Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jaqueline Torres. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jaqueline, thanks for joining us today. Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?

So the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for me was probably when I received a lamp from a client. Yes I know it sounds weird and random that it would be a simple table lamp but I know that she was really looking out for me when she gave it to me. So this was about 4 1/2 years ago before I opened up my salon and I was doing mobile lashing, she wasn’t even the client that I was going to go service actually she was my clients hair braider. My client called me and asked me if I can meet her at her braiders apartment because she was not going to have time to go home after her hair appointment and I agreed with no problem I said I would see her there send me the address no problem. I get there and it was a small humble little cozy apartment I will never forget the energy in that apartment it was just very cozy very warm very welcoming. You could definitely feel all of her energy in that apartment it felt so positive and loving, she was a few years older than me but she just radiated knowledge and intelligence and maturity I had never met anyone like that before that day. So I get there and she’s finishing up with my clients hair so I started to set up for the lashes while she finished with her hair. I remember that day was a little tough for me because this was a second-floor apartment and I chose not to carry my table bed all the way upstairs because they both let me know that I could use her sofa to do the lashes on. So once I got there I realize the sofa was a lot lower than I thought and I knew I was going to have some issues doing the lashes but I just really did not want to go back down to my car get the table bad and carry it all the way back upstairs. So once I get started I had the advantage of using the outside natural light it was very bright that day she had her windows open and her balcony glass sliding doors fully open so everything including the heat and the sun was coming in. I’m doing my clients lashes and her hair braider comes over and she just was so curious about everything I was doing. She kept asking a bunch of questions and I was just happily answering them because I really love when people ask me questions about my craft it gives me an opportunity to talk even more about what I’m passionate about right. So I could tell she was just getting more interested in receiving the service but she was hesitant about spending the money because I had overheard her before talking about some issues she had going on financially. My client offers to pay for her service she declined at first she was very humble and kind so she did not want to feel like a burden to neither me or my client. We finally convinced her to try it so by the time I finished with my client she had to rush out because she was going on a trip and had to leave the next day super early, and like most of us had not even started packing, so she paid for her service and for her hairstylist, thanked me and left. I stayed at her apartment to do her lashes but before we started she wanted to do volume lashes she wanted to do more but my client had only paid for classic which is like the basic ones the most normal and natural looking ones so her being a first client with me I offered her to upgrade them for free no extra charge. She was very grateful very thankful as I was doing her lashes it started to get dark and her apartment did not have the best lighting so I was struggling a little bit but I have pretty good eyesight so it wasn’t too much of a hassle for me so I was just doing them like normal. We had such a roller coaster of emotionally filled conversations from both being in the beauty industry, to being single mothers, to just doing whatever we could to provide for our children. Also surprising to me at the time was how we both felt at times that we failed our boys, we both had a son, so we bonded easily over motherhood. She told me some very personal deep stories about her life and her upbringing and it allowed me to open up a little bit with her which I don’t do normally with my clients for the simple fact that I feel like they come to see me to release stress to relax and not to hear my problems. She was from Jamaica and had a very thick beautiful accent and me being Mexican we also bonded over missing our home countries but appreciating and being grateful for being in America. Now I won’t go into detail about exactly what we spoke about out of respect for her but I really did feel like I was talking to a long life friend almost sister and I just really felt like she fully understood all the struggles that I had dealt with. We both just were doing our best she was working from home doing hair and I was doing mobile trying to build my business we were both trying to build our business to be financially free so we could be better mothers and more available for our children. She also mentioned to me how her neighbor who helped her watch her son was Hispanic and spoke Spanish which she was very grateful for because her son was fluent in English and in Spanish by the age of nine which I thought was super cool and amazing. Once I was done I showed her the lashes and she absolutely loved them her gratitude was just so rewarding to me because nobody had ever been so grateful for something simple like lashes you know, we kept our conversation going for a little bit longer. She told me how she thought I was so amazing for doing what I was doing, at the time I had three jobs, I was trying to support my son and build a business, and I really felt her genuine spirit. Before I started to pack up my stuff to leave she told me that she wished me all the luck in the world and reminded me how important it is for women to support each other, she then told me that she wanted to gift me something and she said she noticed that I needed a lamp with me to have better lighting. She told me that I shouldn’t stop doing what I was doing because she could see that I was really passionate about succeeding and she wanted to help me in whatever way that she could so that I could achieve my goals. I’m getting emotional right now just remembering our conversations and her kind words because they really stuck with me and I really felt like she truly meant that. That was not something I would hear often at that time from a lot of people you know a lot of people just saw it as like a side job or something. So her way of helping me and contributing to my goals was giving me her lamp from her workspace, I remember she said I’ll be right back I have something for you and when she came back she had a small little gray table lamp in her hands, you know like and I know this sounds funny but that lamp from the Pixar animations that stomps on the letter “I”that is literally what the lamp looks like. I immediately got overwhelmed with emotions because here she was someone who I had just met I was in her home and we were both in the same position you know single mothers trying to support our child and make it in the beauty industry, yet she wanted to help me and she believed in me. This was a time in my life where I didn’t have a lot of support nor did I have a lot of people believing in me and I worked three jobs so I was always tired and I was always second-guessing my decisions because working three jobs will take a lot of time away from your child, as a mother I felt guilty every single day. When she gave me that lamp she told me that this was her way of supporting me so that I made sure to continue to pursue my goals and dreams and that way I could continue providing for my son. We hugged and just had a great conversation afterwards and I thanked her so much for the lamp which to any other person probably does not mean anything and most people would probably not even think twice to buy a small lamp like that but to me I meant so much at the time. Here she was a stranger believing in me more than a lot of people that were in my life at the time did. She reminded me to stay strong and continue to support other women like we had encouraged each other that night and to this day I have that lamp with me. I’ve been told by plenty of people so many times to just throw it out it’s ugly and old but to me that lamp will always be special. I only did her lashes that one night which I feel like I was meant to be at that apartment that night to have that encouragement and reassurance that I was doing the right thing for myself and for my son. I knew she was not going to be a regular client since she did tell me she never did much for herself let alone get her lashes done often so I never saw her again and never spoke to her again but her kindness stayed with me all this time and all these years later. I think about her all the time because I feel like had she not been that supportive of me that night I would have given up shortly after, like I said I was working a lot and I had my son at home all the time or with my mom so a lot of times I did feel like giving up. Like I should just quit and go back to working one regular job so I can be with my son, but her kindness and her giving me that lamp knowing that she used it as well for work just really gave me that strength that I needed to continue. I would love to see her again and just let her know how her kindness really shifted my perspective on life and my career as well as what being a woman means and having that sisterhood that we all need. I truly hope that she accomplished all of her goals that she is financially free and spends all her time with her son because thanks to her I did not give up that night I did not give up lashes and I did not give up on my goals. Now here I am years later with my own business and slowly launching more and more products into my Beauty Nerd brand. I will forever be grateful for having that encounter with her and I just hope that I have impacted at least one person like she did to me. So that is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me was just give me a small little table lamp that may seem insignificant to anyone else but is very special to me. That lamp will stay with me forever to remind me how far I’ve come and how important it is as a woman to encourage, help and support other women and help keep them motivated to reach their goals.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

So I always joke about how I got into the beauty industry and how I got into lashes I always tell people that both were accidental and not some thing that I thought I would be doing for a living ever. I first got into the beauty industry back in 2009, I had just graduated high school it was literally the day after graduation and my mom, just like most immigrant mothers, was already asking me what my plans were for school and for my life. Coincidentally and conveniently at the same time that she was trying to have that discussion with me a commercial came on TV for this beauty school and I remembered it was one of the campuses that we visited during our senior field trips to different colleges and universities. So I was like I’m going to beauty school until I figure out what I really want to do with my life. The next day I called the school schedule a tour a few days later I went took the tour fell in love and signed up for classes that same day. Then I went home excited to tell my mom that I sign up for school and I was going to be doing something with my life, well the news was not received very well. To my mother being a beautician was not a real career it wasn’t some thing that would provide a good life and she didn’t consider beauty school as being what she called real school. So I told her you know this is just temporary this is just while I figure out what I want to do with my life so I’m not just sitting here at home doing nothing. After I finished beauty school I actually went back to school, heavily encouraged by my mother of course, to pursue a career in journalism because at that time I thought that that’s what I wanted to do with my life right. I only got halfway when I realized that it was in fact not some thing that I wanted to do with the rest of my life and that I actually hated it that’s when I realized that I actually liked the beauty industry and everything it had to offer. I convinced my mom to let me stick with beauty and I promised her that I would continue to grow my education in the beauty world and my skills. Fast forward six years later and at that point I had done pretty much everything you could do under your cosmetology license you know hair, nails, facials, and makeup. Before I got pregnant and had my son I was doing make up I was rapidly growing and meeting a lot of other make up artists while trying to branch out into special effects and film make up because that’s what I really wanted to do. Then I got pregnant and his dad was never supportive of my career or anything that involved me doing some thing for myself so eventually he convinced me and made me quit my jobs. I did have two jobs while I was pregnant I was doing make up and doing facials at a spa which I loved both jobs immensely and I enjoy doing them even while I was pregnant. After I had my son he did not let me go back to work and I didn’t really fight it because I did not want to leave my baby with anyone else I preferred to be able to stay at home with him so even though it was a forced decision I didn’t try to fight it. A year later I found myself being a single mother I had left my sons dad and I was determined to create a better life for my son and myself. That’s how I accidentally ended up doing lashes, I had such a hard time getting back into the make up world because nobody liked the fact that I took a year off to have a baby. In fact when I was pregnant I wasn’t going to quit my make up job I was just going to step down and be a freelance artist but they tricked me into quitting which is a whole different story. So here I was I couldn’t find a job with any make up brand even though I had experience and I had what I thought at the time were friends and connections that turned out to be fake. I had a friend a very good friend of mine we’re still friends to this day actually she was doing lashes at the time and I told her about me not being able to find a job and how I was getting desperate because I needed to provide for my son and she told me to apply at her job. This was a big Lash franchise and it was only growing mor every day, the owner loved my friend so she hired me right away without even knowing me or knowing if I could be a good employee. She trusted my friend that much, my interview was really only so we could meet in person and for her to tell me that I was hired. Honestly had never heard of eyelash extensions before that, I didn’t know that was a thing I had never seen them but a job as a job and I was excited to start making money for my son. I ended up being very good at lashing and it was very easy to me that it became fun for me which led me to be very dedicated to my job and to finding different and creative ways to do lashes. At the time lashes were not as big as they are now and almost every client wanted super natural lashes that you couldn’t even tell they had extensions on. Nobody back then wanted people to know that they had lash extensions not like today where the bigger and longer the better, so I would always try to find subtle ways to be creative because I would get bored of the same natural looks. About two years after I was hired there I decided to leave it was no longer fun for me to work there and became a toxic environment so I started doing mobile lashing. Growing up my dad always had his construction company and later on my mom opened a small boutique, i was raised by entrepreneurs so naturally I wanted to do the same and work for myself. I would go to peoples houses and do their lashes, those were some of my best clients because at times I wouldn’t have someone to watch my son and all of my clients never had any issues with me bringing my two year old son along to their house some of them would actually even feed him. So I really love my initial clients and I will forever be grateful for them because they really will never know how much that meant and how helpful that was to me at the time. After a year of doing mobile lashing I got tired of that it was just too complicated driving back-and-forth through town and wasting my gas so I decided to rent a little room in one of those buildings that have a bunch of mini salons in them and that’s how I started my business The Beauty Nerd. Well I quickly got a taste of how hard it is to run a business, about nine months in when my business was starting to really grow and get busier Covid hit. So I was forced to close down and be out of work which was very humbling to me as a beautician, I always felt like as long as I had my cosmetology license I would never not have a job you know everyone loves beauty so I just always assumed making money would not be an issue for me thanks to Covid that wasn’t the case anymore. It was very difficult for me to be forced to stay at home and not work since all my life I’ve had multiple jobs at once but it definitely gave me a lot more time to be with my son so I did appreciate that part. During quarantine and the time that I was forced to keep my salon closed it opened my eyes to how much I needed to offer products and other stuff besides just services so I started brainstorming, thinking and regretting that I had not done that sooner so I could be okay during quarantine. That led me to really want to grow and expand my business other than just being a girl who does lashes. As of today in my salon I offer eyelash extensions, lash lifts, waxing, Microblading, micro shading or ombré brows, lip blushing, permanent eyeliner and other brow services like laminations and brow henna. I also now have a product line that I am constantly trying to grow, I started with my lash shampoo which is great for keeping your extensions and lash strips clean. I then added “The Beauty Nerd’s journal” which is basically a blank notebook to be used for writing, planning or whatever you want. With the notebook I really wanted to inspire women and girls to write more, it’s very healthy to write out your ideas or write yourself letters of encouragement which is something I believe all women need, tiny reminders of how amazing we truly are. I have also added tote bags and soon I will be launching my own lash brushes for shampooing your lashes and my very own brand of lash strips, which I’m actually wearing some in my pictures. These are all things that I always had in the back of my mind but never really did anything to make them happen until Covid hit and gave me that reality check that it’s now or never you know. It has taken me several years to produce and launch each individual product because I have put a lot of thought and effort into each one and I wanted to make sure that I was only putting out the best for my clients. I didn’t want to take the easy way out and just buy some thing and resell it without knowing the consequences of what it would be for my clients to use them so of course that made the process a lot longer but I think it’s worth it and I feel very proud of my products. I think that my clients do as well they love my Lash Shampoo I always sell out very quickly, people love my tote bags as well as the journal and I know that they will love my brushes and my strips once they are released.
A lot of times people outside of the beauty industry don’t realize how helpful us beauticians can be for our clients. I know that none of my services will ever cure any diseases or solve anyone’s problems but my services definitely provide a boost of self-confidence, self love, happiness and sometimes just stress release. With my permanent make up services I have met so many women that came in very insecure very unhappy with their appearance whether it’s just natural or due to certain illnesses such as cancer causing them to lose all of their eyebrow hair. I think my favorite services to do are permanent make up for that reason, those are more impactful and long-term. I actually do offer free Microblading services to cancer survivors, anyone that has dealt with cancer I gladly service them for free because you really don’t know how much Brows impact you emotionally and mentally until you don’t have any and it’s not your choice. So I think that I do help a lot of my clients solve minor problems in their life whether it’s by doing their lashes or tinting their brows which helps them like shed maybe 30 minutes from their morning routine or whether it’s adding brows to someone’s face or eyeliner to someone who has lost their lashes due to chemo even adding lip color or neutralizing someone’s uneven lip color and making them feel confident and just love their lips. Although I do work in the beauty industry and my services are image altering I always one hundred percent promote self-love and that is why all of my work is very natural I don’t do anything to dramatic with any of my work. Every thing that I do I strive for natural results with lashes I don’t do too much of the crazy long lengths or the super full lashes because that’s also not healthy for your natural lashes and it just looks very unnatural. Now I’m not bashing those looks but I think my clients really appreciate the message that I send and you know just self-love and body positivity and just like loving what you have but enhancing it because sometimes enhancing ourselves is fun but never necessary. So I really think that’s what sets me apart from other people in the same industry as I am that do the same work that I do I don’t tend to follow trends a lot although sometimes it’s fun to follow the trends. I mostly try to give my clients natural results especially with my permanent make up work I always strive to achieve natural results. My experience and knowledge from the beauty industry really helps me be able to give my clients what they are looking for. I have always enjoyed working with colors so I am very familiar with the color wheel and the Fitzpatrick scales and how certain tones heal on certain skin tones. My clients love that and they always trust me fully to pick out the color that they will receive. I do let them have an input as well but they always let me have the final word on what their service will look like.
I think I am the most proud of my consistency to my true self as far as being a business owner and a beautician goes. Many years ago before influencers and YouTube make up artists and all of that when make up wasn’t as big as it is now. I fell in love with makeup and I wanted to be in the makeup world but a lot of make up brands promoted heavy make up and a lot of colors which I do like to work with color but I personally don’t like to wear a lot of color. So that always intimidated me I thought I always had to have like some super crazy contour, five color eyeshadow look every day in order to be able to work in makeup. That’s when I discovered Bobbi Brown the make up artist and her make up line. I instantly fell in love with her and her message she has always promoted natural beauty, self-love and health most importantly. She always promotes having healthy skin and being healthy so that no matter what makeup you wear it will look flawless on you while also promoting not needing make up. I really just admired her because she was a make up artist who had a make up line that promoted not wearing make up you know so I was just like wow how do you build your whole business and brand by going against what you are in essentially. She also does not wear a lot of heavy makeup so she opened my eyes and helped me realize that you don’t have to have on a bunch of makeup every single day to be able to do makeup. I just stuck with that and now that I have my own company and my own brand I really have stayed true to that and that’s probably the most important thing that I would like for my clients old, new and any new followers or or anyone that is just now discovering what is the Beauty Nerdd to know. That although I am in the beauty industry and I do provide all these image altering services that at the end of the day none of us need this and we all do this for fun. That is what I have based my brand and my company on just self-love and taking care of your health first and really taking a moment and looking into why you have certain things on your skin or face that you may not like. You know instead of looking for the best concealer to hide dark circles I tell my clients look for a good eye cream maybe you need to drink more water maybe you need to get more sleep maybe it’s genetics maybe there’s an underlying issue. Although I no longer do make up I still offer my clients make up advice when they do ask for it but I do lecture them first about the importance of skin care and taking care of your body as well as drinking enough water. So I really hope that becomes a thing in the next few years. In the past four or five years I feel like the makeup industry has just blown up into something so toxic where everyone feels like they have to contour their face and they have to have perfect eyebrows and they have to have the plump juicy Kylie lips. It’s sad to hear some of my clients talk bad about themselves when they are absolutely gorgeous and beautiful. So I really hope that there are more stylists out there that promote the same message to just really get us back to where we used to be that make up was fun and not needed. I hope overall that anyone who comes across any of my pages or my business receive that message that The Beauty Nerd is all about helping you enhance your natural beauty and not mask anything or make you feel like you have to change something to look better because we all look amazing naturally since birth.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source that has helped me bring in new clients has been a combination of word of mouth and google actually. When I first went on my own and started doing lashes by myself I thought that you know as long as I grew my Instagram page that my business grow instantly but I was wrong, I know that had worked for others but not everyone. At the beginning I was so focused on gaining followers and growing my Instagram page that I was only focusing on that and not doing any other form of marketing or advertising. I was so stuck on how others grew their business so quickly on Instagram just by posting daily and not spending any money on other forms of marketing or advertising. I soon realize that I am not the greatest at posting consistently on social media so I just assumed that I wasn’t growing as quickly as I wanted to because of that and instead of looking at other options I choose to stay stuck on the idea of growing my Instagram page. Thinking I would automatically boost my business. Once I realized that I was getting more clients coming in because a friend told them, their mom told them or their daughters or sister or cousin you know it’s just people that were local that they knew. Maybe even a neighbor that they knew you know someone local is always better than someone on social media for a lot of people. So I started to focus more on that and less on social media and I realize that a lot of my clients were coming in because they saw me on Google or somebody told them about me. That’s when I decided to just stop focusing so much on social media and growing my social media page, I focused more on making my Google page look better which is also free advertising you know you don’t really have to pay Google. I don’t think I’ve ever paid for Google ads or anything and it still has been working great for me. So I just started paying more attention to my Google page and I started doing little incentives to thank my clients that were referring their friends and family to come see me just to show appreciation and let them know that I appreciate what they were doing and I wanted them to continue bringing in the people they knew. So that has helped me so much which is funny that I am a lot better about updating my Google page but I wasn’t with my social media page and essentially it can be viewed as the same thing if you think about it. I still try to update my social media page daily but I do tend to forget because I try to stay off of social media personally so I don’t open any apps during the day also I’m just so busy during the day that I tend to forget. With Google it sends me notifications and emails so I think that is what helps me really just stay on top of it and post pictures and post updates and all that. So for any small business owners out there that feel like they are struggling to grow their clientele and they are posting on social media constantly maybe just try to shift your energy into something else, not everyone is a social media person and I learned that through my clients. If I would’ve stayed stuck on the idea that if I grew my Instagram page my business would follow I don’t think I would be here where I’m at you know I would have still stayed smaller and probably wouldn’t have been as big as I am now. Three years ago when I first open my business it was just a small little room inside of a building and now I’ve managed to move it into a bigger space and offer more services so I think that as a business owner you can’t just close your self off to any options. You should always keep your mind open to anything new and different even if it scares you or you doubt it or you’ve never tried it before because you never know maybe that’s the thing that will help you really just get out there and grow how you want to.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

So I actually sell my products on a few different sites the first one being my own site, Amazon and Zazzle. So the reason I have it on on three sites is well obviously my own site being the main one that my clients go to when they book and look up my information and want to know about me so that’s why I have my products on there just easier access for my clients. On Amazon so far I only have my journal and my Lash Shampoo I’m still getting used to Amazon and see how everything works and how much it really benefits me to sell on there. Lastly I have some stuff on Zazzle because it is mainly an artistic website for creatives and people looking for personalized items and inspiration so the items I have on there can be personalized as well so it has my logo and you can add to it which the main one that sells on there is my tote bags. I chose to sell on Amazon aside from my own site because I wanted to reach more people outside of my own clients so that’s what some one of the pros are you know a larger audience can be reached through such a large site like Amazon and and of course one the cons is having to pay the fees for them allowing you to sell through their site. Not fully being in control of things can be discouraging but overall I don’t think it’s too bad and I don’t really have a lot of complaints as of now it’s been really good for me and I actually recently sold one of my Beauty Nerd journals in Japan. Someone bought one in Japan which was super cool and exciting for me to think that someone that far purchased one of my items so thank you to my first Japanese client whoever you are I love you already! Oye crazy to think that now they’re holding it and using it across the world like that you know my logo caught someones eye all the way across the globe. So that is definitely a pro of selling on Amazon that you reach a whole different range of clients that I wouldn’t be able to as much just having it on my site. The same thing with Zazzle while it does help reach a wider range of people it’s almost like free marketing you know those are two major sites that a lot of people already know of and go to for whatever reason and so that just makes it easier for them to access my products without me having to market them as much but again the only cons is you know the extra fees. You know you might have to raise your price a little bit to cover what they charge so sometimes you’re not fully in control of everything but like I said they are major websites that will help put my products in the hands of others that I couldn’t do alone as of now. You know I’m not like a world known brand just yet so someone even on the other side of the country doesn’t know who I am but with Amazon and Zazzle that really helps put me out there. So the a small fees that I have to pay are worth it to me because like I said someone bought one of my journals all the way in Japan which is some thing that I really didn’t think would happen so soon or at all when I put it out there. So that just kind of shows me that it’s really worth it to sell my profits on Amazon it’s really helping me grow in ways that I couldn’t achieve on my own. Another con that I considered about selling on Amazon is that a lot of people have this image that Amazon products are all cheap and low quality, which may have been the case years ago but with the advancement and ease of selling on there you can find some really good items. So I was afraid that people would label my products allow quality or cheap but I’ve seen great brands sell on Amazon and it helped me decide to just go for it. On my own site I do put them a little cheaper just because I don’t have to pay any extra fees to anyone so that’s a little benefit from shopping directly on my site instead of going to Amazon or Zazzle but overall I think it’s very worth it to sell on any site especially big well known ones like Amazon and Zazzle.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vagaro.com/us04/thebeautynerd/
• Instagram: Instagram.com/Beautyy_Nerdd
• Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/beautyynerdd
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LWG24DZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_RW2DM9CKGV47NKZ4NTEE https://www.zazzle.com/store/thebeautynerd