Things have come full circle for Joy Hankins.

The schoolteacher turned business owner has been able to help Iowa kids outside of the classroom.

Hankins started her hair care product line, The Joy of Curls, back in May 2020.

She has adult products and some for kids called Pumpkin Baby, the money from those sales goes toward helping children in the foster system.

"A portion of the Pumpkin Baby proceeds goes directly to foster parents in Iowa," Hankins said.

Hankins, who is a foster parent herself, says the decision to have some of her proceeds go toward this cause was a no-brainer. She says when she went through the training to be a foster parent, she felt like she was called on to step up.

"We really need more Black families in foster care and my family represented the only black family in the room so I really felt like she was speaking to me," she said.

She says now there's a whole network of parents she works with to ensure the foster child's hair needs are met.

"We all kind of connected and I was able to build a relationship here with them and help them with the kids in their care now with just culture and textured hair styling and all of that," Hankins said.

Looking ahead to the future, Hankins plans to expand her hair care line with more products and accessories. She never thought she would take the leap out of education into a world she knew nothing about — but she's so happy she did.

"I would just tell anyone, whatever it is you find yourself doing that truly brings you joy, you can absolutely do that and make a life for yourself," Hankins said. "And it's amazing to be here at this point in my life doing what I was called to do."

For more information, you can visit Hankins' Facebook page at The Joy Of Curls Beauty or you can check her out at the Des Moines Farmer's Market when it restarts.