Find Your Career in Beauty Therapy
with Carmen McNamara
A career in beauty therapy can take you places you may not have considered before. From a career in the traditional spa to a career educating future beauty therapists, there are incredible opportunities available in the beauty industry.
This week on the “A Career in Beauty Therapy” series, we catch up with Carmen McNamara (AKA The Skin Fairy). Carmen is a true inspiration to many beauty therapists and achieves amazing results for her clients. As a dermal therapist and business owner, Carmen and her team change lives – one skin treatment at a time.
Over your career, you’ve had some major milestones and achievements, including the International Skin Games and winning multiple DMK awards. Tell us about your journey in the beauty industry and how you got to where you are today.
It all started when I was 13. My mums best friend was a beauty therapist and it’s all I ever wanted to do from the moment she tinted my eyelashes for the first time. I then started working in the industry in Year 10 at 16 years of age, on a Thursday night and on Saturday at a local beauty salon, basically as a cleaner, but I loved it. I was obsessed from the beginning really. Beauty School came a few years later, from there I went and worked abroad a luxury cruise liner doing beauty therapy as a Steiner therapist. Upon returning home I studied Dermal Science and really got into the skin industry from about the age of 21, and it’s basically been a roller coaster since then. Skin Fairy Clinic has been operating for 4.5 years now, which is just so awesome. I always wanted my own business and to have my own clinic, it was only ever a matter of time, it’s just something I always dreamt of. And now 14 years in this amazing industry, I feel there is so much to learn and achieve, I am working even harder now to achieve my goals. The accomplishments along the way have been hard hard work, but amazing all in the same breath.
You really are a ‘Skin Fairy’, achieving results for your clients that are truly magical. What is your approach to achieving a healthier skin?
Skin is a holistic approach, everything effects everything. The sooner clients and skin therapists work in synergy together, treating topical and internal, exciting changes start to happen. You can truly change someone’s life for the better when you help them achieve healthier skin. My advice is always to start small, drink more water, include vitamins into your diet, use a mask once a week etc, small steps help the approach to changing any routine, feel a lot more doable.
One thing that we love is that you are so passionate about staff education, team work, and providing a motivating environment for your therapists. You are a fantastic mentor for your team and many beauty therapists across the world. What is the most important piece of advice you could pass on to therapists considering opening their own clinic and managing their own teams?
Thank you so much. This has been my dream from day one, I wanted to create a happy, healthy, educational environment for my business & team. It’s a privilege for me able to teach and learn constantly so that as a brand we all grow together and change lives whilst we are doing so.
We are a value driven company and my advice to others would be, how can you help others? How do you wish you were treated when you first started in the industry? What do you think you could add or gain by being positive and encouraging? Are you ready to serve your team?
One vital point that most people don’t realise is being a leader or business owner within your own company, means you have to be ready to serve others. You have to be willing to uplift, guide and cheerlead everyone else before yourself. If you start solo like I did, back yourself. But when you gain a team, it becomes about them also and don’t ever forget that. Team work makes the dream work.
What is your favourite treatment to perform and why?
I LOVE IT ALL! But I can never go past my DMK Enzyme therapy. Its unlike anything else on the market, it works on the function of the skin first and foremost, creating an overall homeostasis whilst topically working on the surface layers, hydrolysing dead skin cell material, increasing water levels in the skin and giving it a good work out. The skin looks absolutely stunning post enzyme, dewy and glowing.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career in beauty therapy?
GO FOR IT! There is so many avenues, so many directions you could go. Find your passion within the industry and work hard pursing it! The options are endless! I started in beauty side of things and now work in dermal side, only treating skin with an amazing team of 9 superstars (ITS SO MUCH FUN). The industry has amazing opportunities for everyone and anyone! Its truly so diverse.
We are so incredibly grateful to Carmen for sharing her experience in the beauty industry. You can see more about Carmen at @theskinfairy_ or Skin Fairy Clinic at @skinfairyclinic. Her website is found here:
https://www.skinfairyclinic.com.au/
For more guidance about your future career in beauty therapy, chat to the expert team at ACTI at 02 6176 3411.
