Not just skin deep
Maggie Goldhammer’s life has not been a perfect one, but it has been eventful. Her college journey has led her to study at two Nebraska universities and a junior college in Iowa before finally settling down at Grand View University for four years of school.
Coming from a small town, Goldhammer never really knew her calling and didn’t have a clue on what her future career would be.
When she heard several of her fellow high school senior classmates talk about majoring in nursing at the University
of Nebraska – Omaha, Goldhammer felt she wanted to help people as well. But nursing wasn’t what she thought it was going to be. After Goldhammer’s first year of classes, she realized she no longer wanted to be a nurse.
Goldhammer applies an intricate henna design on a customer.
“I felt like I was very bored with it because it was nothing creative,” Goldhammer said. “I’ve always been a creative person.”
It wasn’t until tragedy struck when her brother, Will, died that Goldhammer’s life started finding direction. Goldhammer and her brother had a very close relationship because they were only three years apart in age. While alive, Will was
a member of Americore and worked as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. He was a person Goldhammer looked up to. In honor of his work with Habitat, the Goldhammer family decided to use the memorial money they received to create the William J. Goldhammer Habitat for Humanity Scholarship. The scholarship goes to those who have purchased homes from the organization.
When Will died, Goldhammer became scared of having someone place his or her life in her hands.
“After my brother died, (nursing) kind of freaked me out,” Goldhammer said. “I was responsible for someone’s life.”
Since Goldhammer had many credits already under her belt, she continued nursing at the University of Nebraska so she could be closer to her parents, who still lived in Hebron, Nebraska.
Over spring break during her freshman year, Goldhammer travelled to Seattle with a few of her friends.
While they were there, they decided to go get henna tattoos, which is non-permanent body art that dyes the skin with a powder made from a henna plant.
When she returned home to Hebron for a few weeks of the summer, Goldhammer grew bored because Hebron is such a small town. She decided that she needed a way to pass the time, so she ordered henna supplies online and began practicing.
Henna quickly became a hobby that Goldhammer loved.
“I started to doodle on myself, and I started to get better at it,” Goldhammer said.
Since henna tattoos are a body art, she began practicing on herself. She practiced on her arms as much as possible, and her mother even let her use her arms as a blank canvas.
Goldhammer transferred to DMACC that summer in order to take more nursing classes before coming to Grand View in the fall. When she finally came to Grand View for school, after those few weeks of practicing henna, people began to take notice of the henna tattoos she put on herself.
“When people asked me where I got (my henna), I started doing it for money,” she said.
After a few weeks, she dropped her nursing major and remained undeclared for the rest of the semester.
One day, when Goldhammer was walking through the art building at Grand View, she came across a poster someone had made in a graphic design class. Goldhammer was impressed by it and realized that design was a way for her to use her naturally creative talents. After that, she called her mom and told her she was going to be a graphic designer.
Goldhammer’s aftermath of her intricate designs on a client.
Goldhammer quickly learned that henna helps her in her graphic design. Now, she loves to incorporate henna designs into her graphics.
In both graphic design and henna, Goldhammer takes her projects piece by piece. She looks at photos and designs in chunks and tries to see
the different pieces that make up the image. She lets her shapes build off one another.
After her third year of school, Goldhammer decided to go to Mexico for a vacation. Her family had a friend that continually extended an invitation to come visit him in Mexico.
“I always wanted to speak Spanish and live in a Spanish-speaking country,” Goldhammer said.
Although Goldhammer had thought about visiting numerous times, she
was still nervous and had trouble deciding to go. A fortune cookie was the determining factor in deciding to go to Mexico. While eating Chinese food one night, Goldhammer opened her cookie and the message inside read, “Take that chance you’ve been considering.”
That was the final push she needed to buy her ticket the same night.
While in Mexico, Goldhammer stayed with the friend who lives in San Luis Potosi. The friend owns a montessori school, which is different from the school systems in the United States. In this setting, children get to choose the timeline for their learning. Over the span of the four months she was there, Goldhammer was able to teach the local children to speak English.
During her time in Mexico, Goldhammer was able to travel to several parts of the country, and she also learned to speak Spanish. When she returned from her summer in Mexico, Goldhammer decided to add a Spanish major to her degree.
In the time since her return
from Mexico, Goldhammer has been volunteering through a church group and teaching English to those who don’t speak the language in Des Moines. Goldhammer decided to do this because of how grateful she was for those in Mexico who taught her the language or translated for her.
While on a trip to Costa Rica this past summer, Goldhammer decided she wanted to get more serious about making her hobby a business. She made a professional website, hennabymaggie.com, which showcases some of her work. It is a place for people to learn more about henna as well as book appointments with Goldhammer.
Goldhammer plans to continue her business as long as she can. She currently does designs at the Valley Junction Farmers Market, where she has had success each season.
“In the spring and summer, I’m always busy,” Goldhammer said.
After graduation, she wants to focus on henna by getting into more farmers markets, but she also wants to use her Spanish degree. Her ultimate goal with markets is to have a spot in the Des Moines Farmers Market downtown.
There, she would do similar work to what she does now, but it would be less detailed due to time constraints. At the market, henna usually takes 15 to 20 minutes so she can do several appointments each hour. If someone wants something bigger or more intricate than a simple design, the henna takes longer.
Goldhammer does not let her fears get in the way of taking on difficult designs. Even if it is something she has never done, she will challenge herself by saying yes.
“I always say ‘OK’ because I feel like I can do it,” Goldhammer said.
She’s never had an unhappy customer, but if she ever did, she knows that she can always wipe it off, and it won’t leave a permanent stain.
Goldhammer has taken whatever life has offered and run with it. Although her life hasn’t been what she expected, she has used her passions to create a future and dream about new possibilities.
“I don’t want to look back on my death bed and wonder, Why did I not do that?” Goldhammer said. “It’s good to be scared. It’s good to be uncomfortable. That’s where you learn the most things.”
Because of all of her travel experiences, she would love to travel and do henna. In the fall, she wants to go back to Mexico and live in Playa del Carmen to do henna and teach English.
“I want to travel a lot. I want to do things,” Goldhammer said. “I’m never going to starve, so nothing really worries me.”
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