We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ki Carlisle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ki, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

One of the biggest misconceptions that new business owners often find themselves overwhelming over is the lack of support from their family and friends. I have to be honest, the closest people to me were actually the last to seek me as their professional eyebrow stylist and I never took it personal! How could I? Most of the time when you are starting a professional beauty service; most of your family members and friends already have their set team of beauty artists that they go to-so I had to understand that. I think of it like this, I’ve had clients who have shared with me that they had followed my work six whole months before finally booking an appointment; in that timeframe they spent studying my work, finding personable qualities within me that they could relate to and even building up the trust to choose me and/or trust me to give them beautiful eyebrows. I think oftentimes business owners feel entitlement from the people they know to support them because it’s THEM but it doesn’t work like that. Just because your family doesn’t support you doesn’t mean you should feel discouraged in the services that you offer. Most of the time, strangers are bigger fans than the closest people to you.

Ki, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Kiesha Carlisle also know as, “Ki Brows”. I am a Licensed Eyebrow Stylist, Educator, and mommy of four from Indianapolis, Indiana. I am the Owner of Bodied Brows Beauty & Esthetics Studio located in Downtown Indianapolis. I was introduced to eyebrows at the age of 6 or 7; my late Great-Grandmother Cora Lee would have me draw on her eyebrows before church using a black lip lining pencil. From there, I began paying closer attention to eyebrows and how much of a difference they made to a person’s appearance. At 14 I began getting my eyebrow threaded on a consistent basis. I took getting my eyebrows done so seriously, to the point where I would not go to school if my eyebrows were done. Eyebrows were always important to me but I did not show interest into wanting to actually start doing them until 2018.
In 2019, I self taught myself how to perform eyebrow waxing and tinting which would later become my most popular service and my biggest educating course. In March 2020, I opened my very first brow bar, Bodied Brows Studio and within that first year I started my own brow cosmetic line, serviced over 300 women and trained close to 90 ladies all during a pandemic! I offer eyebrow shaping, waxing, tinting, brow lamination, and semi- permanent brows such as microshading.
I think what makes my services different from other professional eyebrow stylists is artistic creativity on creating a healthy, well-maintenance brow design. I focus mainly on overall brow health than I do the “look”. I want to ensure that my clients are able to develop a brow shape that significantly compliments their facial structure.
What makes me so proud is the fact that I trusted myself enough to do something that I NEVER seen myself do. I truly have a passion for making women building, helping them find confidence, and teaching people on how to become their own brow bosses.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I guess you can say doing eyebrows was a side hustle for me in the beginning. Mind you, when I started I only had a brow pencil, some concealer and a pack of razors that were all purchased from my local beauty supply store. I had only done my own for about 3-4 months before wanting to service others so I began charging people like my family $10 to do their eyebrows at home in my living room. I still worked a corporate job from 8am to 4:30p so I would began serving my clients at 6p from my home or I would offer mobile brow appointments as an option.
Eventually, I started using my lunch breaks at work or down-time to write out my plan for opening my own brow studio. I even began saving my money that I made on the side from doing brows and a certain amount from each paycheck to save for my future brow business. I believed in my plan and I stuck with it; allowing me to open my very first brow studio.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think one of the toughest moments of my journey as a professional eyebrow stylist was when I was hospitalized in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus. At that time, I had just opened the doors to my brow studio and it was honestly one of the happiest moments of my life for not only myself but for my children as well. I had finally accomplished something that I had wanted for 2 whole years and then BOOM, it was almost over for me. On March 28, 2020 I was rushed to the hospital because I had severe difficulties breathing and I later found out that I had bilateral pneumonia and if I had not made it to the hospital I would have died. So many thoughts ran through my mind-I remember using my last breath to tell the doctors that I had to get out of there because I had a brow business to run. I promised God that if he pulled me through that, I would remain consistent with my purpose that he had given me. May 2020, I reopened the doors to my suite to service clients and host training classes. From May to July 10th I made my first $20,000 just by doing eyebrows.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/bodiedbrows
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/bodiedbrowsllc
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/bodiedbrows