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

Stephanie , appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Referring out. You cannot treat everyone and that is OK. It’s OK to refer out when needed and I have done so plenty of times. Yes, I get a little sad that I lose a client but my conscious is able to sleep at night knowing I made the right decision. Every client is a different scenario when I choose to refer out. I have referred them out to med spas, dermatologist, naturopaths and sometimes even circling back to their primary doctor to re evaluate the situation as well.

Stephanie , 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 never wanted to be an esthetician. This is something that I happened to stumble into when I needed to make a career change in my late 20’s with no college degree to fall back on. (Which at the time I was deeply regretting not attending college) I moved to a new town which forced me to transfer warehouses for work. At my new warehouse I was getting bullied by a manager. I spoke with the general manager and called corporate plenty of times and the situation did not get fixed which lead me to go to beauty school. Once graduated I wanted to work in an med spa, did tons of interviews but was not getting hired because I was still working for that warehouse and the schedules were clashing. So then I went and rented a room inside a nail shop with zero clientele in a new town I just moved too with no friends or family in town. I originally wanted to do lash extensions but quickly failed since I didn’t have anyone to practice on. I tried waxing and did not enjoy that either. So that left me with facials, I was doing facials and lash lifts from the room I was renting and started re thinking everything. I did not know how to really do facials and lash lifts were a pain at times to do because of the inconsistent results it would give. I Started to get an influx of acne clients and I didn’t know what to do them. I also had acne at the time. How am I able to help my acne clients if I can’t even help myself. So then I got to work. I started deep diving the World Wide Web and found an acne safe skincare line. Invested in the brand and training. And the rest is history. I have grown sooo much from when I first started and there were times when I wanted to give up so bad but didn’t. I am great full everything worked out and I love all my clients for trusting me. I would not be where I am at today if it wasn’t for my clients! They are the real MVP!!

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

Pivoting my life when I was starting not to feel happy anymore. I was crying everyday before work and after work. I also got a therapist to get a second opinion from the advice my family was telling me. Then I realized my family and therapist were giving me the same advice. I was going through so many emotions because I had worked for this company for 11 years and that’s all I knew in life. So finding a new job was a scary feeling and thought but I knew I needed to make a change if I wanted to be happy. I am glad I made the change, it wasn’t easy, but I figured it out

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I had to keep a second job to help build my business. I knew it was time to quit that second job once I noticed clients wanting to come in outside of my salon hours and I wasn’t able to accommodate them because I had to work. So that’s when I quit and went full time in the treatment room.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://barecomplexionacneandskincare.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barecomplexionskincare?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Barecomplexionskincare?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@barecomplexionskincare?si=LTubPh6jzZzZLsNd
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/JtGWCueUAz
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@barecomplexionskincare?_t=ZP-8wxjFx4s3dm&_r=1