We recently connected with Sarah Zamora and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

It was May of 2022. My boss and I had both agreed that it was time for me to move on from her spa to find something that would fulfill me more, which was the second time that this had happened. I had worked with celebrities and big-name clientele, I worked at headquarters for a major skin care brand, I did some public speaking about skin care, and I had been a makeup artist for a TV show—how could this keep happening to me? Why wasn’t I more successful ?

I had two small kids to provide for and I had no idea how I was going to make ends meet. I didn’t know much at that time, other than how much I didn’t want to be an employee for another spa. Even though many people had told me I should start my own business, I unqualified myself and shut down the idea. So, I sat in my one-bedroom apartment, and I started talking to God.

It wasn’t your standard prayer–I was spiraling. There was a lot of blame and panic and I remember saying, “You brought me here, so I need you to fix it!”
I waited for a sign or something audible to happen, but it was silent.

Fast forward to a week later, it’s May 5, 2022, and I’m starting to softly consider the entrepreneurship route. It’s about 10 AM or so, the kids are with their dad for the weekend, and I turn on YouTube to try and find a word of encouragement. Before I pick a video, I humble myself and ask God again, “Please
speak to me, show me what I need to see.”
So, I turn on a random sermon and it lands on this guy named Mike Todd. I’m listening to his sermon, and he starts talking about “unusual acceleration”. He used the bamboo tree as an example and started describing how before it sprouts, it grows under the ground for 3 years before you see anything on top.

Right when he said that, it dawned on me that I had just completed 3 years at the job I had just left.

“Mm, must be a coincidence”, I thought. I continue to listen.

“When it starts to sprout, after being unseen, underutilized, and under peoples’ feet…in the right atmosphere, it can grow two inches an hour…the season you have been under has been preparing you for unusual acceleration.”

Immediately, tears start running down my face. It all connected for me, and I KNEW that was the confirmation I needed. Against all odds (my own thoughts being the main odds), I press record on my iPhone and start filming my process. 3 weeks later, I opened up my studio, and named it Bamboo Aesthetics+.

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

I have been a licensed aesthetician since 2016. My first job was working for/with a well-known celebrity aesthetician. I got to travel and understand that side of the beauty world. While I was there, I also learned marketing, product naming, how to read the skin and the importance of research. That was the start of my career, and since then I have been a speaker at a girls’ conference, a makeup artist for a television show, and as of January 1 of this year, I am now located in downtown Austin!

I offer corrective facials, chemical peels, microchanneling, hydradermabrasion, and have curated skin tightening treatments exclusive to my studio. Yes, that sounds like every aesthetician everywhere, but, what’s unique to my approach is that I have a team of women in the healthcare field that I not only learn from, but also refer my clients out to when the skin is showing signs of food sensitivity, hormonal imbalances and disease.

My studio is also kid-friendly! As long as you can relax and they can sit, bring them with you!

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Yes! I actually made a decision to close down my business in December of 2023 and told no one. Business was slow for months, and the bills were racking up. I was trying to save money by getting my groceries from food pantries, skipping meals so my kids could eat, and trying every marketing strategy I could think of. Something had to give. I kept feeling this suffocating guilt that I was sacrificing way too much for my dream and that my kids deserve something more stable. So, I told my landlord that I wasn’t going to be able to make rent and I was going to have to shut down.
That same night I was scrolling on Facebook and saw a post on this room rental for estheticians page I was following. Someone was wanting a suitemate for their studio off 5th street. it was HALF the price of what I was paying! I messaged her, toured the place the following day and about 3 weeks later I moved in! Now here we are–still standing.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the relationship I had with money and that there is such thing as good debt. Not spending on the things my business actually needed (like signs, inventory, supplies, marketing items, etc.) because I was afraid of debt got in the way of scaling my business on numerous occasions. It’s about figuring out balance and assessing risk-management.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sarahzamora.glossgenius.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bambooaesthetics_plus
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/selfcarexsarah/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bamboo-aesthetics-austin

Image Credits

Brianna Oliva