26 - Trusting Your Skeleton Plan as a Mompreneur with Makeup Studio Owner Kyle Owens

Kyle Owens, owner of MIX and Makeup in Reading, PA shares all about her journey from working 18-hour-days (sometimes 7 hours from home) as a makeup artist in the TV & film industry to running a one-of-a-kind brick and mortar hair and makeup studio just minutes from her home (and her kids). 

Kyle shares incredible insights about:

• What it it was like running her first company and overseeing 10 other makeup artists in the TV & film world
• Always knowing she wanted to start her own family but not realizing how her demanding job would allow for that
• The slow transition from the career she worked so hard to build to her new entrepreneurial journey of opening her own salon—plus the pivotal moment that made her realize she needed to make a change
• How her studio honors motherhood, diversity, and beauty in all its truest forms
• How busy moms can implement a quick feel-good beauty routine to start the day feeling like their best self 

Kyle drops so many gems of wisdom inside this conversation. Trust me when I say that this is one that you don’t want to miss!

You can Kyle and MIX and Makeup on IG: @MIXandMakeup and @KyleOwensMakeup. 

And check out all of their incredible services at mixandmakeup.com!

Get access to the Success Recalibration Ritual here! You deserve to feel good about the way you're doing life and business and motherhood no matter what season of life you're in. 

Are you an ambitious mom looking to start or grow your business in a way that feels aligned? Here's what to do next:

1. Follow me on Instagram @MomBossFreedom and subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss the newest episodes! If this content really resonates with you, be sure to leave a review and star rating as well<3
2. Schedule a 15-minute clarity + connection chat to share more about your business and the vision you have for what's next. (I do currently have 1:1 business coaching spots open!)
3. Access the Success Recalibration Ritual so you can start feeling more successful more often as a mom and business owner!
4. Head here for freebies and to learn how to get nervous-system-safe coaching as an ambitious mom building a meaningful business.

If you're reading this, our paths were meant to cross :) I can't wait to support you in starting or growing your business as a busy mom!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey mama, welcome to the Mom Boss Freedom Podcast, where ambitious moms come to build and grow businesses that give them the freedom and flexibility that they deserve as both a mom and an incredibly talented human. Whether you're brand new to entrepreneurship or scaling a business you already started, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Paige Figaroa, mom of two and former English teacher turned online business owner. Around here, we talk about making space for both your big dreams and those little moments you don't want to miss as a mom. So reheat your coffee one more time and let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to another episode of the Mom Boss Freedom Podcast. Today I have an exciting guest episode to share with you with a mom preneur who is local to my hometown in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is the owner of a brick and mortar makeup studio, which I feel like it's so much more than a makeup studio, and you'll hear more about that inside of her episode. But um, her name is Kyle Owens, and Kyle is a mom of two plus two bonus children. And even though she was only a little bit over a year into owning her brick and mortar makeup studio, she's actually been entrepreneur for over a decade. And she has so many pieces of wisdom to share with us about just the journey of an entrepreneur, how we can feel our like our best selves as moms who are managing our businesses or work as well as managing all the things with the kids. And so I can't wait for you to gain some insights and some practical things that you can do for yourself this week and this month to just make yourself feel like you are at your best. So I hope that you love this episode and definitely listen to the end and check out the show notes so you can find Kyle and Mix and makeup. Uh, Kyle, welcome to the Mom Boss Freedom Podcast. I'm really excited to have you with us today. I feel like you have a really interesting and also inspiring journey as a mompreneur, and so I can't wait for listeners to just learn about your journey and also gain some of the wisdom from what you have to share from your own experience. So we always like to start from the beginning around here. So I know you have this amazing um makeup studio that it's I feel like it's so much more than a makeup studio, which you'll tell us more about later. But take us back to like before you even became a mom, I guess, and tell us a little bit about what your working journey looked like before getting to where you are now.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, I do feel like it's a long story in the making, and I was always going to end up somewhere like where I am. I didn't necessarily know what that roadmap looked like. Um, but I actually I went to school for fashion design in New York City and loved that, but kind of quickly realized it wasn't the energy of people that I wanted to spend my whole life with. Um, fashion design was a little cutthroat for me. And not that I'm not competitive, I am, but it's just, you know, as you become an adult, you get to choose how do you want to spend your day. Um, and one thing I did know from probably 13 years old is that I wanted to be a mom. I couldn't wait to be a mom. It kind of was a driving force in everything that I did. So as I kind of left the fashion industry, I went to school for makeup because my stepmother was like, You're very nurturing, you listen to people, you're creative, you're artistic. I think that would be a good road for you. And I was like, I don't want to work at the Mac counter in some shopping mall because that's all I knew of it at that time. You know, like 17, 18-year-old me. I was like, no, I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Um but you know, being in New York City, there's this whole world of film and TV that I didn't really know a whole lot about, even though my stepmom is an actress. So I was just getting introduced to that. Um, so I kind of took a leap of faith, which is probably how I run my life. It's a lot of leaps of faith, but so far it's got me where I needed to go. And I I decided to enroll in a makeup school at the Makeup Forever Academy, and there I learned everything from beauty, special effects, creating monsters, doing all the medical blood trauma, all that stuff that most people don't think of when they think makeup. They're like, oh, it's a pretty world. My makeup experience is not just that, it's it's a lot of dirt and blood and burns and all of it. Um, but what I really fell in love with was the body art. So full body painting, fake tattoos, things like that. So for me, makeup has always been so much more than just like the face and putting on pretty makeup. It is a whole story. It's this fantasy world, it's um bringing a storyline and a world together, knowing who the characters are, um, and really just traveling through every time period and every situation. So me and makeup have a very different story than what I think everybody around here sees as makeup, and it's really fun to share that world with them because even as I went back to school for cosmetology, nobody really talks about makeup. It's this kind of funny world where like you need the cosmetology or aesthetics license for it, um, but they don't teach it in cosmetology or aesthetics school, they don't really teach that. So um, you know, that was kind of my shift into doing makeup in New York. And through that, I started my first company, right? Like I started working in film and tea, TV, um, worked in fashion again, but on the makeup side, and I really loved doing that. Um, I built my first company, the Harder Group, there, where I represented 10 hair makeup artists and wardrobe styles, and we all just booked out on different commercials, TV shows, um, just jobs involving hair, makeup, and wardrobe. Um, and as I did that and worked in the film and TV industry more, I kind of started to realize that most of the women working in film and TV were single, had a lot of cats, and just really didn't have that family lifestyle that I still had living on my shoulder of like this is my ultimate goal. Like I want success, I want something creative, but I know I want to be a mom. And as I worked these 18-hour days, I was like, but I'm just not seeing how I get to this portion of it. Like I was checking things off my list success-wise, financially, um creativity-wise, I was checking off all those boxes, and I was like, but how do I do that? So I honestly took a little pause, and instead of joining the film and TV union my first time around, um, you have to get like 198 days, I don't even remember at this point, but you have to check off like a hundred and something days in a three-year period that you work on union jobs, and then you have to go through a whole um portfolio submission in front of a panel, and it's a whole process to get accepted. But my first time around, I decided to not do it because I was like, but I don't want to be a single old woman with cats and no family, and I don't see the path. Um, so I signed with an agency and I went back to working in fashion, right? And through that, I just was right back where I was in fashion school, and I was like, I already knew I didn't like this world, I didn't like the energy of the people. So here I am, like, oh, I knew this, I made the mistake, I took that route. Okay, we're gonna need to pivot again, even though I just spent all this time because it's not easy to get signed with an agency either.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Um, like for all the mom mom entrepreneurs out there, it is not a straight path. Like, if I could show you my zigzag and mess of a straight line, um, it was not straight. Yeah. It was a lot of second guessing, testing myself, and realizing again, like, probably should have just listened to my intuition that I had at the beginning. Um, so I left the agency and I went back to square one and started building my days up for the union again. Um and luckily I was I was young enough that I still had the energy, I had the motivation, and I had a little bit more clarity at that point because I kind of tested both waters of like, here's what this looks like, here's what this looks like. Okay, first one wasn't perfect, but it was a better fit, so let me go that way. Um, so I did that and I built up my hours again, continued with my company, continued with my team, and they really were my family. And that's I think where I started to love having that like unit of a team. We're all working together, supporting each other. Um, because I know a lot of people ask about this industry and how cutthroat it is. Right. And for people who are insecure about their job, maybe it is, and it is it is cutthroat, but I've always found a lot more success in supporting the people around you. Um I literally built my career off of not like hoarding my jobs, but sharing them, sharing them connections, and the more you share, the more you spread, the more people are sharing and spreading with you, and it's just a better energy to live in, truly. Um, so that's been really important, and that's really that's where I started. And you know, I met my husband on a commercial, and long story short, I never thought I'd live in Redding, Pennsylvania, but here we are, and um, yeah, it was a bit of a a life change. And I I sometimes do feel like you know, I'm 36 and I feel like I've lived 10 lives. Yeah, um that's kind of the fun of it. Yeah, we've all been trickling into this place, right? Like everything kind of laid the groundwork for this, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

But yeah, it's it's I love journey. I love how you shared um because I think this is so relatable for for anybody who has like ambition and like a an idea of like what success could look like for them as a career, uh, or as like a career path. But um, I loved your vulnerability in sharing like the different kind of like choices you made. You're like, well, I I felt that this wasn't right, so then I went back to this option and then I still knew that this wasn't right, but it's like sometimes I feel like as women, especially we we like get mad at ourselves almost for like not following our intuition, as you said, or like feeling like we made the quote unquote wrong choice. But I also feel like to your point, like part of that is like it comes with the territory of being an entrepreneur and being someone who has such high, like a vision for themselves almost, because you kind of do sometimes need to take a step down like path B and path C before you realize that, like, oh, yeah, like these really don't feel good. Um and I and I think like I think for so long society has made women almost like mistrust their intuition so much that like we even question when we know in our body that like that's not the right move. So it's like a relearning of how to like know in our body when the energy of something feels off versus when it's like okay, yes, this is for me. Um, so I'm this is like not a question I I even hadn't planned, but like for you to get like really nitty gritty here. What does that feel like for you at like a you know, like a visceral level when you're like this feels aligned versus this does not? It is a sense of calm.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

And what I will say is like I do think society makes us really question like you need to know, you need to choose, you need to be figuring out what is your path. And I kind of throw that out the window and just say you actually need to just be okay with some fear of knowing nothing you choose has to be permanent. Yeah, you have to just be okay. Sometimes you're gonna make the choice and it might be wrong. Yeah, it doesn't make you a bad person, doesn't make you a failure as an entrepreneur or as a mom, but sometimes we just don't know. Um, or sometimes what we think we know turns out to be a different situation, and being able to pivot is your best bet. Um I had this joke about like I live with my life with a skeleton plan, like I'm a pretty controlling person, but there's a lot of gaps in it. Yeah, I like to have the structure, but everything else has to get filled in as we go. Because as much as I think that sometimes I know and I know people around me think that I am like so in control and have it all figured out, I don't. And as I've gotten older, I've gotten a little bit more okay with saying that because you know, I was a competitive gymnast my whole life, and like the stakes were high. Um, you really had to be like pretty perfect, and when you grow up that way, you carry that into your professional life and you really beat yourself up when you make the wrong decisions, but you are gonna make so many wrong decisions. And um, like I know you were just talking with Lily a couple weeks ago, and she's kind of like a year behind in year one of business, and I just feel like I'm trying like I love her as a person. I'm like, just keep going. Like the wrong mista, like make some mistakes, make some bad calls, all of it's gonna lead you to the right one. Yeah, and I think um, rather than just feeling like you have to make it all happen perfectly, step one through ten, just know that it's like I mean, some people can do that quickly, but if you can't, it's you just gotta keep moving, keep trying to everything, and um really just not quitting when those decisions get hard and you're like shoot. Yeah, sometimes you don't get it right the first time, but usually when you don't, it's leading you towards getting it right next. Yeah, and helping you find some of that clarity and um because sometimes, like truly, I a lot of times don't know what is gonna bring me calm versus feel like a chaotic decision. I don't know that until I'm there.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Right. Yeah. Well, it's cool too. I like that idea of having a a skeleton plan because I think part of the beauty of just like life in general and also being an entrepreneur is like you have this cool idea, and it's like the fun of it is getting to see how it unfolds because you don't know all of those little details that are gonna fill in. But okay, so I loved hearing your backstory here. Now tell us like when did motherhood get thrown into the mix here and how did that kind of like change things up for you?

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, so um so I told you I always knew I wanted to be a mom. Um, I have two younger sisters and two younger stepsisters. I have an older brother, but um, you know, I feel like I've had younger women below me my whole life. Um and so that was just something that lived on my shoulder, was always there. When I met my husband, I was 25 and he had two kids already. So, you know, just the natural progression of that relationship and um moving here. I, you know, I feel like I started raising kids when I was young. Um I had a lot of like dabbled in motherhood. I was pretty involved in their life. Um, and the funny thing is we kind of took them from like ages seven and ten through college. Oh wow. Then we went back to babies. So we did it a little backwards where my experience as mom was like half time. You saw that every other weekend. Um, and then going into full time with babies, that was right during COVID. I got pregnant with Aria during COVID, um, probably because I finally had time to not be on set and yeah, and relax enough to let my body get pregnant. You know, we were trying, but it it was a little bit of a journey to get there. Um but yeah, before that I was still commuting back and forth to New York, and it was like leaving at 3:30 in the morning to beat New Jersey traffic and not have to stop six times to pee and just kind of it all out. Um, but I wait, you were doing that while you were pregnant at the end, but for the three years that I was living here before I got ARIA, I was still commuting very hard. Wow. Um, I kind of had, I think with a lot of things in my life, it takes me like I push really hard until I have that light bulb moment where you gotta reassess. And I had one of those where I was doing a commercial in Long Island, which was like a seven-hour drive from here. That's bananas. For commercials, a lot of times we film like 7 p.m. till 7 a.m. Which is just an off time for me, at least. I'm not an education. Um you know, motherhood has suited me more with the 7 p.m. bedtime. But so I had this commercial, 7 p.m. till 7 a.m. and I went to drive home the next morning, and I straight up fell asleep driving, like hit the bumps on the side, woke me up, was about to hit the wall. I was like, oh my god, oh my gosh. That was really my like wake-up call. I was like, I can't do this. Like I'm at a point, I have to choose what life I want next. I can't keep driving back to New York. Like that was my life for 10 years, and I was proud of the career that I built there, all the hours I put into finding that version of me. And you know, I was really happy with the version of me that I was then. Um, but it was a I had to make a change, I had to make a choice, and uh that's kind of what landed me here more permanently. So I was pregnant with Aria, um, it was COVID, so like film and TV was slowing down anyways, because everybody was trying to figure out how do we do this masked and test everybody. Um, that got a little bit crazy. So the decision was kind of made for me at the right time, you know. Universe was kind of aligning, saying, like, baby, you can't fall asleep while you're driving. You obviously can't live and work in two states that are that far apart. So yeah, so I feel like the universe kind of forced me into making a decision, which was a decision that needed to be made anyways. And with my skeleton plan, I think life sometimes does that. You keep going until you're like, okay, now I see that crossroads. We gotta make a choice. Um, so I did. I chose to stop that for a little while. Um, I'm still in the union and I I still work in Philly quite a bit. I really don't go back to New York unless it's like a friend who's asked me for a while to work on something with them. Um, but I primarily am based here. And at the time, Amanda with Dress and Love was also opening her shop right during COVID. So that was kind of that opportunity landed in front of me. I was her preferred vendor as a bridal makeup artist. Um, and it was just something that I was like, wow, that's a five-minute commute with a baby. I can understand a five-minute commute. I it was part-time. If I needed to leave, like nothing was riding on it. Because with New York, if I got stuck in traffic, if we had a snowstorm, if I got like really sick, there wasn't really the ability to say, Hey, I can't come. I need to swap myself out. Like I was an individual, so you're hired as you, not as you know, company to replace you. Um, and that is why I created my first company, the Harder Group, because within that group of artists, all the producers I worked with, they did know the team, so I could swap out. So even with planning that before I had kids, I started that company with having kids in mind, saying, like, yeah, industry is crazy. We have no out. We're just like locked into it with no comprehension that somebody might have a life outside of this. Yeah. And I work with all these women, and I was like, what's gonna happen when they want to have a life and kids someday? Like, we need to have a team that we could swap out, we could support. You are allowed to get sick for once. Yeah. So that all of that was like, like I said, it was all building towards this same concept of I knew I wanted to be a mom, I knew I wanted to have a career, but how do you balance that in this world? So eventually, with having kids here, um, it all just kind of came together, and like I said, decisions had to be made. I couldn't keep driving there. So I started with Amanda as a bridal artist, and um, you know, my background was always in fashion design, so when she needed an extra stylist, I was willing to do anything I could, any job to just stay in town and be present with my baby. Like, I never thought I'd be going back to fashion design, but um I've always known that like being a mom and being a very present mom was the most important. So I could be happy doing pretty much any career. Just this seems to be the career I've landed in. But I've always said, like, if I needed to get a third job, a second job, a fourth job, that would be my priority to stay close to my daughter and my son over what field and what career I was in. But I am blessed to have found one that I do love. I am passionate about my career. I love the people I work with. So I do think like when you follow, um, just follow your intuition, I do feel like the universe will align and put the right people, the right things, the right options in front of you.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah. I love that. It's also really um, it's unique in your journey because you had you had this other company first, and like I'm curious to hear from you what it was like running this original company that you had rooted in, you know, the film and um TV makeup world, and then did you like fully transition, did you fully transition out of that? And then like what is your experience now running this incredible studio where you are also employing other women and moms? Um so like just I guess in general, like what was it like transitioning out of your other company if you did transition out of it, and then also how has that informed how you actually like run your business day to day, knowing that you have other women and moms under your employment?

SPEAKER_01 22:36

So I kind of transitioned slowly. Um, because there were 10 of us, I kind of transitioned myself out first, where I was just managing, I wasn't traveling back and forth to New York, but I came. The team still alive. So as producers and TV shows and networks wanted to book out jobs, I was just placing all my artists. And that's kind of the same as what I do now at the studios. There are a lot of things that overlap. Um, because at the studio, as our bookings come in, our inquiries come in, I'm really trying to build and place um place appointments with different artists. There's still the same struggle that sometimes when you're the one building it, you're you build your clients, they're comfortable with you. Yeah, you get stuck in like the doing of the daily well, it's just you build these relationships with your clients. Like makeup is very personal. You're in somebody's space, they get used to your specific way of doing it. So that is a little tricky. It's not a job you can always just swap yourself out and be like, oh, well, here's this person. They're like, Well, I didn't book with them. Yeah. That's a little trickier here, where in New York with that company, there wasn't that expectation that it had to be me. Right. Yeah. You know how set runs. Um, because film and TV is really structured. Um, you know, like our call times are not 10 o'clock, they're 9 42. Oh, don't get 30 minutes. 18 minutes to set up. You have to take a meal. So being in the union, it's really specific. So some of that logistically, it's has nothing to do with being creative, it's just knowing what that industry looks like. Um, where here with the studio, it's a lot that's the same working with a team, trying to know everybody's strengths and weaknesses so that you book them with the right clients. Um, it's yeah, it's it's pretty similar, and I'm happy with that. Uh, it does feel like a family unit the same way my team there. I mean, they were some of my best friends. These are some of my now my best friends. It's like a family of our moms raising our kids together. And I think I did that because for so many years in the film and TV industry, I felt like I was working, not with my team, but with the people who hired us. You're working with people who just don't understand that there is a life outside of film TV. And I get it, there's an allure towards the celebrity aspect. Um, like even people around here, they're like, oh my god, you work in film TV. And I'm like, it is not glamorous. Believe me. I stood outside in the heat for 12 hours straight on a blood unit. Oh my gosh. There are things that are not glamorous about it, and there are things that are amazing because it's an opportunity that so many people will never have. So try to be really grateful for it. And also say in reality that it's not this end-all be-all. Like some days I truly enjoy working here at my salon way more than being on this like top-tier movie. People wouldn't understand that they'd be like, 'Oh my god,' but you're working with Queen Latifa and Adam Sandler. I'm like, yes, and they are wonderful people. And also the woman in my chair today who's experiencing life in a very real way, wonderful woman. And I'm more invested in her. Even I'm not getting paid as much with her, but I'm more invested in that person. Um, and that personal connection was always really important for me. Um, so I I miss I missed that world in New York, but I also really love this. I think this is more suited for my current lifestyle. Um, and I do still work in it. I was just uh talking to you, what was that, yesterday? See, I don't even know what day it is. Mom time blends everything together. No, it was Wednesday. Wednesday, I was just in Philly working on um this Netflix show that I've been on for a couple seasons now, but I day play. So you can either be on a TV show or a movie for like the five months straight, which means you're doing 18-hour days Monday through Friday.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Um, I can't do that in my life right now. Yeah. And I don't really want to. Um, but I like to keep one foot in the door because, like I said, it took me years to build that career. So I don't want to just step right out. And I think that's something like for moms and mom entrepreneurs, it's like you probably went to college and built this whole identity around your success and your work ethic. And then when you become a mom, you depending on what version of motherhood um you're living, you just have to make some choices to step back a little. But I feel like part of us, like if you were that driven, ambitious entrepreneur mind to begin with, you're always holding on to a piece of that.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

And you're like testing out, well, what does this other version of me look like? And sometimes it's not in your house, like it's your business, you know, and there's always that piece of you that's there. But um, as far as kind of comparing both businesses, there's a lot that's similar. So I feel like, like I said, everything I've done was always leading towards something like this. I wouldn't say like it was such a shift, I fully lost who I was doing that. It's just a different direction. Um, and I love working with moms because, like I said, anything in my life that I ever felt like I didn't, um, whether it was like hard for me or I feel like it wasn't understood or it wasn't acknowledged, I carry that into what I do. And I'm like, okay, let me make you feel acknowledged and supported. And to be honest, some days it's really hard. Like, oh yeah, it's hard to separate me as a mom from me as a boss because I have so much empathy. Yeah. That is the biggest challenge. Because sometimes like the work side of it just needs to be done. Right. And some things, like, you know, not gonna lie, they say things to me. I'm like, you would never say that to your boss. You're saying that to me, and I don't know in my head where to separate it. Right. Show up as your boss who's like, no, we need to do this, or show up as your friend, and that's my biggest challenge is like you feel like you're living these two very separate worlds, and I enjoy the friend one a lot more. Yeah, I kind of hate being a boss. I kind of wish somebody else would just step in and let me just be on on the other side, but that's probably not gonna happen. Um so it's challenging to make some of those decisions, and um, at the end of the day, it is really important to me to just remember that sometimes the business decision can fall to the wayside, and sometimes the friendship decision is actually more important long term. Yeah, the business might have to take a couple hits, a couple failures, but in my life and who I choose to be as a boss, I do want to focus on the friendship side of it. And I might not have as much as successful as a business at the end of the day, but I think I'll be more at peace with myself in my life, and that's you know, as you get older, you figure out where your clarity is. That is higher on my list of priorities than how much money my business makes this year.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

So probably a really bad business owner in that sense, but well, I I don't think that because I think just you when you mentioned earlier you were talking about success and how your journey, you kind of like change what that means to you over time, I feel like, right? Like um, I had a whole life before becoming an entrepreneur and becoming a business coach where I was teaching high school English for or middle school and high school English for almost a decade. And I had a master's degree, right? And I like put so much effort and work into building this career. And then I realized when I had kids, I was like, I don't feel successful because I'm showing up at work every day and I'm burned out, and I'm I feel like I'm not giving a hundred percent to the students I'm teaching. I feel like I'm doing a crap job at home as a mom because I'm just exhausted all the time. So I feel like um like business isn't always just about, you know, the financial success. It's about, like you were saying, the alignment and the peace that you have with how that part of your life meshes with the other parts of your life that are also really important to you, like being a mom. Um, so it's cool to hear, and I always love seeing female entrepreneurs and mom entrepreneurs, especially how they run their businesses so differently. And I'm sure, like you said, there's a challenge when it comes to like having to be like boss versus friend, or you know, being compassionate about the motherhood side of things, but I feel like that's so important in this day and age when there are so many businesses and companies out there who just completely bulldoze over the needs of moms and families in the workplace. And so it's it's nice and you know, hopeful and refreshing to see that like we have all these incredible women and moms who are now building their own businesses and redefining what it looks like for moms and women who might want to become moms one day to have that like flexibility and understanding in a boss who you know realizes that they are also a human, not just like a worker or an employee. So that's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

At my studio, um, you know, when I thought about it, I have thought about opening a place for years, and it's kind of like, well, even Pen Av, we've got 12 salons right on Pen Av. Uh-huh. We don't need another, but we don't really focus on being a salon. And I truly believe, like, again, my lifestyle has trickled into my business and it's become my identity there. And we have really focused on like we have so many mom and mini facials because guess what? Moms, we do need a break. Yeah. Um, and it is nice to be able to go to a place where, like, I don't care if your kid spills glitter on my floor. I've done it 20 times before. And our place is really beautiful. My husband and I put a lot of time into building it to be this beautiful place and balance with like our backroom that's creative and fun, and truly, there's like markers and glitter and glue and colorful stuff everywhere. We've got every rainbow-colored hair. Um, and I know I see moms come in and they're like, oh my god, don't touch that. I'm like, no, no, it's fine. Like, worst thing that's gonna happen is they spill it and we clean it up, and you see the moms relax. Like, we're also tense about oh my god, what's gonna happen if like my kid spills this or my kids, you know, make a mess here. I'm like, we're not that place. We are the place you could make a mess, and it's totally fine. Um, but also like if you need to go relax in the front room, we have plenty of crafts and makeup and creative activities in the back room, which is right next to you, uh, that are great for your kids. So, you know, ultimately just balancing all of the worlds into one is really challenging, but it's been so fulfilling. Um you know, like my lead hairstylist Haley, she got pregnant with her daughter like four months into opening the business. Oh wow. Of course, we're so happy for her, but it was kind of like, okay, so how does that how what does that look like for us? So even being flexible with her timing and when she's available. Um, and now it's like Sunny, her daughter is like our little shop mascot. So there's a lot of days um that have been challenging, but then at the end of the day, I look at it and I'm like, wow. So during Haley's appointments, I was holding Sunny, I was supporting her as a mom. And then on that same day, Steph needed to come in for an appointment. So Julia had to pick up her kid from school, and it's like that village that you know, I'm so grateful that Lily's building this whole mom village because that's kind of the life that we live. Like, yeah, sometimes in order to work and hold on to your career, even if it's only one day a week, you need support to have a trusted friend that's like, you know what, I got it. Let me get your kid. They're going to the same school as mine. And um, so that side of like just working with women and creating this space where like truly moms can be comfortable bringing their daughters in and not feeling like we're gonna get mad if they make a mess. Um, I think it's just a different vibe in our salon. It is a salon. I just in my head I don't think of it that way because I've never been a salon. Um, but it is actually what we are, it's just a much more relaxed version. Um, even when kids come in to get their hair cut, it's like we just try and make it fun for them. So yeah, it's it's beautiful. The days that seem so chaotic, like while we're living in it, like, okay, who's holding my baby, who's picking up my kid? When you look at it at the end of the day and you're like, wow, every one of us got to be a mom, got to feel safe that your kid was taken care of by somebody else who cares. Um, you still got to have your career. So I check off that day as a success, even if there were hard parts in it at the end of it. I'm like, we all got to do all of it, and that makes me really happy. Like, regardless of what my business made that day, it makes me really happy that we've created a space that we can all do that. Because this toddler phase, it is a phase. They're gonna get bigger and they need less of our time. But knowing that we have a space that we can all do that together and support each other and feel good about it, that's one of the most important things to me in my business.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

That's so special and so needed because um I feel like just when you were talking about how people just feel like they can relax when they're there. I feel like there are so many spaces that moms go into and they feel like they have to like you'll be like, okay, I'm not a mom now, or like have to like make sure my children are being perfect. And it's like that's reality.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

You don't leave your house because you're like, I don't think I can go to that restaurant because it's gonna be too stressful for me to worry about what my kids are doing, but they're just being kids, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Um, I I have two more questions for you because I know you have a you have a self-care uh activity after this, which I'm so happy for you for. Um, this one is more of like a beauty question. It's like I'm gonna throw two at you and you can choose which one you start with. But so um the first one then is thinking about like moms, like I know sometimes like I I don't even throw on makeup anymore before I head out the door. And like not that you have to wear makeup necessarily, but like for the busy moms out there who just like they have a lot of stuff to do in a day. Do you have any um like tips or like like get out of the door quickly? Makeup routine tips for like how you can still feel and look your best without like putting too much effort or work into it before you leave.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

Yeah, I think every one of us, mom or not, you deserve at least five minutes in the morning. And even if that five minutes is while you're doing something else, like give yourself five five minutes to prioritize how you feel because it will change how you carry yourself throughout the rest of the day. Not that you're looking in the mirror all day, but most of us are either on a camera at some point or you walk by a reflection at some point, and you do have that little boost of confidence, that slight motivation or extra inspiration to just keep it going, keep it moving when you feel good. So um, truly, like if I had to say my products in the morning to just get up and do it. Maybe it's while you're brushing your teeth, maybe it's while your kids are just getting out of bed. Um, but take the five minutes for yourself. Sometimes mine is in the car, not gonna lie. I I'm a car makeup girly too. Yes, and almost every mom I know is like girly.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

So our kids go to the same school. I'll be like in the carpool line before they open the doors, like fixing my mascara, and then I'm like, oh crap, I have to move up in the line. Always.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

That's me, always. There's you know, the guy at um what's his name? The guy that's the traffic director. Traffic director. Always like, I am putting on lip gloss right now.

unknown 38:26

What?

SPEAKER_01 38:27

I'm moving my car. Um, but yeah, so have your five-minute routine, moisturize your skin because even if that's all you got on for the day, at least you don't look dry and dull, and you'll just feel better when you're not dry. So moisturizer, some sort of tint. I love a skin tint, a tinted moisturizer, um, heavy foundation, don't waste your time with it because if you don't blend it in well, it just looks like extra and it's actually doing you less favors. So just moisturizer, skin tint, concealer. Blush. Give yourself some color. I don't care if you use bronzer or not, just a little blush. Your blush can go on your cheeks, your lips, your lids. Right? So, like find products that do more than one thing, just swipe it on and call it a day. Mascara and a lip balm, lip gloss, whatever it is. Your face needs a little color, right? We look tired. And the way people respect you, the way people look at you, the way you respect yourself, the way you feel is just a little better with a little color in your face. Um and you know, you just you took the time for yourself, you gave yourself five minutes. So I think it's more than just aesthetically what you look like. Um, yes, giving yourself the five minutes at the top of the day to give yourself some color, a little hydration and glow, and just like a little cleanup. Um, I think it changes the way you move about in your entire day. How you feel about yourself, how other people feel about you, as vain as that may sound, um, it doesn't really matter because how you feel, and if you feel better, you will move about the day in a little bit higher spirit. And just something with your hair. You don't need to do a lot, even if it's I tell moms all the time, like your hair can be three, four days old. Put a little gel or something so it's smooth and do a low ponytail. It's like the frizz, the mess that yeah, it makes us all look a little messy. And believe me, what I look like when I roll out of bed in the morning, I'm a tornado. And I've had experiences at even at school drop-off and pickup when they're like, oh my god, moms don't look like this. I'm like, moms can look like this. We should. We deserve to have five minutes. Um, but I know the reality is sometimes your five minutes is while you're in the car or while a kid is climbing on you. But every one of us can afford five minutes. And if you don't feel like you can, please book a lesson at my studio because we do show you what's like your 30-minute makeup routine and what's your five-minute makeup routine.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Um, and it's really important. I've had such great feedback from so many of the women that are like, I just was always too scared to try because I thought it was going to be this whole process, but you're right, like those two products changed my whole face in the morning. And it took me 30 seconds. So, you know, I think as moms, we don't prioritize ourselves, and especially like right after right after birth when you've got babies, yeah, but I distinctly remember the day after I had aria and I just like lived in my sweatpants and breastfeeding for you know the couple weeks, and then the day that I like put myself together and was like, Okay, whoa, I'm still here. Yeah, I haven't slept in you know weeks, and now it's like haven't slept in five years, but we could people don't have to know that. Yeah, I mean they know it, but you can change the way you feel inside a little bit more outwardly.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

I feel like it makes you feel more human. I mean, I know five minutes doesn't sound like a lot, but like you were just sharing your story when you were in early motherhood. Like I remember the day after I gave birth and I went to visit my babies in the NICU, I put makeup on because it made me feel like a human again, like a person that wasn't just a body that other humans came out of. Feel less sleepy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah, it's wild, it's just a couple products. Um, and I know a lot of women are like really um diving into having clean product right now, which I also think is super important, right? We're all trying to be healthier and find the quick version of what we can put on ourselves, but that's still good for our skin. So um, but it's also overwhelming for a lot of women to be like, well, then what product should I use? Like, yeah, I don't have time to make extra decisions right now, so I'm gonna avoid it altogether. Um, but just the couple things, like cream products, you don't need a single brush. I tell women all the time, like it doesn't have to be complicated. Your fingers are your best tools, right? So a little bit of product, throw it on your face, walk out the door. You could add something throughout the day. Like if you only had two minutes this morning, get what you can get on. Then when you're in a drop-off line, add your mascara, right? So there are ways that you can do it, and it's really going to boost your whole vibe about how you move for the day, and I think that's important.

unknown 43:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

I've I've spent plenty of time where I just didn't do that, even as a makeup artist and as somebody who owns this business. I know how hard it can be to get yourself out of that, you know, just that funk of like, okay, well, this is just what it is now. Like, I'm giving everything to my baby, my family, my life. That's just not about me right now. But I think that there's an important shift when you start to do that again and recognize yourself as a human and somebody who deserves some time. Um, and it's it's funny to even say, like, oh my god, five minutes, what a big deal to give ourselves. Yes, probably give ourselves more. But even if that's all you have, if that's the stage of life you're in, super important. And um, we carry European skin line at our studio all clean ingredients. So I tell people all the time, like, you also just feel good that you're you're doing something good for your skin, for your body, if you're leaving it on for 10 hours. You know, you don't want to just put some cheap crap that's gonna just have you wake up the next day with pimples and now you feel even worse about yourself and you didn't clean your brushes because you don't have time to add one more thing to clean. So skip the brushes, skip the cheap product. Doesn't mean you have to buy the most expensive, but look for good clean ingredients, cream products that you can just use your hands, and there's really no reason you can't do that in a day.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

So yeah, it's important, it's important to feel good. I agree. And um another question that I had kind of along the lines of feeling good comes along with how we talk about ourselves. Um, because I feel like as women, like you said, like some a lot of times we look really tired or like we might. Be breaking out for whatever reason, or like depending on what part of our cycle we're on. Um, and I saw a post you had the other day, and I'm I'm not sure if you do your own social media at this point, but you were saying something about like come in with acne, like we don't care, like all we care is that when you leave this seat that you're in, like you feel amazing. So I'm curious to you like how you not only as like a mom who has a younger daughter, um, and a a bonus daughter, and like also employees women, you have women coming through your your your company or your um business all day long. Like, how do you how do you make sure you consciously are talking about yourself around other women in a way that you feel like is empowering? Because I feel like a lot of us, especially millennials, grew up with like parents or moms talking about like, oh, like I'm I'm too heavy or like I look like crap. I just feel like we were like inundated with this messaging from a young age. Like, how do you feel like you're like actively trying to like get away from that in this amazing studio?

SPEAKER_01 45:50

The nice thing is, I don't there's truly not a day where I feel like I'm lying to a woman about her beauty. Um, I really truly believe that every woman is beautiful, and I get that we can be critical of ourselves, but every one of us has features that are so unique to us that it is beautiful. Um, and we start it from our young girls coming in. When we talk about we're gonna do makeup today, we're gonna do skincare, it's always from a base of self-care, self-love for what you walked in here with. When we talk about what we're doing, we're we're doing it to feel fancy, not to look beautiful. And it's a message we try and drive with, especially the little girls coming in who all look different. Um, they're different sizes, different shapes, different ethnicities, different hair types and textures. Um, and it's so important in my studio that everything is diverse. Um, so it starts with our young girls, and as the moms come in and they have this event that they're going to, almost everyone, when we start and say, Did you have, you know, an idea or an inspiration for what you want to look like? It's amazing how many women will start that answer by saying something they don't like about themselves. Oh, well, that part, you know, I want to know what you do love, and we're gonna highlight that because all of this is great. Um but it's it's easy. I think any most women who go into makeup, you're already there because you love beauty and you love making women feel good. Um, so part of it is just creating the space that one they feel good coming in the door, right? We don't, you know, we're not like grossed out by acne, or we're like, yeah, let's uh let's clear that up. And here's some recommendations of not just how we can clear it up today, but here's you know a skincare routine that will help you overall clear that up. And so some of it's just through education that really neutralizes everything. It's not opinion-based, it's not like I believe your skin will be prettier if it looks like this. Right. Some of them just actually just never got the education on here's how we can care for your skin. Um, kind of like you know, you don't feel judged necessarily by a doctor, they're telling you what's going to be best for your health. Yeah. We're kind of doing the same thing. So the education side of it kind of neutralizes things because we do have an expertise in product and skincare that we want to share with you so that you feel confident. Um too, it's just sometimes you need another woman to remind you. And as vain as that sounds, like we get to sit there for an hour and boost you up. Like our brides, our wedding day, it's really important when brides pick their artists because they are picking somebody who can just make them feel good. So sometimes it's our energy, um, sometimes it's just in our conversation. Um, and and we know what product you don't need 20 items on your face necessarily, sometimes it's just one or two things. And when women see, like, oh, so it didn't take that much to make me. It's like, of course, because you were already beautiful. But with the little girls, that's why, you know, it's really important that I put so much time into thinking about the backroom and what message we were sending the younger girls. Um, I mean, I literally created games where we have every different skin tone and they've got to put different eyes and different hair, and I love that every feature, totally normal and like level and neutralized from the time that they're young, like four. They see curly hair as much as they see straight hair, as much as they see red hair, as much as they see pink hair and blonde hair. When all of it is there in front of them next to each other, and every little girl that walks in our studio sees herself somewhere, it kind of levels the playing field of like, yeah, we're all beautiful. There's not one that's better than the other. Um so like the girls start with designing their own face charts, and the first face charts I was looking at, I was like, Well, it's only one face. Like, what if this girl doesn't see herself in that face? So, like, I searched and searched and searched. Oh my gosh. You know, like more African American, like every feature on these faces was such a big detail. So my first year of business was just so much research because I wanted to make sure that our messages were clear and everybody felt beautiful. You know, we have a uh wall that just has all the like beauty books, and I wanted every age range and every ethnicity, and it's like, as you're opening a business, they're like, Nope, don't try and reach everyone, pick your target audience that's small. And I was like, I don't even know how to do that because no, that's like I tried to do that, and I was like, I I just that's not the message right off the bat. Yeah, from four and up, I want it to be diverse, and I want everybody to feel welcome and beautiful no matter how they come in. Um, even as far as like it's the little details like our goodie bags for our birthdays. I didn't want some skirt item that maybe one kid's bigger, one kid's smaller, and I don't want anybody to feel bad if something doesn't fit. So going from things that are elastic to things that just wrap all the way around, like you know, it's it's so many little details that I think behind the scenes I've put so much effort into making sure everybody feels welcome and comfortable. Um, because it is, it's like the first question, even women asked it, like, well, do you do Asian clients? You know, they don't always know that I'm Asian and that I own the business. I'm like, of course we do. Yeah. Do you do darker skin tones? I'm like, yeah, we have a full color range. Um, in my opinion, there should not be a studio that says they do beauty that only addresses one clientele, but I get that some people specialize in certain areas. Um, my studio, I didn't want to do that, and I think it has created like a ton more work for me to try and fit everybody. Um, like I even feel bad when people say, Well, what about boys? And I'm like, ah, I haven't figured that one out. It's like a very girly place when you walk in.

SPEAKER_00 51:53

Well, I was I have my I my twins, my son loves to dress up in uh my daughter's dresses all the time. And I'm thinking, like, if I have a birthday party one day for for her with the studio, I'm like, do I bring him with and do it with him too, or what?

SPEAKER_01 52:10

I will tell you, Coda lives there with us too, and he has so much fun mixing glitter gels and coloring on paper. You know, like he's the same. Like this morning before school, he's trying to put a tutu on with Arya because she decided to be fancy today. I'm like, wow, do you? Love it. Um, but yeah, I mean, in like outside of this studio, we have so much stuff, whether it's like face painting, painting dragons on their face, painting dinosaur arms. Like, there's a ton of stuff. Um, just overall, the studio is geared more towards girls and girl parties. So that's where I'm like, man, like I even feel bad because I'm like, but boys have fun with this stuff too. I mean, you know, my stepson, I wax his arms for him, and my husband wax in his face. Like, it's all for everybody. We have men that come in for facials, it's just the industry kind of divides a little bit, but like again, I beauty is for everybody. Yeah. So I um my back room, I'm just I've had boys who have gotten like hair tinsel and it's so short. Uh-huh. Like, if you want that, absolutely, we're here for it. Oh my gosh. You know, we're we're about to do a class that's like a pints and ponytails where dads get to learn how to do it, do hair. That's amazing. I'm telling my husband about this. Yeah, we're gonna do it at Schaler in their back room. So we just have to set the date. We actually were supposed to do it February 15th, and I just I had too much stuff going on. Uh-huh. Um, but yeah, like we we have so much more interest from men, you know, boys, like it's it's for everybody. I wish I had a bigger space. Um you know, I'm just I've just run out of space to do it all. But you know, the business will keep growing. We'll see where it goes in a couple years. And I truly believe that beauty and self-care is for everybody. Um, and my main goal at the studio is just to keep it fun, keep everybody feeling welcome, and uh, you know, keep growing that supporting the women that we work with and supporting the women who come through our doors. Yeah. Like I said, at the end of our birthday parties, almost all the moms are like, wait, why don't we do this for ourselves? And I'm like, we have literally have a ladies' night lesson where it's the adult version of this kids' party. Right. It just includes champagne, which just makes it a little bit more fun. But yeah, um, I think for moms and mom entrepreneurs, all these things are important, like really how you feel, how you spend your time, um, spending a little money on yourself. You don't have to break the bank to do something for yourself even once a month. Go in for a facial so you can relax, reset your nervous system and show up better the next day. Like you said, the goal is always to show, find what makes you show up better the next day. And I do believe in my core that self-care, beauty, the whole industry, um, it it's it's one that I've found my purpose in. Um bring people light and laughter and you know, all the good vibes.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

I love it. Well, thank you so much, Kyle, for sharing your inspiring journey and just everything you're building with mix and makeup. Um, I know you have to get going, but where can people who are listening find you? Um, I know that a lot of listeners are from the Berks County area, some are not. Um, but even for those who are not, it'd be cool to like find you on social media and stuff. So where can they find you?

SPEAKER_01 55:24

Um, so our Instagram is at mixandmakeup underscore. That's probably the best way to just keep up with our day-to-day things that we're doing at the studio and get to know um who our clients are, who our staff are. Um, our website's great too. That's where all the information, pricing, all of that is there. And you can contact us through the website, or you can email me at info at mixandmakeup.com. I will say just avoid the phone. I'm a mom and I'm usually an appointment. So I tell people all the time, yes, we have a phone. It's an email. I'm just telling you, I'm so bad at the phone. So that's why I have to know my strengths and weaknesses. The phone is not my strength. Um, I will eventually get back to you, but it's so much faster because if I pick up a phone, one of the kids is gonna yell. And I feel they're always they they only ever start screaming when you're on the phone. It's like a rule they have, I guess. That's right. So the stage of life that I am in, avoid the phone. I am so sorry for that, but I will respond by Instagram, Facebook, website, email, pretty much anything via text, I can get back to you right away.

SPEAKER_00 56:25

Amazing. Well, I will put all of that information in the show notes so everyone can find you and um come be part of the incredible atmosphere that you have at Mix and Makeup and also some of the events that you have um available for all sorts of reasons and unique ideas too. So thank you so much, Kyle. I hope you have an amazing self-care day. Thank you. And I also can't get it in before school pickup, right? Yeah, I was like, I can't wait to come down um to the studio at some point too and make a priority in my life too, to like do all the self-care.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

Um, I'll see you at the at the summit.

SPEAKER_00 56:57

If this episode resonated with you, be sure to check out the show notes so that you can go find Kyle Owens and Mix and Makeup on Instagram and check out the website for all of the incredible services that um her studio offers, especially if you are living in the Berks County area. And if you are a mom who is looking to start or grow your business, also check the show notes as well for some helpful freebies on how you can do some of the internal work and um just feel like you are in a really good place to take your business idea or your current business to the next level in a way that feels aligned and supported. I cannot wait for you to join us for the next episode. Have an amazing day.