We would like to introduce you to Alicia, the owner of Glowing in Beauty Academy based in Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent.
When I spoke to Alicia, she absolutely blew me away. I felt like we went on a little journey together as she told me about her life and the amount that she had achieved in such a short space of time!
Looking back on Alicia’s early career it is obvious that she has always had a huge passion for learning and ensuring that every single person around her had their needs met. Initially, she trained as a dental nurse however her desire to learn saw Alicia retrain in education!
This journey was not as plain sailing as it sounds. She re-sat all of her GCSE’s, level 3 qualifications and then continued on to university where she spent 4 years training to become a teacher. Whilst teaching, Alicia taught children with challenging behaviour and went on to work in a primary school.
When Alicia told me all of this, I had to know how she got into beauty and what she told me was inspiring. The salon where she went for all of her beauty needs was closing down. Beauty and running her own business was something that she had always wanted to do, so she went for it and bought the salon. Prior to this she had completed beauty courses as a hobby and always practised on friends and family.
Once her beauty business opened, Alicia continued to teach part time in primary schools and secondary schools but she often found herself having to step in and complete beauty treatments on clients. So Alicia became a part time teacher/part time beautician/full time business owner/wife/mumma of two!
What better way to combine the two careers that she is most passionate about then opening her own beauty academy?! Alicia created her own training course where she created her own theory manual. She feels really passionate about people’s training and the qualifications they achieve.
Alicia told me about one of the pupils that seemed to struggle on her course. She didn’t want the pupil to leave feeling deflated, that she’d wasted her time or couldn’t apply her new skills to anything. So she invited her back to do the course again with extra support!
Ongoing support is something Alicia is really passionate about! If people are struggling with a course she wants to give them all the resources they need to be able to use their new skills. She creates packs (if they don’t want to buy a kit) full of all the information her students will need to buy the products for their new practice.
Alicia’s positive outlook and generosity poured out whilst we were on the call. I asked how she had managed her three businesses during that last few months. She explained that COVID had really hit the salon and the academy hard, lots of her friends' businesses have closed down. It’s been tough still having to pay rent for buildings that aren’t being used. Insurances are still due and she feared that opening will be like starting from scratch again.
One of my favourite things that Alicia said was - “Everyone has stick together in the beauty industry and support each other. There is enough business to go around. We need to help each other and show each other new ways of doing business”
Like all of our therapists and training providers, Alicia is amazing and talking to her was a breath of fresh air. Her determination to succeed and to continually educate herself and to go on to share all of that knowledge really inspired me!
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