Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Torres.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I always knew I wanted to pursue in the beauty industry. I got a lot of inspiration from my aunt Melody Cruz, who is a cosmetologist. I remember going to her as a young girl and just being inspired by her having her own business and just making people feel great and better about themselves simply by cutting their hair.
When I would bring up wanting to be in the beauty industry to my parents they were very supportive from the get-go. I remember being in high school wanting to learn how to wax so my parents bought me an affordable waxing kit and I practiced on anyone and everyone who would allow me to, and from doing so that’s where my passion really started to grow. I just enjoyed seeing the look on people‘s face after doing their eyebrows. It gave me a sense of joy that I can make someone feel good about themselves.
When I graduated from high school, I attended college for a little bit however, I knew that that was not the route that I wanted to go. I tried to get into beauty school several times however, I was too young to have a student loan taken out in my name so I had to wait until I was 25. One month after I turned 25 I went straight to the Milan Institute of Cosmetology and was finally able to enroll myself into the esthetician program. I immediately fell in love with all things that were being taught in the program from facials, waxing, eyelash extensions etc. I knew that this was what I was supposed to do. This was the route that I had waited so long to take and I was finally there and I was gonna do everything in my power to get as good as I can get in every single service that I can offer.
When I got my license about one month later, I was the newest Esthetician at Diamante Nail Studio. I was at the salon for a little over a year and I loved every minute of it now that I’m gone from the salon I’m currently home based and working towards my goal of owning my own salon one day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In all honesty, I believe that this whole process has been fairly a smooth road with minor bumps only because this is my first time ever owning and running a business on my own so it can be difficult at times knowing how to manage your money for certain things as far as product and tools that you’re needing and so forth. Other than that, like I mentioned, it’s been smooth sailing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a licensed esthetician. I perform facials, waxing and eyelash extensions. I specialize in eyelash extensions since this is my all-time favorite service that I offer.
What I’m most proud of is the ability to do the lash services when I first started to learn how to do lashes it was difficult, while yes I did pick it up right away my lash skills were not great. There was definitely room for improvement and as I kept practicing I started to get better and better. Even now I am still always practicing and trying to find new ways that I can better myself and make my lash services more memorable.
I think what sets me apart from others is that I really don’t care to charge a whole lot when it comes to my services. I am OK with offering my services at a low cost because this is something that I genuinely love to do and I’m not doing it to make the money I do it because I love to make people feel good about themselves.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
A piece of advice that I can give to anybody is use social media as your number one tool reach out to anyone and everyone that you possibly can because there are people out there that are willing to help you. There are going to be so many people out there that are willing to give you the small tips to help you better yourselves when it comes to the services that you’re offering what you can do to market yourself better courses you can take to better yourself in the beauty community.
Pricing:
- Classic lash $80.00
- Hybrid lash $90.00
- Volume lash $100.00
- Specialty sets $100.00
- Mega volume lash $110.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Estialice.glossgenius.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esti.alice
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@esti.alice
