The Esthetic Entrepreneur: Katrina Lewis learned to be her own Girl Boss
Posted on Friday, April 13th, 2018
Algonquin College taught Katrina Lewis to be an esthetician – and a feminist.
The former was the result of classes on skin care and body treatments in the College’s Esthetician diploma program, from which Lewis graduated in 2001. The latter was an unexpected consequence of the two-year Business Management and Entrepreneurship program Lewis completed last year.
Lewis returned to Algonquin, after a successful career in traditional and medical esthetics, intent on starting her own business. “The first year, was very intimidating,” says Lewis. “I was always in a female-dominated industry and for the first year (of the Business Management and Entrepreneurship program) most were male including the professors. That was a huge adjustment for me.”
“The BME program gave me so much confidence and really inspired me. I became a ‘girl boss’ in one year. I never thought I’d call myself an entrepreneur; I was always an esthetician.”
She also learned an important lesson: “Don’t be intimidated by the men in the room.”
“I’m very pro-feminist now,” she explains. “I never thought I would be, but I think it’s so important for females to own their own business and take charge.”
Lewis certainly took charge during her time in the BME program. She pursued every opportunity, inside the classroom and out, to sharpen her business acumen, make contacts, and fine-tune the business model she was developing.
Her business, now up and running, is called Bella’s Solutions, a mobile spa service that makes esthetic treatments accessible to seniors, women with mobility issues, or those who simply prefer the luxury of spa services – from skin and nail care to massages – in the comfort of their homes or offices.
The business’s success is the result of a lot of hard work, Lewis says. While at Algonquin, she participated in every extra-curricular entrepreneurship the College offered. And there were lot of them, Lewis says.
She participated in the AC Market, a showcase for student businesses, products and services, four times, she says. She took advantage of the programs offered by Ignite AC, Algonquin College’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She got one-on-one start-up counselling, at the Ignite Centre, and attended Ignite’s SUMMIT program, a summer Intensive entrepreneurship boot camp.
In 2017, she was chosen to participate in Algonquin’s second annual Wolves’ Den, a pitch session with industry judges. Her start-up pitch for Bella Solutions was awarded with introductory IP legal services sponsored by Kyma Professional Corporation.
By her second year in the business program, the ambitious Lewis was president of the Algonquin’s student Entrepreneurship Club. “That gave me so much opportunity to meet other students, not only in the BME program, but students throughout the whole college.”
She can’t say enough about the faculty she encountered in the program: “Patrick Charlton, Patti Church and Cheryl Dowell were all fantastic! They believe in the students and assist with their passions.”
Lewis came back to Algonquin for business five years later because she had such a positive experience in the Esthetician program years before.
“It was three semesters and it was very hands on. As a young woman, seeing your professors as spa owners and estheticians was very, very exciting for me. And then we got to practice on each other, in a spa setting, and ended up doing real clients at the very end of each semester.”
Lewis advises current Business Management and Entrepreneurship students to, “take every opportunity and go to every event you can. Whether it’s the networking events, the pitch contest, or AC Market. You want the professors to know your name.
“I’ve pitched to a lot of different people over the past two years and it only takes one-person to hear you.”
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