We were lucky to catch up with Tasha Roberts recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tasha, thanks for joining us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

Not even a year after the pandemic I decided to enroll in permanent make up apprenticeship. I knew this was something that would separate my business from the others in town.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was working a full-time corporate job & 2 part time jobs and one day during the early part of 2018 while I was working out, I had an epiphany that I was not meant to work a 9-5 job. I decided ok I am going to run with this, I have no idea what i am going to do but i am going to figure it out. On Instagram and You Tube eyelash extensions kept coming up. This sparked my interested so i started researching what i would need to start. Lucky for me, Missouri is one of the last few states that do not require any certificates or license to do eyelash extensions. I found a company based out of California that was going to be doing a training course near me in August. I started saving and signed up for a certification course. Took the course August 27th and had my first client September 1st and the rest is history.

Originally my goal was to gradually work my way to full time self-employment and planned for one year from when I started my first set of lashes. Little did I realize how many women WANTED lashes. By February of 2019 I went part time and April 11th was my last day working a 9-5 job. I was nervous but I just told myself failure was not an option. I was the first and only full time last artist in my town and I loved my job. I was giving women an opportunity to relax and leave feeling beautiful and confident. As I continued to grow my business, I knew I would need to additional services to set me apart. I slowly started adding services such as brow tinting, brow threading, lash lift & tints, custom spray tans.

Fast forward to early 2020 when COVID hit and hit hard. I was celebrating my 1 year from leaving corporate America at home, wondering if I had made the right decision. I just kept telling myself if I can make it through this, I can handle anything. Guess what, I did and then decided to make an even bigger move and put myself through a permanent make up apprenticeship. I knew this was going to be a huge step in the right direction and the opportunities with permanent makeup are endless. While going through my apprenticeship I started working on building my own eyelash extension course and currently offer a group course in the fall and spring and offer private one on one training. I graduated in July of 2021 and was on my own. Yikes! But I had a great mentoring team that I am forever grateful for. A couple months after graduating i realized I had a tough decision to make. I currently was booked out 6-8 weeks for lashes and I needed to be available for permanent make up. So, do I stop doing lashes all together or do I hire someone to help me? I wasn’t sure if I was ready for an employee or if I was even capable of being a good boss, but I also knew I didn’t want to stop offering lashes.
January 2022, I hired my first employee, and she started taking my classic lash extension clients and new clients and the business continues to grow.
I know my business is a luxury and I have the best clients and friends. I realize my services are not for everyone, but I know they know someone who would benefit from my services and send me referrals.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I offered my clients 5% off if they checked in on facebook at their appointments. This got their friends (who were not my friends) wondering what was B’Lashed!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My goal was to create a nice, calm, relaxing environment for my clients. How often do you get to unplug and not deal with kids, spouses, work, just life. I have your eyes closed you can’t look at your phone. Relax, breath, take a nap and when you wake up you with have beautiful lashes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.blashedbytasharoberts.com/
• Instagram: Blashed Society
• Facebook: B’Lashed Society