Episode 11: Wicked Ideas & The Audacity to Try

This episode is for the lash artists with big dreams, wild ideas, and just enough delusion to go for it anyway 😮‍💨💅🏽

In this episode of Hey Lash Hey!, Tee finally opens up about the projects she’s been secretly building behind the scenes, including the launch of the Find Lashes Near Me Directory and the Lash Education & Empowerment Foundation (LEEF) created to bring more support, education, and opportunity into the lash industry. 💕

She also gives the FULL behind-the-scenes story of competing in the Lash Boss Summit Lash Battle, creating her Wicked-inspired set, fighting through technical difficulties, and what it felt like hearing her name called for first place. 🏆💚

Also in this episode:
 ✨ Why community matters more than competition
 📍 Different types of lash events & how to choose the right ones
 💭 Why classic lashes still matter in 2026
 🎬 Devil Wears Prada 2 reactions + Million Dollar Secret thoughts
 🙏🏽 A reminder to stay grateful through every season of growth

Press play, best friend. Because sometimes the craziest ideas turn into the biggest blessings 💕

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hey, welcome to the podcast where lashes, life, and good vibes collide. Whether you're here for insider tips, beauty biz advice, or just need some feel-good energy, you've come to the right place. We're spilling tea, diving into all things lashes, vibing out with music and TV, and of course growing closer to God in our prayer corner. So hit that follow button, grab your drink, and let's lash it out, bestie. This is Hey Lash Hey, the show you didn't know you needed. Here's your host T.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Hey Lash Hey! It is me, T, the Estie, and your lash bestie. And I am so excited to be here in the beautiful month of May. Can you smell the flowers blooming and see the sun shining? Because I can. And I'm so excited to talk to you guys about what I've been working on. First, let me apologize because I can't just come in here like, hey. Um, I'm sorry I didn't have an episode in April. Hope you guys can forgive me and still love me because I love you. I have been extremely busy working on things on the back end. And when I tell you I've been working on things for so long, and now I finally got to the point where I can talk to you about the things I've been working on. It is time. I'm ready. I'm ready to talk about it. So let's go ahead and get into tea time. But before we do that, if you are new here, I want to welcome you to the Hay Lash Hey Podcast family. Uh, you are officially my last bestie, and you cannot get rid of me now. Um, this is a safe space. It's created to create community, help uplift education, and supporting you on no matter what level of your journey you're on. I don't want anyone to ever feel like they're alone. So if you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask. Um, I am faith-based, but that doesn't mean that you have to have the same beliefs as me. Like I said, this is a safe space where I want you to feel welcome and be as you are. I do have a segment called The Prayer Corner. Um, if that's not your vibe, you can kind of skip past it. My goal is to not be preachy, but just introduce people to the word of God. And if you have different beliefs, the end of the day, the message is to be a great person and be a great business owner. So you can take it with a grain of salt or you can take it with all the salt. Um, but I'm just here to help love on you. No judgment here at all. Everyone's welcome. But I just had to give that little spiel because religion can be like really pushed on people, and that is not my goal at all. I just want to give you what's kept me afloat the last years. Um, well, throughout my entire life, because God don't play. Um, but I just want you to feel welcome and not judged. If you have different beliefs or um maybe you don't agree with some of the things that I say, that is totally fine. And I am totally open to talking about it because I love to talk, and that's what best friends do. We kieky. Sometimes we fight, sometimes we cry. Today we will be laughing, hopefully. Maybe a couple of tears, but that's okay. All right, so let's get into tea time. So go ahead and grab your drinks, get comfortable, and let's unpack what I've been working on. It's tea time. All right, best friends, let's sip this tea because I have been busy. And when I say busy, I've been busy in the most amazing way possible. Uh, because we all know as uh business owners and entrepreneurs, we're always um on our toes trying to figure out what the next move is and how to grow and how to evolve and all that good stuff. And I came up with the idea because you all know that I like be in different Facebook groups, and I'm trying to help out where I can with the time that I have. And one thing that I really noticed was people looking for lash artists in different states that they can send their moving clients to. And a lot of the times you'll go on to the Facebook groups and you'll see people saying, Hey, I'm looking for a lash artist in so-and-so area. My clients moving and I want to send her to somebody. And I feel that deep in my soul because I've had a couple of my girls who've been with me for like since the beginning, who had to move. Like they're my babies. They watched me grow this entire business. They're the reason why they're the water to me growing my business. And I don't want to just send them to anybody. And I saw this so much. Like it wasn't just one or two posts here or there. It was like consistently, almost every day, where somebody was looking for a lash artist to send their clients to. So I was like, we need a directory. We need a directory where it's not anybody can join, where it's vetted, where we can find quality lash artists who have amazing customer service, who has amazing work, who protects the clients' natural lashes, who are licensed, and we didn't have it. So I created it. I wanted to create this community for us. Some people think that it's just for clients, but it's really not made for clients at all. I mean, they can use it if they want to, if they get a hold of it, but this isn't really built for lash artists to lash artists. It was made by lash artists for lash artists to connect with other lash artists. The way that I approached it was more of like a word of mouth type of thing. When I worked for um, the chiropractor that I worked for for five years before I started lashing, she had me doing a lot of her networking events. And that's how I got comfortable with talking to people. And I realized the power of the word of mouth and referrals is amazing. If you're familiar with BI, um, even if you're not familiar with B I, uh, they're local groups. You can probably find one in your area if you type in BI and uh maybe your city, it might populate, or maybe your county, it might populate. And what you do is you sit around at this table and you pass around you pass around referrals, like, hey, I sent this person to your business and I told them about you, I raved about you, so be looking out for their call. So I watched the chiropractor that I work for grow so much from these people just sharing information about their business and spreading that knowledge. And so I was like, the lash industry needs something like this. So that's where the directory came into play. It's completely free. And I feel like if we get it built up to where it can be a tool where we can help each other, we're all we're using that word of mouth to help our clients, helping our lash sisters grow. So if you haven't checked out the directory, it's definitely made for you. It's free, and I made it myself with my bare hands. Me and good old Canva. I've been working on it since 2024, and it's taken me a year, basically a year and a half, to get it like up and running and functional to where it makes sense and actually easy to digest how to use it. The application process is super easy. I ask you questions so that um I can look at your business from a paying customer's point of view. I'm gonna look at your reviews, I'm gonna look at your website or your booking link. I'm gonna try to book an appointment. I'm not gonna actually book it, but I'm gonna look at your availability, your booking process, um, to see if you cover all the aspects that a potential client or potential lash artist who's maybe referring a client to you uh so that they know that you're a quality lash artist. I also have like a couple of different short answer questions that I ask to get a vibe of like different scenarios that clients may come across and how you would react to that. So I know um what kind of service you're providing. You could tell a lot by people's answers on how much they care about their clients. And I just take the time to review each application and verify every single thing so that we're not just like Yelp or Google, like you're literally being verified. With creating that community, after I we put it together and we start pushing it out. I was like, this can be way more than just a directory. I want to be able to help people with education and different opportunities to help with resources. And that's where the Lash Education and Empowerment Foundation was created. I created this foundation just to help with free education, free resources, mentorship, business advice, helping with licensing, helping people have access to classes, um, product support, equipment support, life support. So life support is where we can help pay your bills, uh, your life bills, your business bills, uh, help with car trouble, uh, different things like that. So Lash Education and Empowerment Foundation is a nonprofit organization, and the goal is to make everything free and accessible to everybody. Just simply put, it's really designed for the lash industry to help everyone grow. And it's especially for my beginner lash artists. You know, I advocate for y'all heavy, and I'm always gonna be in your corner and rooting you on. And I know a lot of the times the things that are stopping you from attending events or attending different educational courses and uh classes is because you can't afford it. You're not making the lash money. That's why you need to be in the rooms to learn how to make the lash money. And it's it's like a vicious cycle. And I want to break that cycle. I want education, quality education. Now, you might not get everything for free, but whatever I can get my hands on, I'm gonna review it, make sure it's quality, and they're not trying to sell you anything and really get this information to you. Education should be available for everyone, no matter what stage of your career that you're on. And I don't want anyone to feel alone navigating through this industry. You are never alone, especially if you're part of the Hey Lash Hey family, the Leaf family, or the Fine Lashes Near Me directory family. The Lash Education and Empowerment Foundation, you're gonna be hearing that a lot. We are gonna shorten it down once everybody gets comfortable with the name to Leaf, L-E-E-F. Um, it's gonna be super cute. I got so many cool things planned. Uh, we've already done three giveaways so far. We did a $300 care package from PLA at the LashCon Lashathon live event, like live online event. Uh, and then we did a $500 PLA credit to their store at Lashpaw Summit. And then we also did a $300 care package from PLA. Now I know I just mentioned a whole bunch of PLA. Uh, they have sponsored our first, the second giveaway, the $500. The rest have come from me. I know a lot of people think that when you start up a nonprofit, you think, oh, they're getting all of these grants and stuff. I'm still in the building process. So as the resources come in, I'm literally just gonna dish them right back out. You're a larger brand listening. I would love your money so that I can help others or take your products or help um by getting some of your time to mentor somebody for an hour. No donations are too small. So I would love to connect with all of you. If you're interested in donating, please email me at info at weareleaf.org. You heard that? We're an org, not a dot com. We're an org because we're learning. This is education, it's giving what it's supposed to give. So I hope that you guys are excited. If you need support and you don't see the support listed on the website at weareleaflef.org, send us an email at that same email I just said. Um, and it when we come across that resource, or I'm gonna start looking for the resource for you. And as soon as I get it, I will DM you or email you or whatever so that we can connect and get you the help that you need. Now we have our life support that's like helping with bill, job, school, whatever you need help with. Um, we're here. We want to help. I know the times are hard right now, and we're all doing the best that we can. And sometimes the best that we can is just barely enough. And we all deserve more than barely enough. I've been there before, and sometimes I still be there, and I just want to be that bridge that helps fill that gap up for you. Um, but yeah, so the ways that you can help right now is by joining the Lash Directory if you are in need of clients or if you need to fill in some spots. If you're totally booked right now, um, that's awesome. I love that for you. Uh, we all love it for you because if one of us wins, we all win. Um, maybe don't join the directory because we want to make sure that we have uh artists who have availability on their schedule. A way that you can participate is by sharing the lash directory, donating your time or mentorship to the foundation so that you can help other lash artists become fully booked like you because we're all trying to be like you, girl, at that point or sir. And yeah, donate your time. If you're already fully booked and you're like, well, I don't really need to be found on a directory, that's totally fine. We still want you a part of the community. If you even if you can't donate time right now because you're booked and busy, just supporting and sharing the word. The biggest goal right now is to fill the directory up each state. We would like to have at least one person in each city. How awesome would that be? It's gonna take a while, but we've already got, I think like 60 people listed, some in multiple states, uh, like multiple lash artists in one state, um, a couple in the same city, but that's okay. Like everybody, there's enough eyes out here for everybody, and we can help uplift each other and really support each other and help each other grow. Like that's what the moment is about. The moment is about us all connecting and being there for each other and creating this community where we can all watch each other thrive and help each other. Now, the other thing, now that we have the directory and the foundation out there in the air, and oh, I can finally breathe now, like keeping that from you guys, my lash besties, has been like literally the hardest thing ever. But I had to make sure that everything was done correctly. And you know, people in the industry like to steal ideas, and I didn't have time for that because it's not that I want the credit for what I'm building, but if it's not executed properly, it could crash and burn. And I don't want that for us. I want this to be a tool where it's gonna be around for a long time so that we can help as many people as we can. Um, this is about protecting the lash industry and helping it grow. And at the end of the day, if you're in this industry for the long haul, we're all gonna benefit from it in the most positive way. The other thing, so you guys know we talked about going to Lash Ball Summit, right? And how I really wanted to go and I really wanted to do the battle, and I went and I did it, and I won first place. Like, what? I'm like literally still floating in my head about this win because there were so many talented artists at this event and battling in the same category as me, some in different categories. And when I tell you, I'm a basic lash artist of my everyday life, like basic, basic, like black, brown, that's it. No color, that's it. And it sucks. I hate that for me. After going to Lash Ball Summit and seeing the amazing color lash artists that are out there and how color can be subtle and cute, and like it doesn't have to be all in your face, like it opened me up to a whole new world. And I'm so excited to talk to you about like my experience at Lash Ball Summit. Cause like when I tell you behind the scenes, like I had to really set my intentions. It wasn't just about placing lashes and creating a set, I was literally telling a story, and I was focusing on the structure and the detail and the creativity and the execution and trying to get out of my lane of being simple. Um, so I'm really excited to tell you guys about that. But I had to jump right in and say, your girl won. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. And then I tell you, this is like a full circle moment because y'all remember our first episode where I talked about all the wins that I had for 2024 and now to come into 2026 and still be winning. Like you can't tell me that God doesn't have favor over my life, and I want to share that favor with all of you so that we can all have God's favor. Um, because he's so amazing. But yeah, um, I'm gonna actually talk about Lash Ball Summit, Lash Battle, and different events in general in Lash Mail. So this is actually a perfect transition into lash mail. So let's jump right over there and check the mailbox.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

You've got mail.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

So I first I want to start off by saying that not every event is created equally, and we're gonna talk about it real quick. There are pros and cons to each event, and figuring out what works best for you is honestly where you have to do that deep soul searching and not uh let influencers in like influence you to go to X, Y, and Z because that was their experience, because you're gonna get from events what you put into it and how you prep for your event. So let's jump right into it. So today is not really a question, it's more of like a whole conversation. And if you're new to Lash Mail, sometimes I will read if I see a trend of a question on the Lash Queens page, I'll read that uh question and then I'll give my opinion on it. Um, not saying that my opinion is the only opinion or the right opinion, it's just my opinion. Um, like Carly said, It's my opinion. I love lash science, they are amazing. Um, I just have to take that one real quick. But I give credit, like when credit is due, because if you're gonna take an idea, you gotta give the credit to where you got the idea from. It's common courtesy, you know? Okay, let me stop being shady. Okay, so uh so when it comes to events, I get a lot of questions like um, what event should I go to? Should I give VIP or um standard? Um, is it worth it? Did you learn anything? And I kind of have the answers to all of those questions, but take it with a grain of salt because, like I said, my opinion is my opinion, and you can feel a totally different way. And you can ask multiple different lash artists how they feel about it. Now, I have had this conversation with a lot of lash artists who attend lots of events, and we're all pretty on the same page about a couple of things. And you know, people are always gonna talk about um the bad experiences over the good. I have had some good talks and experiences, but I have had a lot of negative and confusion in what's happening right now. And I know that there's a trend right now in talking about this, and I already talked about this back in March, and I think back in 2025. So if you want to deep dive into all of that, um go watch those episodes because we're not gonna tape record and say the same stuff over and over again over here. But I really want to dive into uh breaking down the type of lash events. Now, let's start off with the more affordable lash events. Events. These are typically usually like a day. They're like networking events. They're short and social. They're great for meeting people with light education. It's mostly you networking and really getting to know people. Most of these are going to be like a local lash artist or people who really love the event and it's close to their area. So they're willing to travel a little further for the event. Networking event that I consider is lash social. I've heard really, really good things about it. And um, it's in Atlanta. It I'm not for sure on the price. I think it's in the $150 range. Please hold. Let me check. Okay, so they haven't released the prices because they just had last social last month in April. And um, I heard really, really good things about it, like great connections that people made, uh, great information. There were newer people on stages, so it gave more people opportunity to speak. Um, Maxine girl did amazing. I wasn't there, but her name is um the Max, the Max Artistry. The Max Art, the Max Artistry. Follow her on Instagram. Um, she has amazing information and she's like a Canva guy. I love learning from her. But yeah, their tickets are pretty affordable. If I'm not mistaken, I feel like the tickets were $150. I could be wrong, so don't quote me. I'm not the priceline negotiator. Um, but yeah. Um, but the event was small, smaller than the larger event, and it was a day long, and you just got to socialize with people and hang out. Um, another lash networking event is the lash bash, and they travel to different cities and get local lash artists to hang out. I haven't been to one yet. They had one in Grand Rapids, and and I think I told you guys about it. That was the weekend I went to see Beyonce and I um I bang near broke my ankle and couldn't walk. So I just decided to stay home because after suffering through Beyonce, I couldn't suffer through standing and networking and stuff too. Like I had to pick, and I obviously picked Beyonce. Sorry guys, I love y'all, but Beyonce's my girl. But I really definitely want to go to the next lash bash event when they come back over to this side of the Midwest. Yeah. The next one is conferences. Now, this is where it gets a little bigger, and no matter what the name is, they're still considered conferences. Um, Lash Ball Summit, consider a conference. It says summit. I don't really know what summit means. Um, but I feel like it's a conference. It was like, I think 200 to 300-ish people, probably 200, 250. Definitely more affordable, not super expensive. Um, and we'll talk more about it at the like ender part after we go over all of the events. I really want to take some time to deep dive into my Summit experience. So I won't rant too much on Summit, but it was amazing. Like definitely the refuel that I needed. LashCon is a huge conference in the lash industry. Then you have others that are cross seas and stuff. When you talk to different people, depending on how long they've been in the industry, you will get different results on their experiences. Now, conferences are usually multi-day, where I usually go the day before the event and stay a day after the event to like recenter myself and come back down to reality because it's like being in its own little world. There's usually classes that you can take, like break off classes. Then you have keynote speakers and main speakers on the main stage. You have panel styles, so you can get multiple different points of views on things with like-minded or opposing-minded, whatever that word is, um, people who might have different ideas than you, and it really challenges you to think a little differently. Um, I feel like conferences are a great way to grow your career. Um, it gives you the opportunity for growth, but you have to go into big conferences like this with a purpose, with a breakdown of like what you're there for, because there's so many moving pieces. And if you don't come in organized already knowing what your end goal is and how to achieve that end goal, you're gonna feel like you wasted your money. So if you're there to learn and find a new technique and a specific niche, you want to go through the schedule beforehand and really zone in on maybe speakers you haven't heard from before. Don't get uh influenced to just go to the bigger suites, like really take time and do a deep dive into who's speaking, what topics they're speaking on, and see if they have like multiple talks so that you can choose the best time um and headspace for it. Now, if you're going in to like build your career up, like your social career, um where you're wanting to get on stages. Um, me personally, I already talked about how I approached LashCon 2024, my first year, and how that really, really helped me grow a relationship and like solidify the relationship at LashCon with PLA. Like I had already been following them, and I won't go into the full story because I already have a full episode on that. I went into it like I already knew these people because I followed them in everyday life, and every time they went live, I was there. So seeing them in person, I'm like, hey, I'm able to put a face to a name to an Instagram handle. A lot of the times, a lot of the back end work happens online where you are like, like I said, interacting on an everyday, but they only see your screen name and your picture. So in person, you have to put two and two together, and that gives you an end to talk and and talk about different things that you've experienced with the company, and that's your time to shine and really get to connect with people. I made it my purpose whenever because I wanted to connect with PLA. That was like I have blinders on, I didn't care about anything else that was happening. PLA was my goal. It was my everything. It still is my everything. I went in and I was at their headquarters, like daying their first in line for every class. Sat in the front row, asked engaging questions, um, talked to them outside of their breakout rooms. Like at the end, I would hang back and see if I could have a little bit of their time just to talk um and share my thoughts. I will also go to like panels that any of the PLA people were on, so they knew that like I was in their corner. I'm here to support you guys. I'm here to be a PLA groupie at that point. And when I tell you, it makes all the difference sometimes. Like at the last con 2024, I really thought that like I walked and I did, I walked away with so much more um than 2025 because I didn't really have a plan for 2025. By 2025, I already had everything that I really wanted um from an event which was connected with PLA, getting in with PLA, um, becoming an advisor for PLA, PLA trainer, um, anything PLA, like I wanted it. And I feel like 2024 was my year to like really solidify that and uh grow that connection with them. Though you pay the big bucks for these events, LashCon is expensive, like $800, like $700, $800 for a standard ticket, and then a like a thousand, like $1,100, $1,200 for a VIP ticket. And deciding if you want to give VIP or standard, like VIP, it's obviously gonna say it on your tag so you get that status. And um mainly the swag bag, everything else is pretty much the same. Just getting that bracket right on your tag, I guess, but I've done standard for all of the events that I've gone to so far, and I feel like I've taken away a lot of great information with each event that I've attended. Now, I know some of you have been in the lash industry for a long time, like five plus years, and a lot of the information is getting repetitive. And when I tell you, I did a whole episode on it, so I'm not gonna talk about it a lot, but it's a conversation that needs to be had. There are some conferences and networking events that hold competitions either online or in person. The only one that I know of so far that's doing the in-person battles is Lash Boss Summit, which is amazing. Don't get me wrong, I love when you can do the online um battles because then it doesn't limit you to like having to be able to travel and saves you money on that end of it. But just being in person, it really hits differently. Um, it's high pressure and it's high reward. Um, so whenever you can get into these awards and competitions, I would definitely recommend it because then if you win, you could say you're an award-winning lash artist, and then you can add up from there. Like right now, I have three trophies, and I can say I'm a three-time award-winning lash artist. Even though they are in different categories, I'm still holding three awards, and hopefully, after the last year awards, which they just opened up their applications. If you haven't signed up for the last year awards, you pay $75 for your entry fee, and then you can enter as many categories as you want. I'm entering eight categories this year under the $75. Now, and they're all covered under the 75. Now, there are other events where each category you have to pay, like for last battle, you had to pay $100 and I think $60 uh for each category that you entered. But that's an in-person event, and you have to think about the setup and the cost for all of that because we didn't have to bring beds and stuff, like it was literally all there for us. And I'll talk about that in a second. But yeah, um, definitely enter the competitions, enter the awards because the only thing that the only bad thing that can happen is that you lose. And it's okay. They most of the time they give you feedback on what you could have done differently, and then you just make those changes so that you can grow in your business, regardless of if you win or if you lose. When you have larger events, then you come across like trade shows, and even the smaller events have trade shows. And I really love the trade shows. I would love to focus more on instead of you having to pay for things at trade shows, I would love for everything to be free. It's almost like I feel like trade shows should almost be like a sample shop. Like, hey, you're here, you already paid for your ticket. Um, PLA always does the best with this. They don't stop charging after 2024 for any events that they go to. They just give their products for free. Because the more people that have your products in their hands, regardless of if they've never used you before, or maybe if they did try you and they just didn't have the best taste in their mouth. Sometimes us lash artists, we procrastinate when it's time to order supplies. And then we have this swag bag with all of these quality materials in it. We need to do better on our swag bags, FYI, but um PLA don't miss. So I'ma just use PLA, for example. We get all of these PLA high-quality products, full products, like actual full kits and products to use. Then when I'm out of stock, I'm pulling that, and then I'm gonna fall in love with your product. But say everybody charged for everything. We already paid $1,200 for the ticket, a swag bag that didn't have a lot of good stuff in it, and then you want us to go to the trade show and buy things. Well, we had to pay for hotel, parking, outfits, everything you want us to pay for product that you want us to learn about. Oh, give it to us for free, and then pray that your your product is high quality enough to where we fall in love with it after we've touched it and played with it and used it. And then that's where you get your clients from. You're paying clients. We don't want to pay for stuff at these events, we want everything for free or for super cheap. Like trade shows should be dang near wholesale price, where a $13 volume lash tray should only be like five dollars. Like, come on, let's do better brands. And I know I'm Xing y'all for help with the foundation and stuff and then bashing y'all right now, but I'm just being honest, is what everybody's talking about. But trade shows also create a positive environment where you can network with brands and really talk about the products that you've experienced with their brand and um like maybe give feedback at that point or praise a brand, praise a product that you feel like is your favorite product that you can't live without. The brands love to hear how much you love about their brands. So I really think that attending large events, attending the trade shows, it is very beneficial, but there are pros and cons to it. And it you that's where you have to like again take a step back and figure out what you're there for. Are you there to shop? Are you there to learn? Are you hitting all the booths and paying for everything? Or are you going to the booths that's giving away free stuff? It all makes a difference in your experience. But yeah, that's pretty much, and then you have your across the seas, um, like in different countries. Um, there are lash events, I know, outside of the United States. Like, what? Yes, there are other lash events. You can go to um different places like London or wherever over there, Australia. They have lash events, and I'm definitely putting that on my bucket list for 2027 to at least go to one lash event that's out of the country so that I can experience the lash community in a different origin. So that's exciting. So be on the lookout for that. Now that I've talked about um the different experiences with different conferences and stuff, and there's a ton of them that I did not talk about um because there's like a last summer camp and um a whole bunch of stuff. So just um I'll maybe I'll do another episode on like all of the last events and like really breaking them down. I just kind of wanted to give you an idea because there are still a couple of events that are happening this year, and but I want to talk about lash boss summit and really break down my experience because oh my god, it was so much fun. Okay, so with um let's talk about the complete lash boss experience first, and then I'll get into battle. So, looking for hotels, Austin is freaking expensive. Jeez, and I waited until the last minute to get my hotel. So I'm actually roomed with my model who uh volunteered to be my model, Twana, um, which she's my PLA Powertrainer sister too. And when I tell you she came through, like we split the hotel costs. Uh, so it was just like 400 each. And then we basically we stayed like maybe three or four minutes from the hotel. So we just Ubered uh there and back. Now that part can get a little expensive. I think I spayed paid like $200 in Uber cost, which if we would have just stayed at the hotel, that $200 would have been the difference that we saved in booking the other hotel. So yeah, learning experience for next time. I thought that Uber was gonna be cheap because it was like right there, but each each ride came up to like six to ten dollars plus a tip. So um just be mindful of that. When you're picking your hotel, it's always best to stay at the event space where the whole where the event is being held. The hotel, oh geez, stay at the hotel where the event is being hosted because then like you can go up to your room, you come back down, you don't have to worry about parking, you don't have to worry about any of it. Like you just you're just living life at that point. And I did that at LashCon 2024, 2025. We sit in Airbnb and then summit we stay at a hotel that was a little like three, five minutes away, and it definitely makes the difference. So from now on, I will definitely not be procrastinating and I will be purchasing my rooms beforehand so that I get the good discount and um I'm able to save um money and time and energy that way. Next, I usually rent a car, like I said, I did for uh did Uber this time, but I usually go through Touro. I feel like Toro has better options for renting a vehicle than going through the traditional routes of like a car rental place. And most of the time the car rental places are on Toro, right? On Toro also. Um, so just be mindful of that. But like literally a car that would cost like a thousand dollars for the weekend would be like two to three hundred dollars on Toro. Definitely checking out Toro where you're gonna be in an area and you can like pre-book. Sometimes they don't make you pay until like a day before or whatever. So that's really cool. And um food. Some of it was like a little less seasoned, but that's okay. It was free. And then, like at the little parties afterwards, you got like finger food dinners. So you basically got fed for the price of your ticket, and food can cost so much when you're traveling that saved so much money. The food was good. I wasn't hangry or anything. I got a couple of headaches, but um, other than that, service was really nice, the hotel was beautiful, and it was just it was really a vibe. Shelby did her big thing with Lash Ball Summit, and she should really be proud of this machine that she is creating in this community, uh, where I actually learned a couple of things from a couple of people who spoke. I've never seen them on stage. T the brand being my absolute favorite. She had call to action stuff that you could take home with you and actually start implementing. She went into detail on the way that she does her um content creation. And her presentation was easily digestible, um, easy to grasp as a newbie or a veteran in the industry. So no matter what level you're on, that was an amazing talk. And if you I think that she actually has that talk that she did on her YouTube page for free, and then she has a paid subscription on her YouTube page. So check her out. Um, it's I am T the Brand, T-E-E the Brand, and follow her on Instagram and connect with her that way and funnel to her YouTube because she has really quality information, and I've heard so many people talk over the last couple of years. This talk, I literally took away so much information. It was amazing. And though she mentioned at the end that she had to pay a subscription, she gave so much quality information throughout the presentation. I wasn't even mad. Like sometimes I'm like listening to people talk, and you gave you gave us crumbs, barely any information, and then you want us to pay for continued education with you. No, if you acting like this, what else are you gonna hold back? So I completely respect that she gave us um actionable steps that we could take um and implement immediately if we wanted to. Uh, which you should. When you go to events, you really want to take away some actionable steps that you can apply as soon as you get home so that you know that you took something away from that. Event that helped your business grow. Now let's talk about the battle itself. Um, oh wait, wait, no, no. Before we talk about the battle, I would love to talk about how it was set up. Like the trade show was closed anytime that there was the um the room where the stage where the people were talking, where speakers were talking, the trade show is closed. So you're not missing anything. Everybody's moving together at one. We are in the room watching people on the stage. Then once that's done, another speaker comes on, and another speaker, and you got lunch, and you got the trade show. And then you come back and you hang out some more. And then you uh go get ready for the party. Got a couple of hours to get ready, like maybe three. Me and Tawana went back to take naps at the hotel because I need my recharge. Um, and then that's when you're able to connect with the brands and stuff. So I really love the setup. You don't have that FOMO of missing out on anything because nothing's happening when you're occupied with learning, you're not missing any of the other stuff, which was really, really cool. I really appreciated that, and it helped make the event feel so much more relaxed and low anxiety, if that makes sense. Um, but yeah, so now let's really talk about um like how I planned my battle. So if you don't know, uh the theme was wicked. You know, I'm obsessed with wicked. So as soon as I figured out that the theme was wicked, I um went into my little lash closet and just started playing around with a couple of different ideas. And first, I wanted to do like um this alphabet idea, but I was like, so many people are gonna do alphabet. How can I do this differently? On the live, when I found out about the theme, one of the judges was saying that she didn't want to see just a pink and green set, she wanted something different, something she's never seen before. And I was like, Okay, I got an idea. How about I make a little witch out of lashes? And the first person that I told about this was Ashley, and Ashley, my uh PLA power trainer, um, basically my my mentor, my guide person. She like, I was telling her the idea. I was like, Do you think this will like a be a like you're able to do? And she was just like, uh, you're gonna have to figure it out. And so then I hit up Shelby and I'm like, if I make something out of lashes, can I pre-make it? And she was like, No, anything that is made out of lashes has to be made on the spot to keep everything fair. So I'm like, okay, so I'm like, I need to figure out I know I can do a second. So am I actually recording? Okay, so my stupid mic just died for the third time, and this time I think I figured it out where I don't have to re-record again. So hopefully this is recording. And I'm sorry if the quality changed because now I'm just on my phone mic because I suck at charging things, but anyway, I feel like I was talking about the battle and how I shot cured my um my little witch. Um, when I first made it, I did it like twice, and um I created the structures twice, and I felt like I had the witch downpacked, and then I was like, okay, and now that I have the witch downpacked, I need to figure out how to make Emerald City, and then I played around with that idea, um, and I actually didn't execute it until the actual battle itself, like the night before the battle itself. Um, I was practicing and I executed that, and then I had to figure out how to use the liquid latex to make the pages look like they were coming out of the skin of the face, because I did like a grimary book um storybook. So um that process was it was interesting. Um, and to know that it was something that I was doing that nobody had ever done before, it made it even more exciting. And my goal was to at the end of it, if I made it on stage, this would be the perfect opportunity to go ahead and announce the foundation in the last directory. And that's exactly what I did before I talked about me and before I celebrated. I just wanted to spread that information because, like, now that I have everybody's attention, this is the perfect time to talk about it. So that honestly motivated me to continue to uh push through and actually do it and participate in the battle. Now, when I first got there, we did our sign-in and everything, and this is when I start sweating and getting nervous and stuff. And when we walk into the battle room, I pick a table and I'm getting everything set up. And as I was practicing at home, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to watch the wicked movie so I can stay in the wicked vibe, and I can never get too much of wicked. So then I'll listen to the soundtrack, and I had like so the whole time I'm practicing at home, I'm like listening to Wicked, timing out my cues to make sure that I'm moving at a decent pace and everything like that. Girl, tell me why. When I got to the battle room, got everything set up, they started the time, the internet wasn't working. So my laptop wasn't connecting. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna just use my hotspot on my phone, that's fine, or I'll just watch it on my phone. Phone service sucked, and I could not access the internet. Like, not the guest internet, not nothing. Nothing was working. And I'm like, so I'm freaking out. 30 minutes in, still haven't touched my last my model yet. Then I finally got like, you know what, whatever. I'ma just my music wasn't working. I didn't have any music downloaded because I use Apple Music, and that requires you to have a signal. Um, and I had nothing downloaded or anything, so I was like, you know what, whatever. I'm gonna just lash. I'm here to lash, I'm not here to be entertained, I'm here to win. So I then get my uh like get my model set of washer and everything, because you know, you gotta have the clean lashes. And I go to turn on my Cosmo light, Cosmo Glow light. And I use a little light from Amazon because I'ma save the coins wherever I can, and I had touched the Cosmo glow, and I was like, I don't really notice the difference. So I'm gonna just pay for the cheaper one. Tell me why my light wouldn't turn on. So now I'm looking at my competitors next to me. I'm like, hey, my light not working. I don't know what to do. So they get up and help me. We all trying to figure out how to turn this light on. I'm like, at this point, we're wasting too much time. And I had unplugged what I thought was mine and actually unplugged the girl's light next to me. And she was so sweet, she was like, oh, it's okay. And so we're trying to figure out how to turn her light back on, how to turn my light on, stressing out. So I go get Shelby. I'm like, Shelby, the lights ain't working. Now, mind you, the girl who was next to me was like like right across from me at first, like um, like more on the other side of the room. But the way that the lash stations was set up, you know how you have a specific side that you lash on where all your stuff is and you reach on it, like mine is to my right because there's a wall to my right and my lash space. So um I had to reach for stuff on my left, which is not a big deal to me. My lash tray is on its normal size, so I'm not tripping. Anything else, I'll reach over for it. But she was like, No, I need to have everything on my right side. And I'm like, girl, I get it. You good, have your space. So when Shelby came in um to do the light situation, she was like, I was like, they not working. Hers was working. Um, but I made a mistake and unplugged that when gave her the whole rundown, and she was like, Oh, well, we're gonna have to move your stations. And they was talking about putting the girl back where she had come from. And she, oh, she looked so sad at that point. I was like, No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me re-unplug this, replug it back in. Tell me why Shelby came over, pushed the little nipple thing that where you adjust the dimmer, she pushed it in and then turned it. We was all just turning the nipple. So, yeah, that was stupid. 30, well, not 30 minutes for that, but that was like an extra like five minutes trying to play around with this light. And I felt so happy that she fixed that because I did not want to mess up that girl's experience to where she like, oh, this is why I lost and all of that, because we ain't got time for it. And it all worked out, it worked out perfectly. So that part made me happy, and then by that time, I was kind of over it. I'm like, you know what? At this point, I'm here, I'm about to battle, I'm 30 minutes late into it, and I just start doing the lash set because at the end of the day, this is a lash battle. I need the lashes to stand on their own, and so with the lash battle, um, I felt pretty comfortable with. Oh, let me make sure this mic is off so it's not getting any feedback. So at this phase, I'm just like I'm starting to lash and I'm getting into my zone, auto zone, and it was cool. Like, I started getting comfortable, I started doing the set, and then she said that you have to stop at 6:30, and the last hour is gonna be for makeup only, and I did not know that. So I started freaking out about that, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to get the full set done so that I can move on to the witch. Without the witch, none of this makes sense, it's just a basic ass set, like basic. So I'm like, okay, but the set has to eat itself just in case. So I do the whole set, I do the black side, and then I do a green side with yellow streak to represent the yellow brick road. Super cute set, like she wore it after the event without the extra The Witch in the Emerald City, and people were complimenting it, and she loved it, so that was cool. Um, but then I got to the point where I was done with her set. I had maybe like 30 minutes left, and I needed at least an hour and a half to work on the witch in the Emerald City. But I think just working in that high pressure environment, all the practice that I did, it all worked out in the end to where I didn't need the time that I thought I needed because I had already figured out the technique that I was gonna use to create it. Now it was not the same as the way I practiced it at home. And the the ones at home that I made were so much better, but it's okay. Like I was doing something that had never been done before, so there were no like guidelines on what they were looking for because it was something they never seen. So I finished the um The Witch and the Emerald City, and I started to glue it on and adding the finishing touches, and then it was time for this dang book. Now, let me tell you, this idea, I've been working on it for about I started working on it in November, so a couple of months, and this was the last thing that I even tried to figure out because I was like, if the book doesn't work, then it's whatever. I have the set done, I have the witch done, no big deal. I was like, this book will take it over the edge. It's the costume. I need it. So I'm at home using liquid latex, trying to figure out how to make this book happen. I'm cutting up books that I already have to make a frame and everything in between. And Tonyo's like, look, it's just gonna come to you when it comes to you. When you get to the hotel, when you're on the train, let's just figure that out, uh, figure out the book then. So I during the uh during the battle, I was like, you know, well, before the battle, at the hotel, I put a bunch of liquid latex on paper. And I was like, well, I know these need to be on the book, so I just went ahead and glued them on the book, not knowing how I was gonna make this work. We get there, we finish the set, now it's time to put the book on, and I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna just cut out a circle for her head, and we'll figure out the rest from there. Turns out when you put liquid latex on paper, it kind of makes the paper more stretchy. Um, so I was able to like when I cut out the hole, instead of it being like a sharp blunt line, I cut it and put it up to her head, and it wasn't matching at first, and it was like gaps and stuff, so I cut it a little wider, and then I put her chin in first and then laid it on her head. Tell me why. That thing fit like an absolute glove, like a glove. I was so excited. You couldn't tell me nothing at that point. As soon as that thing shipped onto her face, oh, I was done. I was like, oh, I got this, I got this in the bag, and then I started adding on the extra details, and it all came together, and I was so excited by the end of it. Uh, from all of the high pressure, I had a headache. I had to go lay down. I couldn't even go to the welcome party. Your girl was tired. Like doing a battle in person, halfway through, I was questioning myself. Like, I was on I do one eye at a time. I know I talked about this not too long ago about doing both eyes to keep it symmetrical, but with UV, it just it works better for me. So I did the one eye and I did the second eye, and um, yeah, it would it was amazing. I had the best experience. When I got to that second eye, I was just like, why am I doing this? Like, and I'm looking around the room like we are all literal psychopaths. Like, who does this? And it was a cool experience. I would definitely recommend if you have never done a battle, definitely do a battle. It's so worth it. Um, but yeah, that was and and then I won when they called me on stage to say that I won first place. Like when I called my husband afterwards, after the battle, I was like, ooh, it was some good, it was some good work. It was some good costumes, some really good ideas. I knew that my idea was different, but was it good enough and was my work good enough to stand out on its own? That's what I was questioning myself on in my costume. It wasn't how I wanted it to be, but it worked out. And he was just like, T, well, it's done now. It's out of your hands, it's in the judge's hands, it's in God's hands. And so when at the awards, when they were calling the winners for third and second place, when they got to second place and it was the Gothic alphabet. No, when they did third place, because I was like, I was telling my husband about the 10 man, I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm gonna lose. The 10 man was amazing. The 10 man, the 10 man. So I went live during the whole thing. And once we saw that the 10 man was third place, I was like, oh. So then I was hoping Talia was second place because me and Talia had our whole little uh fake beef that we were doing online to get people excited about the battle. Um when Gothic Alphaba showed up as second, I was like, oh my god, I really lost this. Like, I did not think I had it in the back at all. I've been forgot about my witch, I forgot about Emerald City, I forgot that nobody else had made structures out of lashes. And I was like, I lost this. And when I saw my model's face show up, I didn't even see my name, I just saw the model's face, and I took off. When I tell you, took off running to the stage, so we were the last category to go. I'm guard. All these other categories came and went, and I'm watching people as they're they're walking up so gracefully. A couple of girls ran and I was like, I'm not gonna run. I don't want to look like that. Not judging them, because they were excited, as I was, obviously. And when I was like, I'm not gonna run like that. I'm gonna just, you know, take my time, walk, and be cutesy. Girl, they call my name. I jumped up, like the price is right, and ran to that stage. I was took off. My kids was like, I ain't never seen you run that fast, mommy. I know, mommy don't run. Mommy was excited. The price was right. I had one out. You couldn't tell me I wasn't the one at that moment. And I was like, this is what I've been working for, this is what I've been waiting for. And to know that they saw the vision, it was amazing. But yeah, that was my last battle experience, and I'm excited for it. I'm excited for next year. The theme is Harry Potter, and I already have my idea. It's something you've never seen again. And this one's gonna change the game. Like the the witch was cool. The witch in Emerald City was cool, but this one changing the game. And I'm I know I said this about the witch, but this Harry Potter, they're gonna be like, T, you're a psycho, and we need to know what's happening in your brain. We need a psychoanalysis because what is happening? But yeah, um, I feel like joining battles and participating in lash events is definitely about leveling up the industry and leveling up you as an artist. And don't let fear stop you. Don't let fear uh stop you from competing and stop you from going. Um I'm rooting for you. I want you to to win and come and challenge me and think differently. But yeah, that's it for Lash Mail. Let's jump into Lash Talk.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:57

Lash talk, lash talk.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

Ding ding ding. Classes in session. And if you're a beginner and you're skipping out on classics, I'm talking to you specifically. In love with respect. This is crawling before walking. And I know you're probably like, girl, classic is dead, it's not in anymore, and it's actually, I would have agreed with you maybe a year or two ago, but it's coming back, and it's coming back in a different way to where it's going to stand out if you don't have your foundations under control. And the reason why a lot of um trainers start beginners off with classic lashes is because it gives you room to practice your foundations without being distracted with all the extra stuff. Sorry, I just yawned. I'm not tired though. I've actually recorded this um three times because of my stupid microphone. So I got all the way through all of it, um, all the way up until last talk and had to start over twice. So this is my third time, and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna do it on the phone. I don't care about the quality of the audio. We'll figure that out when we edit it because this is a no-go. But back to what I was saying. So, why does classic matter? You're probably like, girl, I don't ever do classic. I hate doing classics, but classics teach you how to isolate, how to pay attention to the details of isolation and why it's important. Um, it's gonna help you with your placement, actually placing the lashes. When you have like a volume fan, sometimes it's harder to tell on direction because of so many hair fibers that you're looking at that you don't know which direction your fan is actually facing. So when you get comfortable with practicing your placement on with classic lashes, then you can see because any wrong step with the classic set, it can throw your whole set off. So it actually is like that immediate feedback on like what is going wrong with your sets, um, like direction that goes with placing, and then it helps you understand the lash health um so that you have awareness on um what is a strong lash versus what's a weaker lash and how to determine what kind of extension to put on it. Um, you can't just build a volume set with a weak foundation, it's going to make your job harder in the long run if you don't familiarize yourself with what's happening between classic and volume and the foundation that you need for both. Um, so when it comes to classic lashes, uh, it's super important that you understand diameters. Diameters mean everything when it comes to working with classic lashes because though it's one single hair, if you use a too too high of a diameter, um, it's good it can cause natural lash damage, even though it's one hair to one hair, even though you're isolating properly and all of that, you're causing stress onto the it the natural lash itself. So, my absolute favorite diameter for classic lashes is a 0.15. Literally, my favorite, I call it the universal um size because it's really, really, really compatible for a lot of people. You're gonna use this basically on everybody. Now, if you want like a softer classic look or the client's lashes look a little thinner and you don't want to put this thick of a lash onto the client, you'll use a.12 or a.10. That's going to give you a softer classic look. You can do this for older clients. Clients who have thinner lashes. If you're looking at a lash line, you can look at um the different sizes and the diameters of the natural lashes to determine what diameter you're gonna use on that client. You can also play around with different diameters, you don't have to use a 0.15 throughout the entire set. You can actually customize your client's set to where if they have a thinner lash, you're automatically gonna go in with a 0.10 or um a 0.07, and we'll talk about that in a second. Um, yeah, diameters, it it plays a huge part in styling and the safety of your lashes, especially with length as well. Now, there is a trend that's going on right now for hyper-realistic looks, and that's where you use finer diameters like volume diameters 0.03 through 0.07, and you use literally just one lash and you put that onto the natural lash, like a classic lash, and it's going to give the effect of like a super long natural lash. Um, you at that point, if you're using the smaller diameters, like single digit diameters, seven, you're a little bit more limited to the number of fibers that you can use. But when you get down to 0.03, you can pretty much use it's essentially almost weightless. So you can use um as many lashes as you want to, but for a classic set, if you want that hyper realistic look, you're gonna use the smaller diameters. You can play around with some of the 0.05s. I mean, sorry, the.15s. You can also get 0.18s and 0.20s, but those are like super heavy. I have maybe two clients that I used.20s on because their lashes are super thick and beautiful, and they just want them more defined, but they don't like the hybrid look. So yeah. Um, so you're probably like, girl, what even is a classic lash? So a classic lash is where you put one extension onto one natural lash. It's simple, it's clean, and it's controlled. When you are placing an extension, you don't want to outweigh the natural lash. So, like I said, the diameter is super important to understand. If your lashes are weak, you want to go for a thinner diameter, so a smaller diameter. So 0.10, a.07, a.05, or maybe even a.03 for hyper-realistic vibes. Um, if the lashes are stronger, you're more flexible. You can pretty much use any size. 0.15, again, is my universal standard that I use for classic lashes. Um, but you can also play around with the.20s depending on how um how your client's natural lashes are. Now, styling with classic, you may think that you're limited to just like a basic lash set, but you can literally do any style. You can create a wispy look. One of my hacks is I actually use 0.03s for like a small spike, like a super thin spike, almost like an angel um spike, um, on classic sets for wispiness, just to help those classic um spikes stand out. Um, and then you follow the same patterns that you do for wispy lashes, where you go for at least four millimeters longer in the uh spikes than the base of the lashes. So you still approach the classic set as a classic set, but I would honestly use a.03, like 3D, 4D uh spike to create the spikes for your wispy classic set. Now you can strictly use like um a 2015 and just go a little bit longer, but you have to be mindful of the lengths that you're using um to make sure that it still doesn't outweigh the natural lash. So just be super careful when you're creating a wispy set with a classic look. Um, my favorite thing is to use the.03s because it's essentially weightless. I know it's safe for the client's lashes and they uh give what the client is looking for, the style that they're looking for. Now, of course, you can do natural looking sets, hyper-realistic, or just regular traditional classic sets, and then texture sets. That's playing around with your different curls and your diameters as you're creating your set is gonna help create texture. So classic lashes don't have to be just boring, they can create texture and styling. You're not limited to just natural. Um, now everything that you're doing, of course, is going to be with integrity to protect the natural lashes, but is definitely achievable. And um the I find that the reason why people don't really like classic is because they feel so limited to what they can do with classics. You just have to give classics a chance and really be intentional with your placement and the products that you're using. You can't just slap things on like you can with the volume set, and you can hide your mistakes with the volume set, but with a classic set, it's all about technique, baby. You gotta figure it out. So, yes, there are rules, but once you understand them, you can break them with intention. Um, you know, I'm all about breaking the rules. Like, don't let just one mindset hold you down into thinking that it has to be a certain way because lashes is art. And if you're following the rules, you could get stuck and you could uh be working harder and not smarter. But yeah, I understand classic and having an appreciation for classic is super important. That's why I wanted to talk about it today because I'm seeing the shift in the clean girl aesthetic, and classic is the clean girl aesthetic, especially this hyper-realistic. If you are terrified to do lash lifts and Korean lash lifts, you could start offering a hyper-realistic set because there are there is a crowd out there that wants this hyper-realistic, classic look. They're the people who love the vibe of a lash lift or Korean lash lift, um, but they don't have the lengths of the lashes that they need to achieve that look. So this is where the hyper-realistic lashes and classic sets are gonna come into play. And it's pretty easy to upsell, not upsell, but sell to people and offer the service to them because there's something that they didn't know existed that they might need. So if you want to start offering that, I would say get like two or three models in and do a couple of different hyper-realistic sets and classic sets and really push them out to show people that you can do this. And if you're having doubts in yourself, this will actually push yourself to thinking outside the box. But yeah, I hope that really helps you understand and take a new love for a classic. If you have any questions about it, feel free to DM me or email me and we can talk about it because this hyper realistic classic lash look is a vibe. And I think it's so in for where we are right now. All right, let's get out of this lash talk and let's go into buzz and beats. Buzz and beats. So now that it's May, I've been waiting for so long. There's so many things I was waiting for. I went to the movies to see Devil Wears Prada too. It has been like, I think it's in like 20 years, I want to say, since the first of Devil Wears Prada. And it was so cool to see that all the cast still looked the same. Nobody looked like super aged to where it was like shocking, like, oh my god, maybe they should have found a replacement. Like it was amazing to see all of the people back. And the only thing that I didn't like was how they made Miranda like look a little bit more soft um than like the boss that she is in the movie. Like, I was sitting here like, I don't like the way they treat you Miranda, and I did not like how Miranda was treating Andy because she was that girl in the first movie. Like, what are you talking about? Uh but I did like throughout, I'm like trying to work through my feelings as I'm watching the movie. And oh my god, it was so worth it in the end. Like, I'm not gonna spoil it, but if you haven't seen it yet, my inner DFA, this was a movie that I didn't know that I needed. Little Tierra needed a grown Tierra. Oh, it was such a good vibe. I went while the kid, me and Antonio went while the kids were at school. So it was like literally like a stress-free date type of day. And uh such a vibe. Oh, we had a blast. And then to follow up, it just so happened that the Met Gala was that night. So Monday was full on fashion for me. Like I was in my fashion zone, which then got me inspired to think about my Harry Potter idea and how lashes is art and lashes fashion, and lashes everything that we need in between. Now I just need to get my lashes on a celebrity. Like, I want to lash a celebrity. I know that uh Mr. Deion Sanders, when he was at LashCon 2024, I want to say. Yeah, that was 2024. He um talked about because he's a celebrity make style stylist, hairstylist, I think. Um, he was talking about like how your clients are your everyday clients are the celebrity. And I get that because without our clients, we would have nothing, but I really want to lash a celebrity, and I get so jelly-bellied with the client with the lash artists who like get the famous people and they post about them and stuff. And I'm like, oh, I could have done that set. That's so cute. But I love it at the same time. Like, if one of us is gonna win, I would rather it be uh somebody who does quality work and doesn't leave a bad taste in the artist's mouth so that they can continue to get quality services, even if it's with someone else or with that same person. As long as we have people like joining the community in a positive way, I'm always down for it and I'm always rooting for you. But I really, really want to learn how to get celebrities on my books. Like, I be DMing them like, hey, let me do your lashes, I will travel to you or whenever you're in the area. And I just need like the cheat code to figure out like how to like actually transition the DMs and like almost fan mail DMs to like actionable results, if that's even a word. But yeah, so um, yeah, the May Gala, it was it was cool. I felt inspired and it definitely reminded me that presentation matters, branding matters, visuals matter, and just being creative matters, and it's always gonna stand out when you do something different, which full circles back to Summit. Like, uh, I won because I did something different. Um, also, I've been watching The Million Dollar Secret with my kids. This such a random show, like I did not think that they would be into it. But one day I was watching season one and they just sat down and started watching it with me, and we were just having conversations throughout the entire show, and we just turned it into our show that I watch with them, and it's cool. I really like how you have to be strategic um and trusting, um, a little deceptive, well, a lot of deceptive, um, but is it's deeper than it looks, and it's a good show. If you haven't watched it, definitely watch it. So there's a person who gets there's strangers who live in a mansion, and there's money boxes, and um, you have to try to figure out who the secret millionaire is. So then you go into your room, and if you're the secret millionaire, then you have to be given an agenda to sabotage the group and make somebody else seem like they're the millionaire. You just don't want to get caught. So you have to lie, you have to lie about different things, and it could be a small lie that could give away your entire thing. So some people don't lie unless they have the million dollars and they're like, okay, I'm gonna lie about having a million dollars, but I'm gonna keep everything else real. Some people lie about their occupations, they lie about a whole bunch of stuff. Some of the stuff is unnecessary. I feel like if I went on the show, I would definitely um be truthful about everything except for having a million dollars. And yeah, because like I feel like when you lie, you have to build on top of that lie and hope that you don't get caught in the lie. And I got too much anxiety. You're you're raising my blood pressure. I don't need that. So I love it. Definitely check it out. It's on Netflix. Double Wears Prada is still in the movies right now. Help random tickets up because they deserve it. Sometimes when they bring back something new from something old, sometimes it misses the mark, and this one hit the mark right on the head. It had me emotional, overstimulated, inspired, and conflicted at the same time. So, yeah, check it out. Now, as far as music, Beyonce about to make me mad because girl, I am in the beehive heavy, and we just knew we were gonna get an album drop after the Met Gala. And we got nothing. We got the look, we got two looks: the diamond skeleton, and then we got the golden black look inside the event. And it was cute, but I want the music. So, uh, y'all'll know when I know when Beyoncé came out with her album. Um, the Usher and Chris Brown concert sounds exciting. Might go to that, maybe not, maybe so. I feel like they're gonna hold you hostage like for four hours. And I'm gonna have to take a nap if I'm going to that. But yeah, that's that's really it for Buzz and Beats. Like, I had to talk, I definitely had to talk about Devil Wears Prada and the million-dollar secret. I just sprinkled that one in there because it's something that I'm watching right now. Um, music-wise, I'm just still listening to the same old. Um, definitely listening to Wicked. Like, I sing Wicked randomly throughout the day um because I love it. And if I go to the Course New York, um, which is in June, then I'm gonna try to go see Hamilton and I'm gonna sing all of the words. But yeah, that's it for Buzz and Beats. Let's bring it home because you know this next part is my favorite part. It is our prayer corner.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:14

The prayer corner where faith and lashes meet.

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Okay, today I'm gonna be reading from first Thessalonis chapter five verse eighteen. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you. And that was Thessalonis chapter five, verse 18. Hopefully I said that right. Um, so uh what is that spell check, pronunciation check that all right? So let's uh just dive into what that means to me. Um, I talk to God a lot and I'm not perfect. Like I said, I want everyone to feel like this is a safe space. All religions, all backgrounds, all white walks of life are definitely welcome here because at the end of the day, it's just really about being a good person and trusting your intuition and believing that there's something bigger than you that is guiding you. Um, this scripture right here is basically hitting home to me because it says, in everything that you do, give thanks. It's not just about when it's good, or it's not just about when you come in first place. Um, it's not just about when life gets easy, it's give thanks in everything. Um, even when it's messy, say thank you. Even when life is confusing and you're confused, you still have to say thank you. Um, even if things don't go as you planned, just say thank you. Um, because gratitude is gonna shift your entire mindset and it's going to help you to be in a receiving place because you're not looking at what you could have had or was not good enough. You're thankful for the things that you have because in life it could be so much worse. Sometimes we get annoyed with our clients and we're like, oh, I wish I had so I wish I had more clients. I wish that um, like I wish people would book and I didn't have to work on social media, but you still have to be thankful in moving in those seasons because God gave you the business, he gave you the idea, he's gonna bring you the clients, he's gonna bring you the clients that you need. Might not be the clients that you want, but it's the clients that you need because they're the purpose that they came into your building. So you have to remember, even when your books are slow, you're gonna be thankful. When you're learning, be thankful. There are so many people who don't retain the information that they're being taught. So if you're able to retain that information, you're able to grow and you're able to learn, you need to stop and thank God in those moments. When you're having a bad day, oh, I'm breathing. Thank God. Like it's the simple things that like really help you grow. Guilt can have you feeling like you're not doing enough, makes you feel like you're not good enough. It makes you feel like you could do so many things better, but gratitude reminds you how far you've come. So I know people say don't look in your rear view, don't look in your rear view, but you have to remember where you came from in order to be completely grateful for what's gonna be ahead of you and what you have right now. So I honestly am gonna challenge you, and I'm actually gonna do this myself and maybe post it on stories so that uh you guys can hold me accountable and maybe I can hold you accountable. I want you to write down three things that went right in your business. From the beginning, you can go from the beginning, you can go from the beginning of this year. Uh just three things that went right in your business. And then I want you to write one thing that you're thankful for about your business. Um, and it helps you um track your mindset and your progress and not just feel like pressure and always down on yourself. Remember to be kind to yourself. Um, and remember that you don't have to be perfect. You just have to be present and you have to be grateful. And to God, that's enough. He's not asking you to be the perfect Christian. He's just asking that you be a good person, that you love and you stay grounded in what he's instilled in us. And to know that that's enough. In a world where everything has to be perfect all the time in a social media world, be be original, be grateful and spread that love. Honestly, that's what that message says to me. Do everything in gratitude and know that God has you at the end of the day. And that's enough. Like, it's really that simple. So many people make being faith-based like about a whole bunch of rules, but it's really about just being a good person, being loving, not being a selfish person, being an uplifting person and non-judgmental. And I want that for you. I'm here for you. I want to be that for you. Um, but know that God is that and for and in all of us. Um, but yeah, that's it. Okay, I was just closing out and somebody called me and it messed up my ending. Okay, so let me hold on. Okay. I was ending on, you know, being enough and loving God. And all right, best friends, that is it. That was the episode. That is the testimony. It's the bread and the butter to what's been happening this last month. And I'm ready. I'm ready to build this foundation with you. When in first place has lit a fire under me. Um, I'm ready to learn how to stay grounded through all of it. Because doing all of this is a lot, and you guys are experiencing it firsthand with me. But I want you guys to know that I'm proud of you no matter where you are in your journey. I'm proud of me because I did it and we're just getting started. Until next time, remember to stay grounded, stay growing, and stay built different. Because different is gonna take you further than being mediocre any day. I love you guys. Thank you for listening to Hey Lash. Hey, I will see you when I see you again because I cannot promise next month I'm in the present. Bye, guys!

SPEAKER_03 1:29:12

Hey Lash Hay.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:15

That's a wrap on this episode of Hey Lash Hay. If you love the vibes, don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Make sure to subscribe and leave a review. It helps more lash besties find the show. You can listen to Hey Lash Hay on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Stay connected and join the conversation. Follow T on social media at Hay Lash Hay podcasts on Instagram and YouTube at B dot fly. Beauty B F L I E Beauty on TikTok. Tag the show and let us know what you're loving. See you next time on Hay Lash Hay.