Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/1533707
Protection. Education. Connection. There's an app for that at ascpskincare.com/app 63 We didn't even have the idea of Rebel Wax until 2022. [Wax product development] came from another problem I was seeing. At this point, I had been working with a lot of diff erent brands, and I just wasn't loving what I was seeing on the back end of things, whether it was customer service or formulations changing without alerting customers. I felt like there wasn't a brand that checked all the boxes. I thought, "I'm going to do this myself. Like, how hard could it be?" Little did I know. I reached out to the resources I had built over time. My fi rst boss at the day spa has her own skin care line, so . . . she gave me [some advice] and I spent weeks, not sleeping, just researching and talking to diff erent manufacturers. SD: If ASCP Skin Deep readers want to start their own brand in the industry, what advice would you give them? BM: If you can find a problem and be the solution, there's no losing in that. You also have to have a passion because it is so hard. I think a lot of people could do well with what I call being an intrapreneur— being an important second person—because then you don't have all the risk and you can still be involved and help build. But [to be an entrepreneur] you have to have that fire in your belly or else it's going to eat you alive. The obstacles and hurdles that we have had to overcome . . . I don't think many will do it. I think it would cause a lot of people to quit. It's not easy. It's worth it, but it was definitely a soul calling for me. SD: In your winning ASCP Esty of the Year essay, you wrote, "I believe that you can achieve anything you want in life as long as you help others achieve their dreams too." How do you practice this belief every day? BM: With the education I give out. We've had almost 15,000 students take our free online course. The number of messages I get saying it's been life-changing for them [is amazing]. When I was building this, I saw a huge need for proper education. I saw how frustrated students were, going to school with the intention of focusing on waxing, but then quickly realizing most schools focus on skin care and passing the state board test. I see what they want, and I can fulfill that need for them. I've helped them achieve what they want, and now they buy products from us. We are having our goals met by helping them reach their goals. SD: It's clear you value family a lot, whether it's your brand team or at home. How can others embrace this value too? BM: I want entrepreneur moms to be able to look at their lives through a little bit of a wider lens. I feel like we are hard on ourselves daily. Everyone says, "Find balance." There's no balance when you are an entrepreneur and a mom. There are times when your business has higher demands, and there are times when your family's going to have higher demands. Stop trying to restructure yourself to fit the mold of what it "should" look like—being a business owner and having a family—and just bring your family in and trust yourself to structure things the way that is sustainable and empowering to your kids. Elevate your business with Bree Mesquit's free six-week training course on hard wax. Get started at training.lashandwaxoc.com/101. Behind the scenes at Bree's photo shoot. From left: Adwyn Daniels, Jen Anderson, Chance Mesquit, Bree Mesquit, Amy Klein, Jay Fram, and Mike Jennings.