We recently connected with Cathy Sanchez and have shared our conversation below.

Cathy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you manage your own social media?

Social media in itself is a full-time job. I often see others within our industry voicing how stressful and draining it can be to create content and run their pages and I completely agree with them 1000%. But with my background in business marketing, I definitely take it upon myself to manage my own social media platforms. Have I thought about outsourcing? Absolutely. Why haven’t I? For many reasons! 1. It’s expensive. I would much rather put those funds towards quality products needed for my services. 2. You risk losing authenticity. You have to really vet the team/company you’re considering hiring because if both parties don’t see the same vision; the personality, the brand, and the message you have worked so hard to create will fall short.

On the other hand, if you have the funds and can allocate your time towards more important things within your business, I would recommend outsourcing! I see pros and cons to both sides. It just really depends on business size, time management, and which direction you want to go with your brand.

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.

Back in 2015, I graduated with a BA in Marketing and fell into the logistics industry for a couple of years. It was my first “big girl” job and it got me by but it was most certainly not my end goal. After having our kiddos, I quit and tried the stay-at-home mom life for a few months before realizing it wasn’t for me. In 2020, when the world was shut down, I decided I wanted to be my own boss and join the beauty industry. I remember back in 2017 when I first started getting my lashes done, I was in awe of my lash artist and how she was able to make her own schedule, be her own boss, and make good money doing so. I enrolled in a local lash academy and after 2 months, I obtained my license and hit the ground running. I worked out of the house for a while and then rented a little suite. After being at the suite for a year, I came back home because I needed to save up for bigger plans- my own salon. In 2022, I signed for my first commercial space where I had a vision of creating a local and personable salon space, unlike corporate salons. We opened our doors in June 2023 and it’s been a journey!

Luxury Beauty Collective offers a one-stop beauty experience for our clients. We provide makeup, lashes, brows, teeth whitening, and permanent jewelry services along with various trainings! We also offer affordable booth rentals for beauty service providers in need of a professional space to work. Unlike most corporate salons, I pride myself on providing business advice, lending an ear, and addressing any concerns our tenants may have.

When you come to the salon, you can let your stresses melt away. We provide snacks and beverages. The atmosphere is quaint and quiet. Our advantage is that we’re a small salon so we’re able to cater to you and provide top luxury services.

At the end of the day, the path of being my own boss has proved itself to be both challenging and rewarding. I’m proud of my own journey as well as the journeys of the students and tenants I’ve been lucky enough to work with. The industry we’re in is growing and will continue to grow and we’re just all doing our best to find our place within it.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I like to believe that my authenticity has helped me build my reputation in the beauty industry. In an industry that is so focused on the pretty lifestyle, luxury cars, picture-perfect social media platforms, it’s very easy to fall within the loop. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely give into the trends and traps every now and then but it’s also what goes on behind the scenes. I often hear others idolizing an industry influencer based on what they see on social media but when they encounter them in real life, it’s a different story. This irks me to the core. Your brand doesn’t stop after you hit “post.” If you are the face of your brand, you better believe that it carries on beyond the screen. Therefore, I try to be as authentic as possible on and off camera. I’m just myself and that seems to work since it has surrounded me with like-minded individuals. I wouldn’t change this for the world!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building your audience on social media can be stressful and tricky. You can scroll and find endless posts with tips and tricks on how to best grow your profile but I think it boils down to being yourself. As I’ve mentioned, social media can be a full-time gig and if this full-time gig is no longer fun to you because you have to turn on this false image, is it worth it? When clients come to you for a service and they realize you’re different than your presence on social media, how are they going to relate to you now? Most of the time, clients choose you to be their service provider because they find you relatable in some form or fashion. So my advice to those trying to build an audience would be to put out original content. Draw from trending content but put YOUR own spin on it. I have to remind myself, I would rather have a small group of followers who would potentially book a service with me because they can relate to me versus a large following count who just followed me due to a viral trend I copied.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.luxurybeautycollective.com & www.lbcbycat.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lbcbycat & https://www.instagram.com/luxurybeautycollective/

Image Credits
Anastasia Contreras Photography X Joana