Mala McAlpin We are now less than 7 weeks out from hosting our very first B2B aesthetics industry event, and we couldn’t be more excited! Leading industry titles SPA+CLINIC and Professional Beauty have joined forces to present BEAUTY & SPA Insiders on May 27th – a unique summit for spa, salon and clinic practitioners and business owners alike.
The programme is complete with a stellar line-up of industry speakers, and we thought we’d give you the chance to get to know them a little better before the big day.
Erin Norden, founder of Clean Beauty Market, will be speaking on the panel Worldwide Trends In Spa & Beauty.
Tell us why you’re looking forward to speaking at BEAUTY & SPA Insiders
I’m really looking forward to sharing some insights into clean beauty and additionally, hearing the other amazing inspirational speakers who are lined up talk about their areas of expertise.
What is your daily routine in a nutshell?
The mornings are a little mad as my husband and I have 3 children to get ready and drop off in the mornings! I always make a smoothie for myself and once I’ve dropped off the kids I’m at work by 9:30. We’re packing online orders from the moment we open and managing those in between treatments and walk-ins. If I have any space in the day I will take my laptop and go and sit in a cafe for a while and answer emails and work on other areas of the business apart from store tasks. The evenings can be a little hectic too but once the kiddies are in bed, I either exercise while listening to a podcast or do some more work before going to sleep at a reasonable hour – without sleep, I’m grumpy and unproductive.
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
My husband is, as corny as that sounds. He’s a clever cookie who is really inspirational when it comes to business so I really value and respect his ideas and opinions.
What do you find most rewarding about your job?
The people. I love our customers and the community we are building around our store. I’ve actually made some lifelong friendships through customers I’ve met in the store. It’s also so heart-warming when an online customer from another state tells me they’ve been wanting to come in for the longest time and they’re so excited to actually finally be able to pay the store a visit. I also live for seeing people’s skin transformations as a result of them switching products or having our treatments.
What’s your favourite quote?
Not really a quote but some words I live by – “Run your own race.” I don’t like to compare to others, I try and stick to my lane.
If you were a shoe, what kind would you be and why?
Definitely pastel pink converse. I actually wear these most days ha ha.
What’s your favourite product to use right now?
I love my Okoko Cosmetiques Dragon’s Blood Serum with 10% niacinamide followed by my Fitglow Beauty Cloud Ceramide Balm. They’re seriously like a big hug for my skin.
I also couldn’t live without my Fitglow Beauty Concealer.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In 5 years I hope for some more stores around the country and the continued growth of awareness with regards to ingredients in beauty products. I have lots of exciting things in the pipeline with our brand so hopefully all those things will have come to fruition.
Tell us about a particularly life-changing moment throughout your career
The most life-changing moment in my career to date has been opening the store, I never knew just how hard/exciting/fun/difficult it would be to have a storefront and logistically make it happen. I’ve never worked so hard in my life and like many things, there’s much that you learn along the way.
How do you separate business from pleasure?
Lucky I love my job so sometimes I don’t feel like it’s work! I do try and do regular date nights, put phones and computers down when we get home and we’re in kid-mode. My husband and I also do go on little holidays just the two of us from time-to-time but to be honest, when you have your own business you can’t completely separate the two and I accept this is just what comes with owning your own business.
Any hobbies outside of work?
I love listening to podcasts on self care, paranormal and business related topics.
