We were lucky to catch up with Angelea Iafornaro recently and have shared our conversation below.

We’d love to know about your journey to where you are today. Can you walk us through how you became a holistic esthetician?

Thank you for allowing me to share a piece of my story with you. I have been a licensed esthetician for almost 4 years, but my journey with holistic skincare & wellness, energy work, & healing modalities, started long before I took the leap to become an esthetician.

Going back to my childhood, I grew up with TCM and alternative healing in my household and often went to a local Herbal Shop, (Duong Xuan Duong in Linda Vista) with my mom growing up. My first personal testimony was around age 16, as I was experiencing very painful and extended menstrual cycles. My mom took me to see Dr. Vu, who prepared an herbal blend for me which completely relieved my symptoms, and to this day I now have regular cycles. I believe that it helped restore balance internally, allowing my body to heal.

This was such an impactful experience at a young age that it opened me up to the power of eastern/plant medicine, and when I became a mom for the first time in 2009, I leaned into homeopathic measures for my son when he was in need of healing as well. I did explore the conventional medical world as well and actually became a medical assistant in 2011, before I soon realized this wasn’t the path for me. Despite this, I am forever grateful for the education and experience as it showed me where a lot of disconnect was in the healthcare field and even today as an esthetician I realize how this knowledge and understanding is beneficial when addressing the skin and supporting clients.

Fast forward to 2014, I began experiencing sudden adult acne, which most conventional products were making worse, so to try and treat myself, I began crafting my own handmade skincare masks, inspired by the brand LUSH. I started to read constantly and wanted to learn everything there was to know about the skin and how natural based products could help heal. This process made me feel more connected to myself and to the ingredients themselves, bringing out a creative passion that was lying dormant. Shortly after, a good friend of mine showed me how to make homemade body butter and scrub and from that point forward, I was hooked! I started to make everything from lip balms to soaps to creams, failing terribly with certain formulas and trying again and again. I also graduated in 2015 with my business degree, so with no specific direction, I started to entertain the idea of entrepreneurship, mentally not literally—yet.

I then experienced a really painful breakup that same year and in hindsight it acted as the catalyst for me to emerge into this new creative woman I was becoming. This is when I began a path to truly “find” myself and go within, I was a single mom of a 6 year old and all I knew was I had to get myself together and grow for both of us. I launched into full self-exploration and took a job at a tech start-up, which was really exciting at the time! This was also the year I went to my first yoga class, which I fell in love with, I started meditating, eating better, learning more about TCM and eastern medicine, hiking and spending more time outdoors, and being more conscious of holistic health and how my inside world reflected externally. I got back to that childlike fascination with adventure, nature, creativity, and plant medicine. I traveled a lot from 2014-2016, to Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the Caribbean, then to France & Amsterdam, broadening my understanding of life, experiences, relationships, and culture. With the tech company, I was traveling often within the U.S, which was a blessing of its own. Meanwhile back home, I started a small cake business (The Suga Mama-where “Suga Skincare” eventually pulled its name) to fuel my creative side and earn extra $. I was doing the most I know, but thriving in it (I am a manifesting generator). Eventually, I realized I was living in two worlds: the work-yourself-to-tears, high stress, little control, for someone else, just to keep the bills paid (no shade to the company though because they played an integral part of this journey, it just wasn’t where I was meant to be long term) , and the other world of doing things I loved (baking cakes and making skincare) that lit the fire within. I started to play with the idea of doing what I loved as a means to earn a living and actually aligning myself to provide something of value and inspire others.

I realized that skincare was a true passion, even more than the cake business, that needed watering to grow, so from 2015-2017 I experimented a lot with formulas, creating and testing everything myself, reading constantly (lots of sleepless nights & blood sweat & tears), taking courses for formulation and cosmetic chemistry, and because of the encouragement I had around me, I started selling my handmade products at local farmers’ markets (shoutout to Etsy for being the first market I ever vended at) in the fall of 2017.

After a few years of this passion being a side “hustle”, and receiving so much positive feedback from customers, I mustered the courage to pursue skincare as a full time profession and finally quit my previous career in 2019. I knew I didn’t want to just make products, but I also wanted to offer services and education to support these formulas, so I went back to school to become an esthetician and began working toward building this business. Mid way through school, my father passed away, which nearly broke me completely, as it was extremely sudden and devastating, but it ended up fueling my path even more and opened the door further to energy work and healing.

In Feb 2020, I received Reiki II attunement, sat in ceremony with Ayahuasa, and opened my first solo studio. Sound healing soon followed, and everything began to come together beautifully to create unique and synergistic offerings. Then March 2020 hit and we all know how this went, but the truth is I saw it as a test of perseverance, I shifted focus mainly to products while I was unable to provide services, and we made it through to the other side.

I began to work with a local chemist (she is truly a magician/alchemist) as I could no longer handle the volume of products I had demand for and I also wanted to grow the product line to include more robust formulas. As I began to plan, I knew I wanted to incorporate more than just external skincare into my work. I was being called to help others and open up doors for them to grow their business as well. So after 2 years in our starter location, and a wild high risk twin pregnancy in 2021 (I will save this story for another time, but I am now a mama to 3 beautiful sons!) we grew into the space we are now in La Mesa, CA, that supports all aspects of holistic wellness—mind, body, & spirit. This space brings it all full circle, where we offer holistic facials and skincare, reiki, massage therapy, yoga, internal wellness and sound healing, as well as mentorship, education, and community!

Our product line and the collective spa is something I am very proud to have my name on. It has taken many years and lots of trials to get here and I wholeheartedly believe in these solutions as a way to support healthy skin and aging, create an experience when using our products, regulate the nervous system and inspire self care. This is all while supporting other estheticians in taking care of their clients as well.

Many of us get into this industry due to an intuitive pull to help others, combined with a passion for our art and having gone through our own journey’s. In my opinion we are all healers and the work we do is medicine, that far surpasses the physical/skin. This is how I approach my practice everyday and I couldn’t be happier with how far I have come. It still doesn’t even feel real sometimes, but I remind myself often that every small step I took led me here, and the biggest takeaway I would love for readers to gather from my story is that you have more power than you may be aware of, and genuine passion for your craft can take you far!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Honestly 2019, 2020, and 2021 all hit hard. With my dad’s passing in 2019, COVID shutdowns and anxieties surrounding the pandemic in 2020, to my high risk pregnancy in 2021 (with residual covid stresses), these 3 years could have completely stopped me from pursuing this path, but instead they each taught me even more about life and built my resilience and perseverance. They each actually grew my gratitude for everything and everyone in my life. I do believe the cliche “everything happens for a reason”, and I trust the way everything has unfolded to bring more strength and wisdom.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

The best way to succeed in this field is to have a true authentic passion for it, and to be confident in yourself! When you have this, you will take more positive risks and clients are able to trust you, knowing that you have their best interest at heart. It also takes the focus away from the financial aspect, which I believe shouldn’t be the driving force for entering this field, although it naturally comes when your are good at what you do!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sugaskincare.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugaskincare/

Image Credits
All professional photos were taken by Angelina @Aglow.medialab @thelaboratory.sd, some of these are taken by me :)