best!"

Herb Kent V103 (Legendary Chicago DJ)