CLAIRE DOTTIN had big plans for her life. But a side hobby and a little hustle led to those plans being redrawn and recharted into an entrepreneurial success story.
Claire, who has a bachelor’s degree in graphic arts, is the head cook and bottle washer of Fabulash, a beauty bar that specialises in Nova lashes extensions and permanent make-up application.
Let us backtrack to when she was knee-high then waist-high, trodding along next to her dad on his job.
“I grew up on construction sites. That was my father’s profession. He was a builder,” she told Easy magazine as photographer Randy Phillips rearranged her workspace for the photos.
So in love with the sights and sounds of seeing a vacant lot being transformed into a magnificent habitat, Claire knew this was what she wanted to do.
“I said I am going to follow in my dad’s footsteps. I am going to be an architect. I went to Queens College and made sure all my courses were along those lines. Then I went to Barbados Community College (BCC) and did architecture. Then I did a small stint at the University of the West Indies.
“I started the architecture programme there with the intention of going to New York to do my degree in it, which I did. But when I got to New York I changed my degree to graphic art.”
The reason, Claire stated, was that the programme wasn’t what she had researched.
“I realised that the courses in the programme at City College, as an international student, I was doing more of the requirement courses for the graphic arts degree. And I was loving it. So I just changed my degree.”
Claire came back home armed with that knowledge and got a job with some firms doing marketing in a graphic artist capacity for two years and then worked with an advertising agency for a further five years
The idea for the beauty bar came while working at the advertising agency. Claire related that she had just joined the firm when the recession hit. She “panicked” a little, considering that as a new employee she could be put on the breadline.
“Reflecting I was worrying unnecessarily. But then the market was changing and I always had a love for beauty. I wanted a back-up, a just-in-case . . . . A little side something to do.”
That just-in-case was doing NovaLash extensions. Her friend Dr Donna Matthews was doing them at the time and used Claire as her guinea pig.
“We started out talking about it in a friend’s kitchen and she said she was going to do it as a business. We were sceptical at first and then when I started wearing them I fell in love with it. I asked if she thought it was a good idea if I went and did the course. She encouraged me, saying ‘Yes, try it out’.”
The 32-year-old is now a certified aesthetician, and makes sure she is up on the latest courses as the many certificates on her salon wall prove.
“While I was working I did the course in the NovaLash extensions. So that was five years ago. And then I started to love it more than my daytime job. I didn’t have the same passion for my graphic artist skills as when I started out. My cousin kept encouraging me to take the plunge and I handed in my resignation.”
That was two years ago and now Claire is the owner of Fabulash.
“I went to New York in 2010 and got certified by NovaLash. I came back and everybody was a guinea pig,” she said, laughing. “Then two years ago I got certified in permanent make-up where I tattoo eyebrows and eyeliners to expand my service base.”
Attending trade shows regularly in the United States was also a plus for Claire as she does a lot of networking while there.
“I buy all my products from overseas so that helps in knowing what is new on the market and how I can introduce them to my clients.”
Fabulash is located in Top Rock on the main road just as you pass the gas station. It is a small, intimate salon brightly coloured with throw pillows.
Claire said the location is perfect for her.
“My client’s appointments don’t overlap. I schedule according to your service and I give myself time to complete each job. It is just me doing everything in the business . . . . I am doing marketing, I do the accounts, I am the actual aesthetician so that’s a lot of pressure I didn’t anticipate. At first I worked seven days a week but now I make sure I take my two off days.”
The majority of her clients are young and middle-aged professionals: “I was actually surprised at the over-35s to over-40s age clientele I had, but when I added the permanent make-up that then actually introduced a whole new clientele of over-55s to over-60s.”
Claire said she is happy where she is now in her career and has been seen as a role model for young females: “I actually did a magazine interview recently and a young lady reached out to ask me if I would suggest that she switched her career to doing graphic design which was always her goal. But she had been rejected twice from BCC from entering the programme. She asked if she should go at it. I said, ‘Why not? Because BCC turned you down that might be that isn’t the place for you. There are several other schools that you can go to as well’.
“So it is a little surprising that you can be inspirational to some one else when that wasn’t necessarily the goal. I am still taking inspiration from others.”
Claire said the journey hasn’t been easy and some people didn’t think she was doing the right thing.
“Some were disappointed that I chose this route. They don’t realise that taking a chance in itself is difficult and missing that support. Most of us have been taught you go and you get educated and you apply for a job and you work for somebody else. So when you tell somebody that you want to take a chance on yourself, it is as if you expect them to automatically shoot it down or expect you to fail.
“Honestly, in the aesthetic and beauty industry I realise that people tend to think that you come into this industry because you didn’t learn at school and not necessarily that this was a chosen career.”
Claire is proof that you have options.
