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

Olivia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

In December of 2019 I left a salon I had worked at for over six years with a dream to open my own studio. With a lot of hard work, in February of 2020, Meraki Skin And Beauty was born.

One month in and business going well, March of 2020 came with Covid-19 and a global shutdown. With so many industries, including the “Personal Care” industry… my industry, were forced to close until further notice. With no official reopen date and no income coming in, I was able to maintain my studio for 6 months. However, at that 6 month mark, still with no reopen date and being such a new business, I had no choice but to permanently close Meraki Skin And Beauty in September of 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a global, unprecedented time that has effected so many people in so many ways. Even through all this, I still couldn’t help but feel like I had failed in some way.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A little bit about my journey…

Right out of high school I began my career in the makeup industry by first attending Makeup Designory in Burbank, CA, a beauty and special effects makeup school. I enrolled in the Journeyman program which consisted of mainly learning beauty and character makeup techniques. After I graduated I began working on weddings, photo shoots, media award show events and fashion shows. A few years later my makeup career led me to realize how important skin and skincare regimes are, not only for that flawless makeup application, but also for your health and overall well being. This then led me to attend The Academy of Beauty in Culver City, CA to fulfill my goal of becoming a licensed esthetician all while working full time as a general manager at an Aveda Concept Salonspa. Once I was licensed, I attended Aveda’s extensive skincare training. I graduated and quickly began seeing facial, waxing and makeup clients at the Aveda concept Salonspa. During my career as an esthetician at the Salonspa, I signed up and was chosen to be a part of the makeup artistic team for the Aveda company. This led me to New York Fashion Week to participate in executing makeup looks on models for various fashion designers runway shows like Christian Ciriano, Christopher Lowman, Libertine, and Chiara Bonilla just to name a few.

My whole career and experience finally led me to opening Meraki Skin And Beauty, a studio located in Eagle Rock, CA that offers services including facials, body waxing and makeup.

My mission at Meraki Skin And Beauty is all in the name…

Meraki [may-rah-kee ]
When you do something with soul, creativity or love; putting a piece of yourself into what you do.

At Meraki Skin And Beauty, I embody MERAKI through the services I offer and by using holistic, high performing products. It is important for me to be able to create a space where you see results which allows you to not only walk out feeling confident, energized and beautiful externally, but also feel that internally for your overall wellbeing.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

A time I had to pivot was definitely when I was forced to permanently close down Meraki Skin And Beauty do to the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown. I officially closed down September of 2020 and I took about 2 years to really contemplate my path and career. During those 2 years I honestly wasn’t sure what I would do next, especially since the world was still flooded with the aftermath of Covid-19 and the uncertainty of what the personal care industry would look like. So, I dove deep into helping my husband run his business, a pool service business that was booming because it was considered essential. This pivot helped me not only stay busy but also helped and led me to clearly see that I would eventually jump into reopening Meraki Skin And Beauty.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience comes in all shapes and sizes. For me, having to close my business and taking two years “off” only made me want it more. I’ve learned that sometimes you need, in my case forced, to step back to readjust in order to keep going forward. This way of thinking is what fueled my strength and is what led me to reopen Meraki Skin And Beauty.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/meraki.skin.and.beauty?igshid=NzZlODBkYWE4Ng==
• Other: https://www.vagaro.com/merakiskinandbeauty

Image Credits
Lara Solanki