 Good afternoon. I am Shavina Baker and I am the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Educator for the Northern Illinois CTE project team. And today we have a Trailhead video with Amy Fisher, who is an entrepreneur and an esthetician. As you might know, our Trailhead series is specifically designed for teachers to be able to show videos from individuals in industry and then show those directly in their classrooms. So it is my hope today that we will learn a little bit about Amy and her career, as well as get some insight as to what it takes to become an esthetician. So good afternoon, Amy. Thank you so much for joining us. Could you tell me just a little bit about yourself? Yes, well, my name is Amy Fisher. I grew up here in Rockford and I also went to Cosmetology School here in Rockford. I graduated from Educators of Beauty back in 2018. And then after I left there, I went directly to working at an eyebrow shop. I worked there for about four years and then I decided to open my own brow studio, which is where I currently work now. That is amazing. So could you tell us just a little bit about your career and what you're excited about as it pertains to your career choice? I guess what excites me the most would be being able to make people look and feel better about themselves and make transformations on people. And so what type of transformations do you do for your clients? Mostly eyebrows. That's what I specialize in, but I also do makeup and lash extensions. And could you describe what a day in your salon looks like for our students? Yes. So like I said, I mostly do brows. So since it is a quicker service, I'm able to fit quite a lot of people into one day for my schedule. So it's a pretty fast-paced environment. Okay. And how many clients would you say that you see a day? On a full day, I would say about 45. Wow. That's a lot of people. So from day to day, do you find that there are certain seasons that you get more business than other times? Definitely summer. Everybody wants to look really good. Yeah, because we're outside. So what brought you to this career field, Amy? What made you think that this was going to be your career path? Well, I've always been interested in anything concerning the beauty industry. I remember when I was a kid, going to church, I used to bring my little tweezers and do all the girls' brows in the nursery at church. So it's always been something that I've been interested in. Okay. Did you know in high school that that was going to be your career path and what types of things that did you do when you were preparing to become an S? Well, back in high school, I originally thought I wanted to be doing hair. So I didn't really take any classes pertaining to that. Everything I learned back then mostly came off of YouTube. And then while I was in school, I kind of went more towards, because I'm a cosmetologist, but the work that I do now would be classified more under aesthetics. Okay. And have you ever worked in a hair salon or did you pursue that career path? Not at all, actually. After I graduated school, I went directly to doing eyebrows. Okay. And what were your favorite classes in high school? We have a lot of high school students that are going to be watching this video. Were there any things that you excelled in that translated into your career? Honestly, my favorite classes in high school were probably English and literature. I grew up in a pretty strict Christian household, so I wasn't really able to express my liking for the things in this industry back then, but yeah. So for the people that are watching this video, like I said, students and teachers, specifically those who may be interested in cosmetology or being an aesthetician, what advice would you give someone who is interested in your career field? I would say try to narrow down what you're most interested in within this industry, and then specialize in that, that way you can really master your craft. And do you have any like idols or people that you follow on social media that kind of give you inspiration? I have a few girls on Instagram that I follow that their work is just like chef's kits. Okay. And what would you say is the most difficult part of your, your career? Probably that things are constantly changing, like with trends, so you have to constantly be learning, I guess. And what's the latest thing that you've learned in your field? The latest thing would be eyebrow laminations. Can you tell me a little bit? What is it? So it's basically like an eyebrow lift, so it uses a solution to lift the way your brow hairs lay to give you a fuller appearance. And then it also includes eyebrow tinting, which just darkens the color of your brows. Okay. I might need to try that. You are. Amy, we also know and have learned through this interview that you are also an entrepreneur and a self employed business owner. Could you talk to me a little bit about what inspired you to go out on your own in the steps that you kind of took to make that happen for yourself? What inspired me? Well, I guess I've always wanted to work for myself. What was your other question? So being an entrepreneur, how did you take that leap in instead of working for someone else decide to work for yourself? It's something that I thought about for a long time before I actually did it. I definitely wanted to build my clientele before I did so. So once I felt like I had my clientele locked in, I just went ahead and did it. And what are some of the challenges of being a small business owner? Let's see. I would have to think about that one. That might have to be a loop. That's okay. We can come back to that one. So one of the things that we focus on in this Trailhead series is the essential skills. And essential skills are skills that students will need to be successful in the workplace and in their careers. So the ability to be able to communicate, the ability to be able to resolve conflict, the ability to be able to manage their time, the ability to be professional and presentable and all of those things. What essential skills do you think that you use to be able to be not just an esthetician but a small business owner? What type of customer service and do you need to have? I definitely would say communication would be at the top of the list. Also, being able to pay attention to detail and then also being able to work closely with different types of people from different walks of life. And if I were looking to be an esthetician, but I was afraid of not being good at my craft, what would you say gave you the strength or the resilience to be able to do what it is that you do? Well, I would say to someone that is a little afraid, try to see if you can shadow a cosmetologist or an esthetician for a day that way you can get a feel for what the job really looks like. And also just don't be afraid to make mistakes, especially starting out you 100% will make mistakes because that's how you're going to learn so. And you're dealing with people's faces. So talk to me a little bit maybe about an experience that you've had where you've had to use some of those essential skills when dealing with the customer. I remember starting out, I was doing a wax and I accidentally waxed this lady's whole eyebrow off so I feel like honesty is the best policy. Always be honest with your clients. Always communicate with them, let them know what's going on. So even if you do make a mistake, if you kind of talk to them about it, it kind of cushions the blow. And when you're talking about being a business owner, specifically as it relates to your field, what type of licensure do you need to be able to open your own salon? What type of, what is the process to do that? So you'll either need a cosmetology or an aesthetics license. For cosmetology, it's a year long program and then aesthetics would be about six or seven months. Okay, okay. And what advice would you give to non-traditional students if a young man wanted to go into being an esthetician, what advice would you give to that individual? I would definitely say go for it and just don't let people discourage you, you know, based on your gender, you know, because I used to work with a young man at my old, my old broad-threading shop and he was very good. So just don't be discouraged by what people may say. Okay. And so this is a fun question. People often talk about, you know, their failures and how they overcome failure. How do you celebrate? How do you celebrate this amazing accomplishment that you've been able to open up your own shop and be, you know, your own boss essentially? What are some of the things that you do to celebrate your successives? I guess I like to celebrate the most with my family. It's very, it's rewarding being able to make them proud and also I'll just do like little things like I'll buy myself something that I've been wanting or give myself like a little self-care day, stuff like that. Okay. Let's double back to the question that I asked in regards to what excites you about being a business owner. What are the things that you take pride in about owning your own business? I guess I take pride in it's something that I built for myself. And what are your future plans? Well, I plan to expand so I would like to expand to a larger location and be able to teach classes in the future. And would that be for a cost so that people could actually come and learn from you? Yes. Awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time out to speak with me today. I know that this information will be extremely valuable to potential students who are looking to either go into cosmetology, want to be an esthetician, or even want to be an entrepreneur and go out on their own. So I really appreciate you taking the time to speak. Of course. Thank you for having me. Right.