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

Angelic, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
This is such a great question. My parents were very traditional. My dad worked and my mom was a homemaker. My dad exemplified integrity. He said what he meant, and meant what he said. They taught us a work ethic. I remember asking for name brand shoes and my dad’s response was always, “when you are old enough to work, you can buy whatever you want.” Or if we asked to hang with friends, we had to fulfill an extra chore. At the time, I hated how strict they were but now I see why they raised us the way that they did. The most valuable thing they gave us, is a reverence for God. My relationship with God is what has sustained me through every life circumstance.

Angelic, 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?
I own two businesses. My first business is a hair replacement salon where I specialize in giving people their hair back, it’s called La Maison de Cheveux. The other one is an e-commerce beauty business called Lash Lines LLC. We sell a variety of lash related items such as, false lashes, and lash adhesives, but our feature product is my new eyelash curler that I invented called Lash Leaf.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Ultimately, I thank the Lord for placing such great people in my life because two of my long time clients believed in me so much that they each offered to fund my startup. Two separate people, two separate businesses.

I was working as a hair stylist for this particular company and my client would often compliment my work, attention to detail and consistency. Over a period of time, he would ask me about my thoughts of ever going out on my own. Honestly, the thought scared me for many reasons; the fear of failure, not knowing what I’m doing, filling out forms, registrations, licensing etc… Well, he started giving me homework. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was “testing” me, I guess. I wrote a business plan and showed it to him during his hair appointment and that’s when he told me he would fund the start of my salon. Talk about shock! I was overwhelmed with emotions, gratitude mostly. Here I am still standing almost nine years later! I have never regretted a single moment.

Somewhere during my already entrepreneurial journey, a different client knew about my invention, Lash Leaf. At that time, it didn’t have a name but I had my patent. He always expressed interest in that venture and one day, out of the blue, he told me that he and his wife really loved my eyelash curler and believed in me, my work ethic, my character and determination – and after careful consideration and prayer, they wanted to fund the manufacturing of Lash Leaf! Another humbling, grateful moment of emotions for me! That has now been four years. We have added several lash products to our store and are working diligently to grow the brand, Lash Lines LLC.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Two different instances come to mind. One was when I first opened my business. Three months later, my husband left and filed for divorce. Then, three months after that, my former employer filed a lawsuit against me for a non-compete. I have shared that in a previous article so, I will leave it at that. The other was more recent. 2020 was challenging on so many levels for so many of us. Small businesses got hit the hardest. My salon took an inevitable hit. April 2020 was specifically scary because our governor ordered salons to close. I cannot describe to you the feeling of not knowing the effect that closing the shop would bring. Like most small business owners, “if I don’t work, I don’t eat.” I do not like feeling helpless, so I quickly jumped into finding a solution. I must say, I have the best clients because they were so understanding and loyal. I ended up doing some research and found that because I specialize in hair replacement, we are recognized as a health/hygiene service and I was able to remain open. My clients wear adhesive that can only go so long before it becomes prone to skin irritation and/or infection. I did have clients that moved, retired or permanently removed their hair system, but overall, we stuck it through. Our industry isn’t completely out of the woods yet. There are still obstacles with receiving inventory, but we’re still standing!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.LashLinesLLC.com
• Instagram: @LashLeaf
• Facebook: Facebook.com/LaMaisonDC Facebook.com/LashLeaf
• Linkedin: Angelic Garza Parsons
• Youtube: @LashLeaf

Image Credits
not applicable