Hannah Vereen is a woman who puts God first before anything. Immediately after, she’s a woman with substance, a mother, partner, beauty service provider, serial entrepreneur, and full-time student. She’s constantly on the move seeking new opportunities and ways to advance her career and business as a whole. She’s determined, hardworking, and persistent with anything she sets her mind to.
Please tell us about your business, and the products or services do you provide?
Hannah: My business XO Beauty Effect is a beauty/medical spa. We provide both beauty and medspa services such as: eyelash extensions, permanent makeup, skincare facials, body contouring, laser hair removal, and more. We are also a training facility with master training courses in eyelash extensions and permanent makeup. We supply a full range of lash extensions and permanent makeup supplies for our professional clients who use our products to service their own clients. Which means a lot to me because they genuinely love and believe in our products.
How has business been during the pandemic?
Hannah: Business has been rapidly growing during the pandemic which is amazing because I opened a few months before it started. In the beginning, it was difficult and nerve wracking to make business decisions in advance because of the uncertainty of governmental decisions. So, for a while, I had just been simply taking it a day at a time. I just remember feeling on edge about our service providers and clients. Typically, our schedules are booked out in advance.
I would hear updates and dread making decisions because it would hurt either the client or the service provider. None of our clients wanted to cancel but I am also responsible for keeping my staff safe. I take pride in giving my staff complete control over making their own decisions still to this day. When new variants or client concerns arise, I do not make the decisions for them at all. I have to ensure that they are comfortable during the pandemic because this is new to everyone.
It has also given me an opportunity to enhance our safety measures here at XO Beauty Effect. Since the pandemic, we’ve added hand sanitizing stations to our facility, a continuously full stock of Cavi wipes and sprays, new wipe down policies and procedures especially for “hot points,” and we were able to reconstruct our celling adding a sanitation system to our AC with directed vents in all rooms and open areas.
What do you love most about the career that you chose and what keeps you motivated to stick with it?
Hannah: What I love most about my career as a service provider is my ability to make clients look and feel better than they did before they came in, that is the XO Beauty Effect. As a business owner, I love to be an influence, especially on those around me. I take pride in showing everyone that it is possible. It is possible to do it broke, it is possible to do it young, it is possible to do it with kids, it is possible to do it when no one else sees the vision and it is certainly possible to do it without a degree.
As a beauty instructor, I love showing our students that you can literally make something out of nothing when you put your mind to it. Mostly all of our students have no prior knowledge and experience in beauty services walking into our trainings and we don’t leave until they get the concept and can demonstrate it. I get so many success stories and they literally melt my heart because who would have thought that I would be teaching both women and men skills that give them the ability to completely change their lives and provide for both themselves and their families.
How would you define your swag in the beauty industry?
Hannah: I would define my swag in the beauty industry as unique, creative, and I’m also a perfectionist. I’m always doing my own thing which is most likely the opposite of the norm. The services that I provide are always provided to perfection, the results are long-lasting and the facility is easy to access. I feel as though this emphasizes my ability to stand out and not only my ability but my team’s ability as well. My creativity allows me to come up with new trendy ways to enhance the client experience. My facility itself has enhanced the normal experience that clients aren’t really use to. I went all out to ensure that the space was next level, with marble floors, marble walls, stone walls, and the pink accents. It just gives luxury and that has always been the plan for our clients.
In what ways do you think you have grown as a businesswoman compared to when you first started out?
Hannah: I have grown tremendously as a businesswoman now compared to when I first started out. Starting out I was a self-employed lash and permanent makeup artist for about 3 years. I was great at providing beauty services and I mastered those services extremely well. Upon opening XO Beauty Effect, what I didn’t realize at the moment was that I was no longer self-employed. I am now a business owner. This was a major role transition. All I knew was beauty, beauty, beauty. I didn’t know anything about running a business and adopting the role as now a business owner, human resource manager, accountant, marketer, payroll processor, customer service representative, and employee advocate. I would avoid all of those tasks if I could because honestly, all I wanted to do was to continue providing services to my clients. This required me to step back a little bit so that I’m able to allocate time to both roles. My team has without a doubt helped me get it together and they give me the room to do so as well. I appreciate all of them especially their effort and their understanding every day.
What advice would you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Hannah: My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs would be to cut out the habit of overthinking. You don’t need anyone to cheer for you to follow your dreams because they are simply your dreams. If you have an idea or a big vision, go after it, it’s okay to figure out the rest later.
Learn more by visiting https://www.xobeautyeffect.
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Photo Credit: @avalonfotography
