We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenise Rodriguez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenise below.

Alright, Jenise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

There was a woman I met when I was managing her friend’s spa. I remember meeting her and thinking, “Wow, she is such a Boss.” The way she carried herself, the way she treated me, she was just a whole vibe in my eyes. I serviced her while I was working there, and she was so inspiring to me, without even knowing it.

Some things happened, I left, worked briefly at another spa, and eventually ended up going out on my own.

I can’t remember how long it took, but she showed up on my books again and I was THRILLED that she still wanted to see me. That’s when our relationship really blossomed. She stood with me for years. I watched her build her legacy and then her family. I soaked in every piece of advice I could. One thing I really absorbed was the way she pushed me to keep going big and go hard!

I was there for so many of her life’s milestones. And I remember when she told me she was moving… I was heartbroken. Who was going to give me that advice now? Who would remind me of what I bring to the world? Who?

I was invited to her going away party. People were giving speeches and I wanted to so badly, but I truly couldn’t keep it together. I cried so much. Whew!

Carmita Semaan founded The Surge Institute—an education leadership accelerator with a simple but powerful mission: to educate and develop leaders of color who create transformative change for young people, their families, and our broader communities.

I hope you get to see this, and I hope you know how much you mean to me. I love you, girl!

Jenise, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I feel like I do a lot of risky things! But that’s a story for a different day.

Taking the leap to start Sanar Aesthetics with very little savings, no loans, just sweat, blood, and tears was definitely one of them. And now, I’m blessed to be booked out for months with a waitlist.

Growing up, I went through some pretty traumatic life events that honestly should’ve torn me down—I shouldn’t even be here. But every bit of it made me who I am. I have close friends now who also had rough upbringings, and having them around has helped me process, understand myself more, and give myself the grace I didn’t always think I deserved.

I had my daughter at 20, and the pressure I felt to provide for her future kept me awake at night. I knew traditional college wasn’t going to work for me, but I’ve always had a passion for skin. It was real. From searching for blackheads on my mom as a kid (her face is covered in tiny moles, beauty marks, and freckles), which gave me a challenge and helped me develop “the touch” to find things people didn’t even know were there.

Back in high school, my friends would come to my apartment, wash their faces with my products, and I’d lay them down on my bed or floor and go to work extracting their blackheads and cleaning up their brows. Both the girls and the guys! Afterward, we’d go to Jewel-Osco or any store that carried skincare, and I’d help them pick out products. I guess you could say… I really was born this way.

Right after high school, I bought a wax pot just for fun. Let me tell you, it wasn’t fun for my friends! I was waxing everything. This went on for a while until I decided to look up what a “waxer” was actually called… and that’s when I discovered the word Esthetician. I was blown away. I thought the only way to work with skin was to become a dermatologist, which no longer felt like an option with a baby. Finding this out, I had to start my career ASAP. Two weeks later, in 2007, I signed up for esthetics school and never looked back.

Since then, I’ve worked as a spa employee, managed spas, worked out of my home, rented a room in a salon, and then leased my first tiny space to go solo. Five years later, I needed something bigger. I opened my current location during COVID—and survived.

Now, 18 years after all that, I’ve hired my first employee and hope to continue growing and bringing the peace and confidence I love sharing with my clients. I’m told what sets Sanar apart is the attention to detail—from the warm tea to greet you, to the to-go cup so you can keep enjoying the experience on your way out. When a client walks in and tells me they’ve been waiting all week for this moment… I swear, I could cry every single time.

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

When I decided to get a bigger space, I signed my lease and was ready to start the whole moving process… and then the COVID era hit. I was shut down and couldn’t work because I wasn’t considered essential. But of course both my new and old landlords didn’t care. I still had to pay both rents for a while since the leases overlapped. In my eyes, the overlap was supposed to give me a smooth transition. Little did I know my whole world was about to be flipped upside down.

I remember protests and riots happening right in front of my old spa because the mayor at the time lived down the block. It was literally crazy. And being from Chicago, I knew what could go down. So you better believe I called my girls to help me move. We moved everything in one day and let’s just say… we may or may not have been legally protected, just in case. Wild times, I tell ya!

I was closed for months and had literally no money left. So, I decided to start an online product store. My daughter, who was in high school at the time and had nothing to do built it for me. Wow!!! That, and the option for clients to purchase gift certificates, became my saving grace. I remember I wanted to thank her but couldn’t give her much at the time so I think I bought her a new pair of shoes. May have been Birkenstocks!

But truthfully, during that time, my depression got really bad. I was in a dark place. The pressure, the fear, the isolation, it all hit hard. What helped lift me out of it was my now fiancé. He held me down emotionally when I felt like I was drowning. And along with his support, it was that fire in me, the drive not to give up, especially for my daughter. That kept me pushing forward.

Can you imagine laying in bed at night, wondering how you’re going to pay rent, pay two spa rents, and still provide for your child? I was in a very scary place.

Then, out of nowhere, my clients started purchasing gift certificates for future visits because they knew it would help. And it did. I was able to keep my doors open… even though they technically weren’t. But the love and support my clients showed me?

They will never know what that meant to me.

This is why I go so hard for them.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

If I had the proper guidance in high school, I truly feel like I could’ve been more. I wish I had a counselor who saw my love for science and skin, someone who could’ve opened my eyes to medical school. Being a dermatologist would’ve been amazing, because I know deep down I would’ve been a damn good one.

My family was supportive, but only to an extent. Higher education wasn’t something anyone really understood or prioritized. It just wasn’t part of our world.

But I can’t live my life stuck in the “what ifs.” That’s not healthy for me, or my nervous system. And truthfully, I’m extremely proud of what I’ve created with Sanar Aesthetics. I’ve built something meaningful, something impactful, something mine.

And how about this full-circle moment, my 21-year-old daughter wants to be a doctor!!! She’s about to finish her undergrad next school year, and sometimes I look at her and can’t believe I raised someone like her. If I fail at everything else in this world, I know one thing for sure:

I didn’t fail her.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sanarspa.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SanarAesthetics
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanarAesthetics
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeniserodriguez
• Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/sanar-aesthetics-chicago?primary_source=biz_details&secondary_source=nav_bar&share_id=CA8A7A76-3861-4AC5-A4C2-8110C9FFC639&utm_source=ishare

Image Credits

Edgar Ramos