Salon owner is offering ‘life-changing opportunity’ to start a business
A BEESTON beauty salon owner is seeking to give a “life-changing opportunity” to someone to set up their own beauty business.
Sarah Clay, 41, owner of The Lash Lounge in Queens Road, is gifting all her beauty training courses to someone to give them the opportunity to set up on their own.
In 2018, Sarah was faced with mental health issues and was at “rock bottom”. During this time, her dad paid for her to do an eyelash course which helped her push into the beauty industry, opening The Lash Lounge in 2019.
The former cabin crew worker then expanded her business and opened The Lounge Beauty Training Academy next door, in October last year.
Since first opening her business, Sarah has been a mental health advocate within the beauty industry and has focused on creating a safe space in her salon.
Now, she hopes to give back to someone who is struggling and wishes to make a positive change to their own life by gifting training courses worth a total of £2,500.
“The reason that I’m doing it is because when I first started this business I was not in a good place,” she said. “I was not in a good place mentally, or in a good relationship. I had come out of a really bad relationship and I was at rock bottom.
“My dad literally helped me by paying for a lash course for me to do, which has then subsequently ended up with me doing this.
“I was on my own with two children, I had no money. Although I had got another job as a cabin crew, there was no extra money whatsoever. I was at rock bottom mentally.
“The reason that I’m doing it is that I can resonate with being in a bad place mentally. I can’t just limit it to somebody that’s got poor mental health issues, so the reason that we’ve opened it up to anybody that has got an issue is because my clients are from some sort of background – from fostering, probation, a youth offender. “I would like to give someone the opportunity who has been, and maybe still is, at rock bottom; someone who feels they have nowhere else to go; someone who maybe has made poor life choices in the past but wants to change that. I want to be able to give them the opportunity to set up their own beauty business, to give them a head start to have a career and a prosperous future.” She said that she is looking for a person who is ambitious and willing to turn their life around – whatever their circumstances
are. Sarah continued: “I want to find somebody that has had enough, that they don’t want to live their life as it is any more. Somebody who wants to make a positive change, someone who wants to get up in the morning and be able to earn some money.
“I want to find the right person, who is ambitious, they have got to want to turn up and use these courses, they’ve got to use the skills that I’m giving them. They could go away and open a salon or they could go away and be mobile or do it from their home.”
The courses include one-to-one training in a salon setting with live models. The trainee will be taught all aspects of the lash and brow business, how to set up as selfemployed, how to manage social media and get started on the road to success. It also includes salon mentoring.
When Sarah first started working in the beauty industry she began working in her front room, hence the name The Lash Lounge. At the same time, she was working as airline cabin crew and, after 16 years of flying, she left in 2019 to open her first salon.
Last year, her salon was crowned Salon Ambience of the Year 2023 at The English Hair and Beauty Awards and this year it is up for Beauty Salon of the Year at the English Hair and Beauty Awards 2024.
Sarah also explained that confidentiality for the selected trainee is important. The individual who receives the courses will remain anonymous throughout the process. She said: “You’re just another student, I won’t treat you any differently. Nobody needs to know whether it’s you, I won’t make it public if you win.”
In terms of choosing the trainee, there will be a rigorous interview process and backing will be needed from any support network, for example probation, social worker, or family support worker. A panel of independent professionals, not connected to the business, will help assess the successful applicant.
She said: “It will be meeting up with this person and seeing if they are passionate enough to do it. We’ve got to find the right person that is serious, that is what we will be going through. If they are able to facilitate it in their life, whether it’s going to make it harder for them or if it’s going to cause any issues, as a group of us if we can assess that and how we can support them to do the course.”
She continued to add that sending an email to her could be lifechanging, saying: “I think it’s a real opportunity to help somebody that’s less fortunate and I’m very much about it’s nice to be nice.
“I want them to be able to feel that they’re not alone and their circumstances don’t differentiate what they can do and that their situation doesn’t differentiate their future. Just send the email, just send me an email and we can go from there. A free email to send could change your life, could change your children’s life.”
To apply, applicants have to email Sarah why they believe they deserve the opportunity. She has extended the application deadline to the end of March and it is expected that the applicant will be trained by June. Email Thelashlounge.sarah@gmail.com
I would like to give someone the opportunity who has been, and maybe still is, at rock bottom. Sarah Clay