I started my career in the Beauty Industry 20 years ago after I attended college at Miami University for Business. While in college I worked at Lancome cosmetics. This is where I knew that I was meant to work with people and fell in love with helping others feel amazing. I spent the first half of my career working for a large salon in the Cincinnati area. During this time, my husband and I started and grew our family of 5. With his schedule of 48 hours away at a time and my long hours, we struggled to find childcare at times. As our kids activities became more demanding of our time, we had to find a way for one of us to be available. I took a position at a smaller salon with flexible hours so that my husband could remain a full-time Fire Fighter / Paramedic. I was starting over completely and the struggle was real. I took numerous training and utilized social media at the time when Instagram was exploding. It was here that I found out about an Elleebana Lash Lift Training coming to the USA. I sent a message and asked for more information and was told that it was actually an educator training in Las Vegas. I remember asking my husband what his thoughts were. Money was tight and he didn’t think it was a good idea at that time. Fast forward a few weeks and non-stop hounding him, he said go ahead.

In October of 2015, I boarded a flight to Las Vegas for a 24-hour trip. This is the day that my career changed, literally. I arrived to class early and sat there with so much anticipation of what the day would entail. I was honored to meet Otto and was very impressed to see him there teaching our class.  I saw my first lash lift and tint in person and was mesmerized. I will never forget the black and violet tint combo that Otto used on our green-eyed model. It’s still my favorite tint combo to this day. At the end of class we were told that we were also able to be sub-distributors for Elleebana and Belmacil. I didn’t really understand what all that meant at that moment. I boarded my red eye flight home and couldn’t believe that I was given the opportunity to educate others on an amazing service. I knew lash lifts would take off and they did just that.

I returned to the salon that I was working at and was booked with lash lift and tints. Everyone wanted to get their lashes done and loved their results. Within 2 months I left that salon to lease a small space of my own so that I could begin holding small training. I had students traveling in from states far away. My class sizes outgrew my loft so I partnered with a local hotel and rented a conference room to teach in. Every class I would take everything needed and set up for my class by myself. Then after a long day of training, I would pack it all up and head home. I traveled to several cities throughout Ohio and the surrounding states to train others. I did this for a few years and then decided it was time to open my own salon and training studio. In March of 2019, Paradigm Beauty Studio opened it’s doors with myself and 5 employees.

A year later Covid came along. The day before our 1 year anniversary, I left our studio in tears. I knew deep down the “2 weeks to stop the spread” was going to be much longer. Although we were only closed for 6 weeks, it felt like an eternity. Covid brought a lot of hardship to people all across the globe. I was thankful that we were only closed for 6 weeks. I heard so many times from clients and customers that woman wanted their lashes and brows done because that was all people could see behind their face masks. This is when we created Paradigm Beauty Supply and shifted our distribution model. We wanted to focus on providing our clients with the tools to be as successful as possible. My husband could see that I was struggling to find a balance. Between seeing clients, holding training, trying to connect with local salons and schools to introduce our products, marketing, social media, trainer support, student support, managing my salon, being a boss, being a mom and a wife, I was stretched to all lengths and exhausted. I worked all day, every day. In between my kids practices and games I would jump on a zoom. I would schedule calls with customers while driving in the car to their practices. I would travel with my kids for their sports and find myself looking for a quit hallway to take a call. I sat up for hours every night after my kids went to bed trying to get caught up so that I could start the next day with a smaller to-do list. I knew that I needed help, but I didn’t want to ask. My husband was stressed with his full-time job and helping his parents on his days off. Because covid brought so much with it, his job just wasn’t the same anymore. I had an employee leave to open a business just like mine in the next town over. My employees followed her. I remember one of them making a comment about how much time I put into my Elleebana training and distribution business. She wasn’t wrong, I put so much time into it, but I don’t regret a moment of it. I would do it all over again. In fact, experiencing this pushed me to build my salon back stronger than before. At that same time, my husband came to me and said that he had decided to quit his job to be able to help our business and be available for me, our kids and his parents. Man was this scary! My employees just left and my husband was quitting his job. But this was exactly what we all were needing. The salon needed a fresh start. We all needed it. In September of 2021, after 20 years of service, he resigned from the Fire Department and became the full-time manager and co-owner of our distribution business. Never in a million years did I think the man who at one time years back, asked me to find a different job with a steady income, would be right by my side helping our business grow. Our salon was back to a great team in no time. I have stepped away from seeing clients with the exception of a few. We moved Paradigm Beauty Supply right next door to Paradigm Beauty Studio so that I can bounce back and forth throughout the day and tend to what both businesses need. Our kids see us work, a lot. But they see us work together on everything. Our hope is that our family business keeps growing and our kids will grow into adults and join our team.

Elleebana has blessed us in so many ways. I have met so many amazing people over the years. I have built friendships with others all across the country. I have been able to travel and see new places. I am blessed to have the opportunity to help others grow their business. I have an amazing Elleebana Family and a great team of trainers. I have had a front-row seat watching this amazing brand grow and keep evolving.  7 years doesn’t seem like a long time. In fact, these 7 years have gone by quickly. The saying really is true that time flies when you are having fun.