In March, Nguyen reached $65,000 of service sales.
“When I first started, I was probably like late 20s, and I knew I loved what I did. So really, I wasn’t looking at the numbers because for me, I love what I did and that’s what mattered,” Nguyen said.
She gives credit to Ulta Beauty for the company’s help to build her business, but is also grateful for the time she has to spend time with her family.
“I think for me, to have a well-rounded work life balance, I was able to hit that [goal] too. I’m kind of pushing my goals a little higher,” Nguyen said.
According to Ulta Beauty, as of Jan. 28, there are 1,355 stores across every state in the country, but not every location has a skin therapist.
“Ulta has about 1,400 stores nationwide and before the pandemic, each had a skin therapist. But with everything closing down, they only reopened about 150 locations. So I am the only [skin therapist] in our district,” Nguyen said.
After the pandemic, she has had to rebuild some of her business but still had loyal clients.
“I had a lot of loyal clients and customers who have waited for me, but I’m sure people have either left, they’ve moved away or maybe financial reason, but luckily, I think with the pandemic people are more skin conscious, they’re all about self care and I think that’s really helped.”
Nguyen knew she had an interest in the beauty industry, as her first job after graduating high school was at Ulta, but she then went onto the University of Cincinnati where she graduated with her bachelor’s in English.
Before returning to school, she traveled to South Korea to teach English, but also discovered her passion for skin care.
“In hindsight, I think it kind of like opened up my passion for skin and beauty,” Nguyen said.
After returning from South Korea, she got married, worked and started a family.
“Just in the middle of trying to juggle being a new mom, working, I wanted to go back to that passion,” she said.
While being a new mother, Nguyen worked full-time and put herself through school at The Salon Professional Academy in Cincinnati. She took classes at night and on the weekends to get her license as an esthetician in 2011.
“With my background in English and education, I’m still kind of doing that, as an esthetician I’m teaching, so that kind of goes hand-in-hand,” she said.
Ulta’s menu offers various skin and beauty services, and some include: 30 to 60 minute customized facials, microdermabrasion, dermaplaning, eyelash extensions, makeup application, ear piercings and waxing.
“You can create your own customized experience,” Nguyen said. “I’ve seen clients cry after makeup application, and those are the ones that really tug on your heartstrings.”
Nguyen has a private treatment room at her Ulta location, and she said it helps her clients feel more comfortable.
“The nice thing about my location is that I have the privacy of a room, I think people like that privacy,” Nguyen said. “A lot of times I joke around, a skin therapist is almost like a therapist because you get to know your clients and they share with you, their like milestones and life happenings.”
When it comes to the instant outcome of a service, Nguyen said the instant gratification of seeing results is nice but, “to kind of be on a journey with someone when it comes to their insecurities, whether it’s like aging or acne.”
Nguyen says she there is a lot of business right now, and social media has brought in a new wave of clients. Her current clientele is a mixture of both returning and new faces, but she says the job has become more challenging now because the expectations are higher due to filters and social media.
“Being able to really be real with them, I think doing my best to kind of bring out what I see is their natural beauty features and having them actually be happy with the end result, because everyone is different,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen says she has been able to do homecoming and prom makeup for high schoolers, and then do their wedding makeup years later.
“I’ve really watched them grow as they’ve seen me grow in my work,” she said.
Aside from her roles at Ulta, JoAnn is also a certified expert with Dermalogica, which means she has the highest level of skin care expertise, and receives new products prior to its launch and invites to expert-only workshops.
“I’m an educator for Ulta, but I’m also a certified expert for Dermalogica, so really it’s like the perfect marriage,” Nguyen said. “So I’m educating not only my students, but also my clients. I actually use Dermalogica in my treatment room.”
Nguyen said makeup, skin and beauty has always been easy to her, but the interactions and relationships she has built with her clients has made it easier to keep doing what she loves while making professinal accomplishments.
“I think I was really able to build relationships with my guests, that’s where it started to change,” she said.
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