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Both when she was an accountant, and now as a barber — no less, the owner of her own barbershop.
She's never let it define her. She's only let it motivate her.
"I made it my business to learn how to cut all textures of hair," Dooley told Daily Voice in a phone call. "Asian clients. Latino. Caucasian. Black. Any hair that sits in my chair."
This summer, Dooley opened her own barbershop, Monica's Shear Images, located in a studio at the Salon Lofts — Waycroft Ballston, in Arlington. And she's looking forward to all the cuts to come.
Dooley began working in accounting in her junior year at West Potomac High School in the 1980s. Once she graduated, she landed a job at an accounting firm. After a while, though, she grew tired of sitting behind a desk.
In 2007, she got her cosmetology license.
"I've always done hair," she said, "but never thought I'd be doing it as my bread and butter."
Dooley started out doing women's hair at salons across Virginia, but soon discovered her passion for short hair.
It required attention to detail. She liked that.
"People think there's nothing to doing short hair," Dooley said. "One wrong snap and you have to reshape everything."
And so, Dooley went to a barber college in Woodbridge, and — while she still holds a cosmetology license — she's been barbering ever since.
"When I first started in men's hair, it was hard," Dooley said. "Men had this perception, they didn’t want a woman cutting their hair. But then there were some men who were fascinated that I’m a female barber. It can go either way."
She started out in Michael Craig Men's Grooming, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Capitol Hill, in 2011. In 2013, she left to work at the Wise Owl Club, also in DC. In 2015, she was the one managing the place.
Last year, when she found out that Wise Owl Club wouldn't be renewing their lease, she took a leap of faith and signed a lease at the Salon Lofts.
Dooley allowed herself a two-week break after Wise Owl Club closed last May, and opened Monica's Shear Images on June 6.
These days, Dooley doesn't feel she has anything to prove.
"I've earned my respect," she said.
"I concentrate on my work and try to be the best I can behind the chair. I don’t want any client to be unhappy. My job is to make you feel good. When I see the smile on a client's face after I finish that cut, that’s what makes me get up every morning and go to work and do this."
As for accounting? She still does it. Only, now it's for her own business.
Monica's Shear Images, Salon Lofts — Waycroft Ballston, 4500 Wilson Blvd., Loft #6, Arlington.
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