I guess this will be a way to introduce myself and get myself out there. My name is Alisha, and I'm a 27-year-old licensed Esthetician, makeup loving, brow QUEEN mama.
I started my journey in the beauty industry in 2016, just 2 months after I gave birth to my sweet baby boy. I originally planned on becoming a licensed cosmetologist, but after about 3 months of school I had an insane realization---- I HATE DOING HAIR.
Lucky for me I had been there long enough to dip my hands into a little bit of esthetics, and what came next was quite literally, YEARS in the making.
-Fast forward to 2018-
I spent a couple of years deciding if the beauty industry was really for me. I knew it would be hard to break into the working world after school, but I never imagined it would be as hard as it actually was.
School was a huge struggle for me- working 2 jobs, school full time, and a toddler at home. There were many times I told myself I couldn't keep going. I truly did not think I could make it through. I was tired. I was anxious. I felt like a bad mom for being so busy. I WAS DRAINED.
After I graduated and FINALLY got my license, I spent almost a year applying for jobs. It was so discouraging being told I'm not qualified for a job in MY FIELD, that I am LICENSED for, because I didn't have experience.
How do you get experience when nobody will give you a chance?
It was seriously so frustrating. I worked on friends and family constantly just to get the practice and build my portfolio so my work could be seen.
Then, Ulta happened.
They gave me the chance I had been hoping for.
But covid stopped me from starting.
The day before I was supposed to start, everything shut down. I thought my chance would never come. Maybe I wasted my time thinking I could actually do this. How would I even have a job to come back to when I never actually worked at this place? But something in the universe decided this was where I was meant to get my start.
I got calls and texts multiple times a week from the GM to keep me up to date on reopening, covid protocols, and anything else I needed to know. It was a scary time. Nobody knew when this shut down would end.
But, after 4 months of being trapped, in a tiny apartment, never leaving my sons side, it was time to go back to work.
And it was SCARY.
I was a Benefit Arch Expert. Doing brows every day. It started off very slow. I didn't have a clientele. I didn't know how to get my name out there. I started giving my business cards to everyone I saw. I would give stacks of them to friends and family to hand out. As I got more comfortable, I became more confident, and that is when I really got an idea of how good I was.
Brows were never part of my plan. I hated waxing in school. I imagined I would be in a nice spa doing facial treatments. But THIS. It was fun. It was rewarding. And getting an immediate result made it that much easier for me to brand myself.
I started posting pictures all the time. I would have people messaging me on Instagram asking about appointments. I got to a point where I would be so booked that people would try to pay each other, WHILE IN MY CHAIR, to take somebody's appointment. Even offering me money to give people's appointments away.
(Obviously I don't work that way, but it was a great feeling knowing people wanted ME, of all people, to give them a service.)
Just the idea of having a steady clientele and being able to make money doing something I loved so much was like a dream to me.
But after a year, I had to make the tough decision to take a step back from my dream.
As the covid regulations and mask mandates started to ease up, I felt for the safety of my family, that maybe this isn't where I needed to be in this moment.
I went back to my restaurant job.
And now, a year later. Here I am. Ready to see if I can make this thing happen, yet again.
So, welcome to the journey.