Today we’d like to introduce you to Chanel Spaulding.
Chanel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started cosmetology school about 4 years ago. When I truly realized I wanted to do hair as a career is when I knew that I didn’t want to be behind the chair for the rest of my life, I just didn’t know how I was going to execute my master plan.
I figured out in order to reach my goal I would need to create my own products, so I started Chanel Imani Beauty, my beauty care line, about six months after I graduated. Without even having enough supplies to package and ship anything out, I took the leap and I started with one product, my Lavender Growth Oil. I thought about it and didn’t want to use the word “grow” and make it seem like a I was selling a dream, so I changed the name to Lavender Scalp Stimulating Oil and let the product magic speak for itself. To my surprise, the support and demand for this new homemade hair care product (which I started in my kitchen) started to really pop!
I wanted to keep the company’s integrity to be about enhancing women’s natural beauty, that’s why my products are made to benefit any hair type or skin tone.
I have completely changed everything that I started with, including the logo and the name and which I’ve changed about four times, but I’m sticking with this one. About three years later and I now have an official business, products being tested and made in a lab and eight products with a few more in the works!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
If I said anything with building this business has been smooth sailing, I’d definitely be lying. It has been one of the most challenging parts of my career, but also one of the most rewarding. Constantly I’m faced with new challenges about how to grow my business and to take it to new levels. For example, INSTAGRAM! One of the best and most challenging obstacles I’ve faced. I love Instagram and everything about it, the exposure, the business insights, the new clients, fresh ideas, all right from my phone. What’s not to love? But with managing 3 pages, and learning what time of day to post, what content to post and to maximize who’s seeing everything plus being a full-time mom and working my ass off to be the best curly haired stylist in FL, it’s almost as hard as choosing your top 5 on MySpace! (Sorry Tom, you didn’t make it.)
When all is said and done, it hasn’t all been easy, but definitely has been worth it.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Chanel Imani Beauty – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Chanel Imani Beauty is an all-natural, vegan, hair, skin and beauty product line. We specialize in natural beauty enhancements; oils to boost your hairs shine and overall health, shimmer to have your skin glowing all day long, lip gloss to have your lips looking and feeing great and so much more.
And, that’s what I’m most proud of as my company continues to grow, the versatility. Me, being a cosmetologist, that specializes in natural curly hair, it would be textbook for me to only retail hair care products, but I didn’t want to be tethered to that. Having 8 different products isn’t easy, but it’s when everything comes together and match perfectly is when I really step back and appreciate that I didn’t go the expected route.
That’s really what sets us apart, is that we’re a one-stop-shop.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My plans for the future consist of me owning a small salon/beauty boutique in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, hopefully within the next few years. I plan to have the clientele for my businesses grow exponentially. I want to be a stylist with a broader variety of clients, from models, actresses and TV personalities to every day, amazing women and girls that want to learn about managing and taking care of their natural/curly hair while using only Chanel Imani Beauty products.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5765 S University Dr
Davie, FL 33328 - Website: www.chanelimani.com
- Email: chanelimanillc@gmail.com
- Instagram: @chanelimanibeauty / @chanelstylez
Image Credit:
Aurelio Rivera (@photosbyrelz)
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