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

Rachel, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Absolutely. The beauty industry has a real problem in making people, particularly women, feel like something is wrong with them in order to get them to buy their product/service. I have always had a real problem with that approach and I refuse to buy into that agenda. The whole purpose behind my brand is to empower people and to help them see that they’re already beautiful. Sometimes they just need a custom lash/brow design to help rid them of an insecurity so that they can truly believe it themselves. I also love saving my clients time, majority of my clients are busy moms, athletes, health care workers, and business owners that don’t have the time to waste on makeup. That’s where I get to come in and provide a service that allows them to feel their best while conquering the day like the total badasses they are. It’s so much more than brows & lashes, ridding someone of their deepest insecurity and helping them finally feel confident in their own skin is what I live for.

Rachel, 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?

My name is Rachel Rist and I’m the owner/artist behind KO Beauty in Newport, KY. I decided to start KO Beauty after spending nearly 15 years in an industry that was overly feminized and always left me feeling like an outcast. I’ve always been the type of girl who would rather be watching football & living in gym clothes than keeping up on the latest fashion trends or wearing high heels, not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just never been who I am. I spent majority of my career feeling like I was playing a part by trying to fit into what I thought people wanted to see from a makeup artist. This meant a full face of makeup, hair always styled perfectly, gaudy jewelry that I hated, and uncomfortable heels and blazers all because as a beauty professional, this is the standard you’re expected to constantly maintain – no matter what. I once worked for a salon that had a policy that if you didn’t have on a noticeable amount of lipstick, you would be sent home, and you wouldn’t get paid. That’s ridiculous, right?

I knew that if I, as a beauty professional, didn’t feel accepted or like I fit in in these salon environments that surely there were other women feeling the same way I did. I mean, who wants to feel like they have to get dressed up for a beauty appointment? Thus KO Beauty was born. I wanted to create a space that had a more relaxed “come as you are” vibe whether that means rolling out of bed in your sweatpants for your appointment or coming straight from the office, everyone is welcome here. My superpower is helping women and men feel empowered. I am often told that people leave my studio feeling not only beautiful, but strong – that’s everything to me and what I am most proud of.

I specialize in brow and lash services such as lash lifts, lash extensions, brow threading, brow henna, and microblading & powder brows which are permanent brow services (because I also know what it’s like to fall victim to the over-tweezed, pencil-thin brow trends of the 90’s/early 2000’s – but that’s a story for another day).

I love making my clients feel beautiful, but I think we all know by now that beauty isn’t skin-deep, so I also created a podcast called You’re A Knockout (now streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to your favorite shows) where I talk about overcoming all of the adversity that brought me to where I am today as well as having some real, raw, and hilarious conversations with some of the coolest people I’m lucky enough to know. My hope for my podcast and my brand is that it allows you to feel a sense of connectedness in your struggles & life. We’re all in this messy world together.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Being myself! It’s cliché as hell but it’s really that simple. The second that I stopped trying to be what I thought everyone wanted to see & stopped trying to fit into certain “who’s who” social circles is when I truly found my people and when my business really started to take off. It can be really scary and vulnerable to drop your guard and really show the world your true colors good, bad, and ugly – especially if people reject you. When you do that though, you connect with people on a level that you can’t even imagine, which in turn, allows them to trust in you & want to support you/your business even more. To quote Rihanna, “people gonna talk whether you’re doing bad or good” so always embrace the quirks in you that make you YOU – people are going to love you for it.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Sure, but this is a bit of a heavy one. Prior to KO Beauty, I had a freelance makeup business called Down To Earth Cosmetics where I provided airbrush makeup services on site for weddings, photoshoots, etc. If you were a client of mine at that time, you got to witness the phase of my life where I was trying my hardest to fit in. I loved that business so much and I had the best time getting to see so many amazing venues and hearing all of the beautiful love stories of how you met your bride/groom (I’m a hopeless romantic after all) but what a lot of people didn’t know, was that in my last year of business, my dad was battling stage 4 lung cancer.

If you’ve ever watched someone you love battle a terminal disease, then you know firsthand how drastically your life perspective begins to change. Things were very scary and uncertain during that time to say the least and I wasn’t able to book events days, weeks, let alone months or years in advance anymore as my focus was on spending as much time with my dad as possible. I finished my remaining scheduled events and honestly in that time, I started to hate makeup. I found myself resenting everyone for being so worried about something that seemed so trivial when my dad was dying. Ultimately, this resentment caused me to leave the industry entirely for about 3 years.

Sadly, my dad passed away after a very short but incredibly brave battle, and I turned my grief into a fight against lung cancer in which I co-founded Breathe Deep Cincinnati 5K which raised more than $80,000 for lung cancer research and early detection before Covid-19 came along and forced us to end our annual events. My non-profit work with Breathe Deep Cincinnati was pivotal for me, not only did it give me a space to process my grief alongside others who understood my pain, but it made me miss connecting with people on a personal level in the way I did when I was a makeup artist.

Being in the midst of grief, you have a greater appreciation for little things like going to get a haircut, getting your nails done, lunch with a friend, etc. when you’re going through hell on Earth, something like that can be your only mental refuge. I began to find my love for makeup again, I stopped seeing it as something that didn’t matter, and remembered that the time my client has with me may be the only hour in their day where they get to feel taken care of and get to forget about what hardships are going on in their life – if only for a little while.

When I decided to come back to the industry, however, I told myself, “okay, this is it, If I’m doing it, I’m doing it MY way. I’m coming back as the tomboy brand I’ve always wanted to be and if it flops – it flops, but at-least I’ll be being true to myself and my values”. Guess what? KO Beauty is more successful than my previous business ever dreamed of being and more importantly – more fulfilling. I get to be myself all day every day, I wear gym clothes and sneakers to work, my clients feel more like friends, and I got to create a brand centered around the sport my dad introduced me to and that we both loved so much – boxing. KO Beauty is a very personal tribute to my dad. My dad spent his life rooting for the underdog and would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it, even if it was the only one he had. KO is my way of carrying on his legacy in the only way I know how.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kobeautycincy.com
• Instagram: @knockoutcincy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KObeautyCincy/
• Other: You’re A Knockout Podcast *Streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you stream your favorite shows*

Image Credits
Lauren W Smith Photography