How it all started

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I started in the beauty industry in my early 20s as a single mother of 3, living in one of the poorer areas of Welland, Ontario. I offered every kind of beauty service until I settled on Hair Removal. Before I came up with SugarBrig I did waxing and sugaring, which I always heard the same thing from clients… That the application was almost as worst as the removal. Which is when I started working towards a different application, and then SugarBrig was born!

Since I started SugarBrig on my own, I also had to start over with a new location and clients. So, I decided I would start at home while my kids were at school/daycare or asleep. I made my “Bed” out of a used dresser. I purchased a few inches of cushion for padding and wrapped it properly with a nice material I found at Fabricland and used the drawers to put my supplies in. Then cut off a section of my living room with curtains and that was my workspace until I grew my clientele and moved to a salon space. 

I started with 1 client, she was a secretary for the mayor at the time and I told her “If you refer a friend, I’ll give you a Free “LA”. It took her a couple of appointments, but she finally referred a friend. Then I said the same thing to that friend, and so on and so on. That 1 client and that 1 service special got me to where I am today with well over 200 clients, my own salon, and my own recipes. We now have this special in our manual and get all new practitioners to use it to help build their clientele.

A few years after being at my salon I was with a client and she told me to clean her “Patat”. I of course looked at her and said, “What are you talking about?” She then said, “My Vagina it’s like “Une Patate” (The French word for Potato). She explained, When you first take it out of the ground its dirty and fuzzy then when you peel it, its all clean and smooth.” I loved that so much that we made our LA’s into “Patat’s”. I made sure to Patent the word so that I knew SugarBrig was the only one who could use that term for the hair removal procedure in the female genital area.

Over the years I had many new practitioners rent space in my salon, looking for the perfect person to one day take over the business as I knew I wanted to retire and spend more time with my family. There were many ups and downs, also many girls who said they would be interested in the business. However, in the end it didn't work out. Then in May 2019, I was training a class and met a shy girl that said she was excited to start her new business. Little did I know at the time she would be the one I sold the business to. 

Along with all of these things I also wanted to share my technique and success with others. I started training 1 new person at a time and now we have over 250 practitioners all over North America. 

With this story I hope you can all see that with hard work and determination it is possible to make your dreams come true. 

Don't ever give up!

I started my beauty career in early 2016 after getting my eyelashes done by a friend. He asked me if I would ever be interested in taking the course and start doing eyelashes on customers. At first, I thought No Way! I didn’t think I could ever do that kind of work. I was used to working in Call Centers and Warehouses. Then one day I thought I could really use some extra money, something I could do on the side. That’s when I thought I might as well try something different and decided I was going to take the Eyelash extension course. That was the 1st day to my new career and what I see now as the beginning of my new life.

I kept doing eyelash extensions on the side and was starting to make good money. I noticed I enjoyed this kind of service and enjoyed working for myself. With many requests from customers asking if I did hair removal, I decided to add other services and thought maybe one day I could completely work for myself. I could do this full time instead of a job I wasn’t happy with.  

In March 2019 I found the SugarBrig course and was set to take the course in May of that year. The morning of the course I was so nervous! I was really early because I had barely slept the night before but waited in my car over an hour before the class started. This probably didn’t help my anxiety, but I pushed through and went in. I was quiet and shy and had no clue what to expect. Then Brigitte started talking, she was so loud and outspoken. It sort of surprised me as I assumed taking a course like this that everyone would be really serious. I was so wrong! Brigitte made everything so much fun and exciting. She had so much confidence and positivity and truly wanted to help everyone succeed. I knew I wanted this to be part of my life and to be able to make my customers feel the way she made me feel.

After the course I went to the SugarBrig salon a few times to shadow Brigitte to learn as much as I could. I wanted to see how she did the process and how she was with her clients. I learned so much just watching her do the process.

In August 2019 she made a post on Facebook that she was looking to rent out one of her rooms at the salon. I didn’t even think about it and messaged her right away. After stressing out and letting my anxiety get the best of me for over 24 hours, she called me and told me the room was mine! I couldn’t believe it and thought I must be doing something right and decided my anxiety was not going to ruin this for me. I quit my customer service job and decided to be in the beauty industry full time.

My 1st day at the salon she told me to be ready to work hard and I will need to be patient, that my clientele will build up but it will take time. She also told me “One day, I plan on retiring and I will be selling my business”. I, again without thinking, said “Ill Buy It”. She laughed and said “We will see what you say in a few years”. Over the years of working with her she really brought me out of my shell and helped me push through my anxiety for what I want for myself and my family. And every time she said “One day I will have to sell my business” I still answered “Ill buy it”. Then, it finally happened. She told me she was ready to sell. So in May of 2022, I officially bought SugarBrig and she was finally able to retire after working so hard for 40+ years.

This is my story and I hope reading this you can see that anything is possible with hard work. It took me years to be where I am today, but I wouldn’t change anything, even the rough parts. And I hope that each one of you can find that 1 person who will help you change your life like Brigitte did for me. But don’t forget, you must be willing to accept the help, do the work and keep going forward towards your goals. Anything is possible!

I look forward to hearing about your story!