Shannique Austin of Glam Spa by Shannique: Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry

Jilea Hemmings
Authority Magazine
Published in
7 min readAug 30, 2021

Learn the business side and not only focus on the creative side. You really should spend the time to understand managing finances and employees to get the best results in your business.

As a part of our series about “Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shannique Austin — Beauty/Lash Expert, Entrepreneur, Owner/CEO of Glam Spa by Shannique.

In the beauty business for over 20 years, Shannique Austin is known as a talented, “‘it-girl’ artist providing lash services for women and high profile celebrities. Realizing other beauty treatments like facials and manicures were becoming less of a necessity for women during the economic crash, she knew the demand for lashes was always there and opened up her practice in 2008.

Since opening its doors 12 years ago, Glam Spa by Shannique has expanded to include cutting edge services including microneedling facials, hydro facials, plasma lifts, and many more. She also offers classes to help individuals become lash-tech certified as well as training in Microdermabrasion, facials and chemical peels.

Her inspiration has come from the belief that beauty is more than a look, it’s a feeling to inspire. Through eyelash extension artistry and full beauty services, she and her team aim to enhance the unique, natural beauty of every individual.

Named the #1 beauty spa in Los Angeles according to Los Angeles Entrepreneurs magazine, Shannique is able to offer her expertise on all matters relating to the beauty industry and entrepreneurship.

For more information on Glam Spa by Shannique, click here.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I actually started in hair first when I was 19 years old. I put a good few years under my belt until I felt that there was more for me to do so I started taking a different direction. I had always loved skin and felt that this was a new area I could thrive in.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The most interesting thing that happened to me since I began my career was COVID, I think we all can agree with this. The beauty industry in Los Angeles was hit hard. A year shutdown, heartache and the feeling of the unknown was heart wrenching. What pulled us out was our clients. The loyalty, prepaid services and prayers definitely got us through!

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

The tipping point in my career was when the economy crashed in 2008. I had just started to bring eyelash extensions to the Conejo Valley. I noticed women stopped doing their nails, or hair because they couldn’t afford it but lashes were the number one selling service at the salon. I couldn’t believe I had grown my business during that time, but women didn’t necessarily want to look how they felt. I had women coming from all over southern California from Ventura Valley to Los Angeles, so much so that I needed to move to a bigger studio. When I moved locations, my business doubled. From there I moved to a bigger suite, got an assistant and started training girls! Within four years, this led to opening my own shop.

The lessons other people can take away from this to just keep going! Keep taking classes to grow your business, education never ends! Grow when you are confident it will work out, do not jump too quickly!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I had a mentor during my hairstyling days, her name was Diane and she saw my potential. She was a married mom that showed me that it was ok for the woman to have a career and have the man to stay home and take care of the kids. She was the first to put me under her wing and get me into designing for runway shows. She taught me to have courage and believe in myself.

The global beauty industry today has grown to more than a half a trillion dollar business. Can you tell us about the innovations that you are bringing to the industry? How do you think that will help people?

The Beauty industry is growing every year! Here at the spa, I love bringing in new innovations that change the way we can give our clients the results they want. During COVID with the reduction of people in one location it led to us changing the idea of having a reception area and Try Me Bar. To be more conscientious of the current situation we set up a retail bar. With this, we are giving local girls a chance to sell their creations and giving myself a chance to sell fun creations that I can make with my kids at home! Trying out new popup ideas for new retailers has been a fun way to support local business with our clients.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the modern beauty industry?

Three things that excite me about the beauty industry are:

  • New evolutions in machines — I’m seeing a world where we can give our clients results that only used to be available by making medical appointments due to the advancements in technology! It goes back to learning being so fundamental and finding new ways to offer more rewarding services for our clients!
  • Faster Results — Again with the advancement of products and services, results are now faster then they have ever been which is suiting for a world that now moves so quickly!
  • Lash extensions have come a long way! When I first started offering lash service, the lashes were so thick and heavy. Now they have become much finer, lighter, and the clients aren’t bothered by the new versions as much as they used to be. I can not wait to see what will be next!

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to improve the industry, what would you suggest?

Three things that concern me about the beauty industry are:

  1. People who try to lessen the hours of anyone receiving their license. I feel that it’s important to really understand the science and chemistry behind the services. It prepares you to understand what you should use or not use for different clients.
  2. How technicians treat their clients, focus on customer service. A simple act of kindness can go a long way! I try to teach in all my classes, the importance of being patient and having a great listening ear can get you far and ultimately change a client’s day or their outlook on how beautiful they feel!!
  3. A lot of chain lash extension and facial companies do not provide the best experience to their clients and can ultimately ruin people’s expectations of the services. Paying their employees such small wages gives no incentive to help them get better or want to provide good service.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share a few ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?

Tips to feeling beautiful are just simple nowadays! It’s called self care! If we take the time to get lashes, waxing or a facial we feel better! We never want to look how we feel on bad days.

Based on your experience and success, Can you please share “Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Modern Beauty Industry”.

  1. Learn to use social media marketing. Take classes and use the help of the social media sites provided to grow your business and promote your work.
  2. Support other women in your industry.
  3. Sample different products, get to know what’s out there so you can recommend them with confidence to your clients.
  4. Find a good mentor! It doesn’t matter if it’s a family member, someone you look up to, or even a competitor find someone you can bounce ideas off of and get advice.
  5. Learn the business side and not only focus on the creative side. You really should spend the time to understand managing finances and employees to get the best results in your business.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would love to inspire a movement in the industry toward an inner beauty movement! If I can bring that out and just add the toppings to everyone I would be happy, that is what I work so hard to provide for my clients!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” — Maya Angelou

How can our readers follow you online?

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok!:

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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Authority Magazine
Authority Magazine

Published in Authority Magazine

In-depth Interviews with Authorities in Business, Pop Culture, Wellness, Social Impact, and Tech. We use interviews to draw out stories that are both empowering and actionable.

Jilea Hemmings
Jilea Hemmings

Written by Jilea Hemmings

Founder Nourish + Bloom Market | Stretchy Hair Care I Author I Speaker I Eshe Consulting I Advocate For Diversity In Beauty

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