We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sierra Ostler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sierra, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

I am Sierra Ostler the creator behind Soc Skin. I founded Soc Skin in 2020 with the goal of creating a skincare studio that revolved around educating my clients while helping them reach their skin goals, in a relaxing, safe space where everyone feels welcome.

As you can imagine becoming a small business owner in 2020 was no small feat. Not only was I navigating the world of building a business in a pandemic, but I was also building a business in a city I had only lived in for 6 months. I was able and continue to build my business off of social media, primarily Instagram. As an aesthetician and a small business owner in general, I can not stress the importance of social media enough. It has allowed me to connect with my clients when they can’t physically be in my office, and share a peak at what working with me looks like, and it has really brought a sense of familiarity to my business before people step in my door.

With this, I wish I had truly taken the time to define my platform and ideal clientele prior to jumping into the social media world, but that’s not to say you can’t do it on the way. If you are a new esthetician or a business owner looking to expand your public reach I would highly recommend doing some research into who your ideal client is. Down the road, it will make it easier to create content that is geared toward the people you want in your business. This could mean you use bright colors over neutral colors, and super big graphics rather than something a bit more minimal. You can also share your niche, if treating acne is what you love make sure that’s known. This will help you to organically weed out any clients that don’t match your vision or energy.

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 for 3 years and have a background in medical aesthetics. After graduating from the Institute of Cosmetology, Esthetics, and Massage in Houston Texas, I began working as the lead aesthetician at a Medspa in Katy, Tx. While working as the lead aesthetician at the Medspa, I worked to build my portfolio and expanded my knowledge through educational seminars, advanced treatments, and training, and working with multiple skincare brands. In 2020, I relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona, and decided to pursue my dream of opening my own education-based skincare studio.

While working closely with clients, I found that many of my clients did not feel that they truly understood why specific products, or treatments, were used or recommended. I wanted to change that with my own Skincare Studio, Soc Skin. I believe that educating my clients on why I am choosing specific products, treatments, and at-home regimens, educates my clients beyond the treatment room, and is paramount to my client’s success in achieving their skin-care goals. That is why at Soc Skin no question will go unanswered, and the goal is for every client to leave feeling as though they know their skin better than when they walked in, armed with the treatments, regimens, and at-home products that set them on a path for success.

At Soc Skin, we offer a variety of professional skincare services from relaxing facials, to corrective treatments, chemical peels, and microneedling. There is truly something for everyone.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I quickly discovered at the age of 15 that I wanted to be an esthetician. As someone who is passionate about seeing people succeed, loves learning, and is a huge creative I don’t think there is another line of work that would have fulfilled me this much. Being an esthetician is one of the hardest and most fulfilling jobs out there. Something a lot of people don’t recognize about facials and the skincare industry is how intimate it is. We all have judged ourselves for our outward appearance, and people are walking into a place they don’t know to get help with everything they dislike about their skin. Through treatments, homecare products, and education I am able to help my clients fall back in love with their skin and find confidence again.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Identify your why. Identifying your why will save you in the lows and bring you back in the highs. My, why is my clients. Soc Skin revolves around educating clients and people all over the world, without that we wouldn’t be Soc Skin. Whenever I am struggling in finding motivation or have a bad day, I remind myself of my why. Sometimes this doesn’t make everything better in an instant, but something about reminding myself of my why allows me to show up every day, focus on my clients, and make it to the other side. I also think it is important to remember your why when you are riding a really high high. When you get a job promotion, get an offer to partner with a brand, or find a bigger space we can often get caught up in the whirlwind of an amazing opportunity and forget our why. Reminding myself allows me to ground and make decisions from a place of what is truly important to my business and what I want to accomplish in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.socskin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soc_skin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socskin/
• Other: https://www.vagaro.com/socskin