We were lucky to catch up with Tinel Carapia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tinel , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started out my brow artist journey working for major artists in the industry. Straight after esthetician school i was trained by a fellow friend and senior brow artist who quickly got me an interview at kelley baker brows. If you dont know who she is I would definitely google her because she is pne of the best in the industry. I was hired on and she quickly took me under her wing as her protoje. I was working on many celeb clients (some to which i still make house calls out to see). Her shop really taught everything I know. Unfortunately my time there only lasted a little over a year before I was offered an opportunity to rent my own space at a tanning salon in studio city. At the time my commute was about 2 hours each way so studio city was definitely a closer option and i had the ability to grow my own clientelle. I was new in the area so I really had to advertise myself. I took ads in the local magazine, I made flyers and walked to local businesses and offered discounts for neighbors, I even went onto to social media and reached out to influencers for free brows in exchange for a shout out. I made $75 my first week. I hustled to get people into my little room and quickly filled my books! the tanning shop i worked in had a second location in newport beach which the owner asked if id like to try one day out there since the buzz was she had a great brow artist in studio city and the choices in artists in newport beach at the time were not at the level of what I was offering. That one day I worked from 9am to 9pm and I was slammed. From there i added days in newport until I became full time there. Since the demand was so great the owner gave me the only space she could which was the tiniest little closet space. There was no AC, no leg room, really no convenience for my clients so after working there for 4 years I finally decided to make the move and look for a new home. I didnt necessarily want to open my own space but I stumbled upon a little office area where I could fit a couple more stations and a treatment room. The rent was great so I went for it! The place was severely neglected so my now husband, family members and friends helped to remodel the whole place and make it The Highbrow. I wanted to make this space an environment to help artists grow. I didnt want them to feel like I had felt in the past. Burn out is real so I really wanted to provide them with a positive space where theycan make money and have fun.

Tinel , 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 started out as a makeup artist at MAC cosmetics. I worked for the brand for about 6 years and did freelance makeup on the side. I have loved everything about the beauty and fashion industry since I was young and MAC was the perfect blend of those two houses. I love providing clients with the gift of beauty. Seeing their confidence soar because of a service I provided or something I taught them fulfills me beyond any other job I have had. I always try to maintain a positive vibe in the shop, laughter and smiles is the best way to make someone feel welcomed so I try to leave my problems at the door and enjoy my time at work. I love what I do and I am confident in my work which makes people and clients feel comfortable coming to me and referring me. MY years of experience and training have really molded my approach on my artistry and the way I am able to handle this business.

Have you ever had to pivot?

in the second year of opening my business we endured a flood. The entire ceiling caved in and my business was underwater. I quickly had to make some very important decisions for the business. MY insurance was not where it needed to be to cover everything so I had to rely on the building owner and my own money to fix everything. OF course during the renovations they found everything from asbestos to mold, termites, literally everything you would expect to find ina building built in the 1950’s. We ended up renting out a back house from a client for 4 months, and renting out some chairs from a local brow studio for another month while the construction team fixed our little shop. Thankfully we have amazing clients and they were very good about being understanding during this time, even though we cringed everytime we had to click open a back yard fence for them to enter. definitely a cringe moment for a business owner with a newport beach demographic. There was a silver lining and we were able to double our shop size due to previous renters leaving due to the flood.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

The first big event we did was a tattoo convention called Musink. this convention was a mix of tattoo artists from around the world, music talent (big names such as blink182) classic cars, and vendors (food, beer, clothing, etc.) I had the idea of applying since my microblade license is technically a tattoo license. They were very hesitant about allowing me to vend because at the time microblading was new and tattoo artists did not necessarily agree with the categorization of the art. Micfroblade artists were getting a lot of cristicism at the time so they were scared we would get bullied. They finally agreed to accept my application but they would put us in the back of the show, after going back and forth about my process and the working conditions at the shop. As an attendee at this convention for years I knew that we needed to stand out especially since we are all females in a predominantly male industry/ convention. So we went for it! Gold sequence curtains, Pink sequence table cloths, all female tattoed visuals, pink flyers, and of course cute little pink outfits to match. We walked around and handed out koozies and pins that were brow related, but had innuendos. We were a hit and invited back every year after getting bigger spaces with more visibility.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://square.site/book/FMM66X0GMMK7H/the-highbrow-newport-beach-ca
• Instagram: thehighbrowoc

Image Credits
Lexi Hatch photography