Today we’d like to introduce you to Veronica Rogers.
Hi Veronica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I own an on-site hair and makeup business that specializes in weddings. We travel really all over the Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee territories but are primarily found in Nashville. I have been really passionate about physical appearance (hair and makeup) since I was a little girl. When I was a child, I would always play in mom’s makeup and wear high heels all the time and if I had play makeup that included things like blue lipstick, you better believe I was wearing it every day. My mom would have to wait until I fell asleep to take my high heels off because I absolutely refused to take them off if I was awake.
When I was 9, I started to get acne that quickly turned into a case of severe acne and I needed to see a dermatologist by the age of 10. That’s when makeup started taking a different role in my life — it allowed me to cover up the areas I didn’t like so I could feel comfortable in my skin. The truth is, I know what it’s like to look in the mirror and hate the reflection staring back at you. By 16, I was going part-time to beauty school and part-time to high school because I knew how I felt when I looked in the mirror and it pushed me to desperately want to be sure that no one else would ever look in the mirror and feel that way. I’ll never forget the way I felt for years on end and now I use that push to help people see how beautiful they are and enhance all the things they like about themselves. My goal is for every person who sits in a chair with Black Swan Beauty to feel their most happy and confident.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t know that it’s ever really a smooth road! Any entrepreneur can relate that there are obstacles and people in your life who sometimes work as “dream killers.” These are people who, for whatever reason, want to talk you out of your dream — but the reality is, a lot of the times it’s because they’re worried, you’ll fail and don’t want you to experience that kind of heartache. I started my career working for another makeup artist in Northern Indiana, and after I left, I freelanced for a few years before finally opening up Black Swan Beauty in October of 2018. The biggest struggle is finding people who want to share in your vision and go on this journey with you– your employees or independent contractors. Your business can’t function without a team that is united and happy, which means that the spark and excitement has to come from your heart first so your team can feel it. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, it doesn’t always work out, but I keep the faith that it’s just redirection and the perfect artist will join our team. The team we have now is everything I’d hope for and as we grow and expand, I know we will find more amazing artists to come on board.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
While we do hair and makeup for events of all categories, we specialize in weddings. Wedding hair and makeup is different because it means it needs to hold up all day and night — through sweat and tears all while performing under flash photography. All of our artists are taught how things look differently under flash photography and in low light and receive ongoing training by myself personally. Our team really specializes in looks that are more glamorous and done up. No one glams quite like our team glams — and I love it. Our looks are clean and polished and elegant, and it sets aside in all of the markets we work in. My favorite phrase to tell our clients is “No one glams quite like Black Swan Beauty.”
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking?
I am a painfully cautious person. This has actually proven to be a bit of a setback in my career, but I just recently took a big leap of faith. I hired a business coach in June of this 2021 (I actually can’t recommend this enough to every small business out there!) who has pushed me in ways I never thought possible. We previously had a studio where clients could come and do in studio hair and makeup appointments, as well as things like lash extensions, brow waxes, etc. Our lease was set to expire at the end of this year, and our landlord wanted the space to use for a different business venture. While we were looking at finding a new studio, I had to not only do a data analysis on where our profits were coming in from, and redirect the business to focus solely on on-site. This was a big risk — our entire business and the way we operated was going to change. But it allowed us to focus and hone in on what we are the most proficient at. It’s a huge change, a huge risk for us but it’s calculated. Take risks, but don’t do them without thought (and the data analysis always helps!)
Contact Info:
- Email: blackswanartistry@yahoo.com
- Website: www.blackswanbeauty.org
- Instagram: @blackswanbeautyindy
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/blackswanbeautyindy
Image Credits
Alison Mae Photography
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