The Story Series
It only seemed right to introduce The Story Series with my story.
Before I get ahead of myself, let me describe The Story Series and the idea behind it. Throughout my social platforms, you’ll start to discover groups of images with captions discussing behind the scenes narratives of momentous occasions in people’s lives. Each of the series will cover the diversification of different important times and milestones in everyone’s lives that my studio is honored to be part of.
My hope is that these series, as they roll out, become an inspiration board for all of Studio XO's followers. Whether they be boudoir, engagement, maternity, creative or wedding (my favorite!), my goal is for you to truly understand the narrative behind the choices I make as a beauty creator - I want you to know the WHY behind my work, and I want that to inspire you for your next special event.
When I talked to one of my girlfriends about the idea of the series, she suggested to me that I start out with myself, and how I got here. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why anyone would EVER want to read about my story, but again...I love a good story, and I know I’m not alone.
My story?
Well...life is just too damn short to be working for someone else’s dream. As you could probably guess, I did that for way too long. If you go to work every day, and love what you do, you will truly never work a day in your life. I live by that. I found myself always searching for change without having any control over the next decision. The changes were made for me by my “bosses” in past jobs. When I finally realized how much I love to create, how much I love risk, that I was fine with failure... I realized I was an entrepreneur.
My biggest fear as I sat in my corporate job was living the same year 75 times and calling it my life. I saw my exact future and that scared me more than walking into my boss’ office and handing in my resignation letter. I left a salary position with benefits, stability and consistency in my mid 20s. I had a career that I can honestly say I was pretty great, and definitely successful at. Why would I risk it all? Why would I risk failure?
I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something, but I could not accept not trying. I thought THIS career - owning my own business - was an unrealistic dream that was too difficult, had too many hurtles. I was just too obsessed and driven by wanting to be the only one to write my story.
It all started with LashbyBrit 5 years ago. A side hustle, an internship, a full-time job, and university - this was my life as a 21-year-old. I basically told my parents one day to remove a desk from their den so I could start a lashing business in their home. Sorry, Mom and Dad! I had not even taken the course yet; a classic Brit move jumping into something new blind. It simply looked like a fun job for additional income. I worked backwards - I invested in the furniture, designed the new room, bought the products and then I took the course. Thank goodness, I actually liked the work. Eventually I chose LashbyBrit full time, I chose my side hustle and it evolved into Studio XO where I added makeup application and hairstyling services. LashbyBrit became a lot more than a side hustle...it became a terrifying, yet thrilling adventure.
A mentor said this to me in my last month of working for a financial institution, “whatever you do in life, always remain uncomfortable. It is never too late to be what you might have been.” I remember walking away from a career in personal banking (shocking, right? not me AT ALL). I walked out of those doors for the last time and thought to myself, “ok, it’s all on me now”. Now that was a scary thought to have. I knew in order to be successful, I had to commit myself fully. I structured my next months in stages – I took the training I needed, contacted the best in the industry for guidance, designed a website and created a space to work. Again, working backwards – I left my corporate job before taking the training for my new business. Who does that?! I don’t particularly recommend this, but I mean, it thankfully all worked itself out! I knew I needed to differentiate myself in what some believe is a saturated industry and so I sat down with a close friend to get an outside opinion. She asked two simple questions:
“What makes Studio XO different from every other artist?”
“Why did you name it Studio XO?”
I answered: “XO is the symbolic representation of love. I love a good love story. I just want to be a part of people’s stories”.
Now, as we know, I love the gushy, love stuff and I personally feel like I have to give a shout out to my incredible fiancé, and all of the other important men in my life. Imagine being told by your future wife that she’s decided to leave her job to create a Makeup, Hair and Lashing business for special events...and then being asked to develop our basement into a studio, all during a pandemic.
Long story short, he’s a saint, and the studio is perfect. He helped make my dream, my reality.
Now here we are, the golden question: Why hair and makeup?
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Two reasons.
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1. The cliché - I have loved making women feel beautiful since I was a young child. Seriously, a woman never smiles as beautifully as she does when she looks into the mirror and actually loves what she sees. That’s my favorite moment, every day.
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2. I was a dancer from the ages of 3-18, and hairstyling and makeup application was a must have technique. I learned styling from a young age and it turned into a real talent and passion.
I grew up in my parents’ bathroom always getting a family member or friend ready for their next event. Regardless of the event being a dance competition, birthday, graduation, engagement, (practically anything), I was the go-to for my family and friends.
Now for Studio XO, while I love to work smaller events, weddings are my absolute favorite. It’s an absolute dream to create beauty for this specific occasion. I love classic beauty, simplicity, clean lines, nude lips and focus on your eyes. My goal always is for you to truly feel like you on your wedding day. I do not want you to be unrecognizable, I just want to simply enhance your beauty. My brides come to me because they know I don’t want to change them. Yes, we can contour. Yes, we can elongate your eyes. We will do whatever you want but ultimately, I want you to feel and look like YOUR most beautiful self.
I created Studio XO in hopes of being a part of people’s stories. If I can do that every single day, make someone else’s story just that much more beautiful, I can consider my story to have a Happily Ever After.
If there’s ever anything I want anyone to know about me or my business, is that Studio XO will remain the story teller, but I will remain a short, blonde, country music, food and beauty loving gal in her home studio, simply living out a dream.
I have no idea what the future holds or looks like right now, but I am thrilled to write, and live through my story.