We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christina Scalzo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christina below.

Alright, Christina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I lost my job two weeks before Christmas December 2019. This is what prompted me to open my business in the first place. I had just bought a house and my boyfriend and I had four kids together. It felt like a huge risk however with such a big life change that had just happened I felt it was my only option. Building my business was very difficult at first. I kept my hours open seven days a week from 9 AM to 9 PM. I joined the chamber and I was out networking every single day to try and build clientele. And then Covid hit. We had to be shut down for six weeks. Now that I’ve had my business for over six years I look back on that time. It was very difficult, but it makes now feel very very rewarding. Building a business is very difficult however with a little perseverance, dedication and hard work it is absolutely possible. Now I get to work three long days a week and I have an incredible team of women that I work with. I am so blessed. It was absolutely worth the risk.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I decided to go to cosmetology school after my divorce. I needed a career to support my children. During cosmetology school I was working as a manager at a waxing studio looking to get into waxing. Luckily, right after school I was able to find a Sugaring company to work for and get trained in Sugaring. I worked there for about 2 1/2 years and then I opened my own business in January 2020. Covid provided some challenges, however with dedication, hard work and networking I was able to push through. Over the past six years, my business has gone through some changes. After Close to two years, I moved my business downtown to land and hired several people. I thrive in a workspace with other women who do not need to be micromanaged and who want to work in community together. After two years of being downtown, I decided that I wanted to take two of the girls that were working with me and move to a smaller location. It was a really hard decision having to let go of some of the girls, but it was the right decision for me.
The number one thing that I have found over the years was the calling to expect the best out of myself. That’s what it means to be a leader. It also means that sometimes you have to accept when you’ve taken a path that you no longer feel you should be on. When you come to that conclusion, it’s really important to acknowledge it, and make a change, even though it can be hard.
For the past three years, I have worked in a place that I absolutely love with two other businesses. The community of women that I currently work with is the best community of women I have ever had the privilege of working with. I feel extremely fortunate in this time of my life to have found that. Not only are they amazing women, but we share similar ethical principles we have each other’s backs and we lift each other up when we need it. We also feel a deep calling to empower not only each other but all other women. We love building relationships with our clients and being a part of this beauty world community. I have literally hit the jackpot of community in my life and I am truly thankful.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My first job in Sugaring was as the first employee at a small Sugaring business. I don’t think any of us realized how much the business would take off, but it did. She started to hire more girls, and I became her right hand. I became the main trainer for the company. After about eight months, she asked me to go to the new location that we had opened and manage it. I was really excited about this opportunity. I really loved my boss and I felt like we were really good friends. I was paid commission and she said that with this new opportunity as manager, I would be paid a salary along with it because of all the other responsibilities that I would have, since at the time being commission based meant, I was only paid when performing services. The only catch was she couldn’t pay me the salary right away because the business was not built up yet. However, she said when I built the business up, I would get a back payment of all those months. I didn’t worry about this because as I said her and I had become close friends.
I moved to the new location and I worked there as the manager for close to nine months. I spent a lot of time going to networking meetings with the chamber and local businesses nearby to get the word out that we were there to grow the location. At about seven months to being there, we were so busy it was sometimes hard to take same-day appointments. Every time I would ask about the salary, she would continue to tell me she still didn’t have the money to pay me.
When I finally confronted her about the fact that she continued to have me work without paying me, she told me that I made good money already, and that she would be demoting me to assistant manager, and making herself the manager and that she would not be paying me the salary that she had promised me.
I was devastated. Not only had I worked so hard to build up that business that I felt very much a part of, but I felt like I lost a friend in the process.
I wanted to quit instantly. However, I was in the process of buying a house.
I tried to stick it out, but I struggled very much with her as a boss and our friendship was over.
I was fired because a girl who had previously worked for us, opened a business doing Sugaring. Even though that girl was completely within her rights and was not breaking any contract opening that business. When my boss asked if I knew, I didn’t know personally from speaking to that girl however I had seen it on Instagram. I was fired not only for not telling her that this was happening the minute I saw it, but for not apologizing for not telling her. This happened four days after selling my house and three days before closing on my new house and two weeks before Christmas.

Sometimes life throws you curveballs. And you have to pivot. That situation taught me a lot. A month later, I opened my business. That experience taught me a lot about the kind of boss that I wanted to be and the kind of leader that I wanted to be. I’m so thankful that I didn’t let that situation deter me from pressing on. Don’t ever let anything in life stop you from doing what you love.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

To the core, my business has continually been about empowering women. Being an Italian/Cuban woman, I have always struggled with my hair. It’s very coarse, and I have a lot of it. It’s always caused me to feel insecure about myself. Being in the beauty world, and in the Sugaring business, I have connected with many other women who feel the same struggles as me. It has been absolutely thrilling to be able to show people what Sugaring can do for them. My hair is so different after nine years of Sugaring. And I have clients that have been with me for 5, 6 even 9 years and it’s been wonderful for them to see the results as well. I truly believe word-of-mouth has gotten me the most clientele and keeping me consistently busy. I am very thankful to everyone who trusts me with their hair removal needs and recommends their friends to come see me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://christinasbraziliansugaring.com/
• Instagram: @christinasbraziliansugaring
• Facebook: Christina’s Brazilian Sugaring

Image Credits

Tiacamara.photography