From Expert Sugarist to Sought-After Educator: Unwrapping the Secrets of a Successful Sugaring Business

Are you interested in learning more about body sugaring? Or are you a sugar professional who already knows how to sugar, but you are looking for better ways to kick up your business? Welcome to the Sugar Show Podcast. I'm your host, shannon the Sugar Momma, and, as a fellow SD who learned to sugar 11 years ago and tripled my solo skincare business, I want to share not only my sugaring wisdom but introduce you to my network of friends who are masters in their fields and want to help you expand your sugaring business. Let's get started. Welcome back to this episode of the Sugar Show. I am so excited for season five. You have already now met Roddick of Roddick Lab, and this is really cool because we're in our new podcast studio and we're going to be bringing to you not only new information on the microbiome and healthy skin, as you've been hearing, but also some of our educators that are around the country now and really just everything that you need to know about sugar, from how to start to how to get your technique and your business better. So I invited one of our educators, tahina Rock, onto this episode of the show, because Tahina has been with me. She was a student of when we were called iSugar University, and she not only just learned how to sugar, but she is killing it out in New York. So you're going to meet Tahina and just understand why we love her as much as you all will. Really, to take your business from being a successful salon to then becoming an educator is truly something that you have to A know deep in your heart that you really want to do and, b you have to be really good at educating. So it's one thing to be a really good sugar practitioner and another thing to actually know how to teach someone how to take that ball out of the jar, how to mold and flick that sugar onto the skin and off the skin, how to work with different body parts and different personalities. And to educate another esthetician or cosmetologist about how to do that is truly, truly something that is not very easy for everyone to do. So I know a lot of people want to be an educator. So something to think about and we will talk about in years to come about what it takes to be an educator. But Tahina is here today to talk about education in general and also about her experiences with this new paste. So, tahina Rock, welcome to the show, my girl.

Hi Shannon, how are you?

Always good, good, good. I'm happy to have that. Yeah, yeah, you'll see some videos of Tahina. She spent time with us in New York. When we met Roddick, she was with us, and what did you think about this new company when you first met him? What was your experience in New York with us?

It was so amazing. It was definitely an enjoyable experience. I will always cherish that, those couple of days that we had together. It was a lot of information, a lot of knowledge, just a new way of thinking about sugar and the whole removal process. And he is just so sweet. I know, right and that is what I appreciate the most how sweet and caring and he really wants to make sugar at its best and not short change and cut corners. It really it was a great experience.

He is brilliant and I know you got that feeling from him too. I felt like we were two little students just learning for the first time some of the knowledge bombs that he was dropping on us. We have learned so much and I'm so glad that you could be on this journey with me and with him and starting to educate the East Coast folks about your sugar. So let's start with Bear Bodies Academy. How you know, we've interviewed you before about your success with Bear Bodies in New York. Tell us a little bit about your experience as a salon owner and what kind of compelled you to become an educator and start Bear Bodies Academy. I know that's a big question, but just kind of help us to understand your journey there.

So when I started Bear Bodies and started sugaring, it was something that I knew that was gonna set me apart in this industry. Right, like everyone was waxing which is great, there's nothing wrong with that but I just wanted to be do something different and I fell in love with sugar. And then I fell in love with, you know, at the time I sugar university and just all of it as a whole, and when I started there was only three sugarists in New York. So it was one of those things where I was just like, oh my God, like I have done it, and at that time no one knew what sugar was. And fast forward. You know, seven, eight years later now sugar is this thing in New York but unfortunately there wasn't like real education behind it in New York. It wasn't even like on your license, it didn't matter really up until a couple of years ago COVID and there was just this demand that I saw that was needed for our sugar educators and just getting properly educated in sugar. And that's when I decided to do Bare Body Sugar Academy.

So exciting. So for those of you that have not been to Bare Bodies, she has an actual separate academy. It's beautiful, it has treatment rooms, it has theory space and I mean you're not just teaching girl, you are a true academy, you are a facility that people can come and learn all about sugar. What kind of drew you to opening a whole academy, opposed to just kind of mobile teaching?

Because I feel like when you're in a classroom setting, you're in that space, you can receive the information, something about just putting that education back hat on versus being mobile. There's nothing wrong with mobile right, I will still go and teach and educate but it's almost like taking yourself out of your regular comfort zone and getting back into that school mentality of educating and learning. And that was really what the push was for me to say we need a separate space, we need someplace where you're free to make mistakes and to learn from your experiences, versus you have to get it all right in your space.

Yeah, for sure. What are you seeing that the students are like having kind of the most trouble with, and then, like you kind of see them come up and out of it, like when they first start sugaring, because I think there's some people that don't sugar and they're kind of wondering, like what it's gonna be like to get certified.

So everyone always struggles with mold and flick. That is always. You know, I can do theory, we can talk about body parts, how to sugar, but mold and flick is where people usually get hung up on. But once you get it, it just, it opens up, it just everything just clicks. It makes so much sense when you finally get mold and flick.

And that usually takes.

if you're practicing and listening to the techniques that I show you and the training and I do coaching weekly on top of classes If we're doing it and consistent, you'll get it in about two weeks.

Yeah, for sure. What we are loving doing is Tahina now is combining the online body certification body sugaring certification program, combining that with her hands-on. So what's really great about that is that consistent education that you'll get online and then coming into perfect your skills with Tahina. Is it's really the one-two punch, I think? Are you seeing people really just walking that way?

Yeah, so doing both right, Because if you think you have the education at the tip of your fingertips, you can watch it on the go at work. You can really sit down and take your time with it. By the time you get into me, we're really just perfecting. We're really just making sure that the mold and flick is right, right, Working out whatever kinks we need to work out so that you can be proficient and you can feel successful when you go into a treatment room. So between the online and in-person, it's the perfect combination for a successful sugarest.

Yeah yeah, I'm loving it. Thank you for opening your mind to that, because you were teaching all hands-on all the time, so you would sugar all day long and then in the evenings bring all these people in and be teaching them everything from theory and history and anatomy of the skin, all the way through practicing. So I love that we can be super efficient together and help people before they even get to you?

Yes, of course, and it's so funny because they need that refresh your online, because I noticed, if you've been out of a static school for a couple of years now, some of this stuff you need a refresh your on and then you watch it online and then I come in and I reiterate everything that happens online and then we roll. It really is the perfect pairing.

Yeah, I love it. Okay, so in the very beginning, when you started Bare Bodies Sugaring Academy, you had a different product that you used lemon, sugar, water, usual paste, cleanser powder, the whole thing. You trained everyone awesome, the way you do. And then we introduced you to Radic and now you've been using his product now for a couple of months. What are? Are you seeing a difference in your clients and in your students being able to use it?

So I do see a difference with the clients and the students I'm gonna say the clients first. You see, there's less reaction. The hairs come out, they come all the way out. It is not. You're not going over and causing more irritation with the consistent going over the same area over and over and the grow back. It's so much less, I know, and less irritation and less breakouts and less in groans and less issues. So you know my I already do Brazilians and other services quickly, but going into a service with my clients now one minute, two minute tops.

You're the fastest sugar in the west in the east, not the west in the east. You are fast. I mean I thought I was fast, but you are fast.

And that comes in time and practice.

Yes.

Right right?

Well, this is sugar. Five days a week, I'm down to doing these studio performances now. I think the fastest I probably got it was about six minutes.

Well, but that's also, like you know, if you think about it, your client coming in and being consistent and doing the home care and all that jazz right. And that's the other thing that I love about Radic right, like the home care right, the in treatment care, you know, between the sugar and the rosewater toner, the rosewater aftercare and the pre-cleansing, all of it all works and you can see the change. You can. You know, the skin is hydrated and it looks so much better.

Are you finding? I think what I'm finding when I use this line on my clients is that I thought I knew what healthy skin looked like and I thought that I was doing a beautiful job sugaring on my clients and then I didn't tell them Did you just bring it on your clients? I didn't tell them I was switching.

So there was a few clients that noticed the difference when I made the switch and then we had that conversation and then there were some clients that did not. But I purposely tried to like, oh no, everything's fine, Everything's great. Especially some of my Agnated clients that you know just always had trouble issues. They no longer have issues, so it has definitely like they've now see this. They say, whatever you're using, keep using it, yeah. And even like when I'm after care, I say, all right, I'm going to spray this pre and post probiotic on you. And they look at me like Dr Thing oh yeah, we're going to make sure that you know, all the good bacteria is back on this. Like I give them the whole feel and it's the beautiful, beautiful transition it really has it.

Yeah for sure, educating your clients on that next level kind of you know we talk about it in Sugar Mama's Beauty Club, my shop. We talk about like we're upgrading your sugaring. So we've been sugaring for a long time in our area and now we talk to clients about upgrading their sugar experience and of course, everyone wants to be upgraded right. And so I've found that when I see how healthy the skin is and then they come back and it's amazing to me how, if we just are balancing and nourishing and supporting the health of the skin and the microbiome, I didn't even know that was a thing and we've talked about that the last couple of weeks. Like I thought pre and pro and post biotics were for the gut only, which I love people to work on their gut health, but once we started learning about the health of the skin microbiome, I really see a difference and I really love that you have taken your Academy to the next level to educate your students now. So how are your students doing grasping all of the science? It's a lot.

It's a lot, but you know they really appreciate it, Like if you really, if you're an esthetician, right Like? Or a cosmetologist or a waxer, you want your client's skin To reflect your knowledge and your work, right? We're not just removing the hair. Removing the hair is one piece. That's really maybe 1% of it, right, If you weren't thinking about it. It's the health of the skin and they really are tapped into understanding why it's important to treat the skin after, pre and post hair removal. That is what's really important, yeah for sure, for sure.

So you had quite a few students come through your facility there, your Academy. Tell me about some of your favorite students and the successes that they're seeing. Is there some stories that that you can share with us about being a student? We've got a lot of students that are in the audience and we've got a lot of people like me that haven't been back to school for a really long time. So what are you are my success story. By the way, I talk about all the time my sweet friend and watching you grow and be a sweet success story has. Just, it's been an honor to spend time with you and now that you're educating for us, it's like it's like double whammy. Yeah, I just you're just, you're a really, really special person for me and so I'm really glad to have you on the podcast and as an educator with us. But let's talk about your students. Like, do you have some folks that are really killing it now that they're learning and have boosted their Definitely.

I have one out in Jersey. She started with me and she's clients out the door and she opens her own studio. She's in a suite. You know she's really killing it. I have another student who you know. She originally she was original student when I was teaching wax a long time ago and then she came on to the sugar train and she's sugaring as well and very successful. We do, you know, one on one meeting. Still they still reach out. So I'm still, I'm still very hands on, but not in the sense of, you know, teaching anymore is just really hearing their stories and seeing what they need and really, you know, helping them get to whatever level they want to. But everyone has been whoever has come here, whatever they put their mind through to, they get to the next level always. Yeah yeah.

Do you think that it's growing in New York now or have you guys kind of cornered the market and like what is the aesthetic layout of New York specifically?

Well, there are a lot of sugars popping up, so that's a good thing. I have trained quite a bit of them, so that's a good thing as well. But yeah, I think in New York, it's time for move, wax out the way and let the sugars to what we need to do, because you are the option.

Yeah, put down that wax stick. It kind of surprises me actually that people still wax. You know now that we can.

We can thank the big chains for that. They still try and make it. You know this thing, you know. But eventually, when you know what's right and what's best, you do come over. You come over to the sweet side.

So I love that, I love that. And so you have these students that come through. What's your biggest advice to them? They've just learned how to mold and flick Like. What's your, what's your kind of aspiring entrepreneur advice for your students when you send them off into the on their own?

I always tell them that you're a forever student. You always have to keep learning and growing. Once you stop learning and growing, you're done and that's and that's not. That's not. You can't never be finished, right? If you think about the beauty industry, something's always happening, something's always changing. So I always tell them to stay a forever student, be hungry for knowledge, and that is what makes you successful.

Yeah, yeah. What is the best part about your job? Education and and esthetician and entrepreneur. What is the best part about what you love to do every day?

The best part of what I love is with the students is when the lights turn on. That's what I call it. When the lights turned on and they're like, oh, I got it, I got it right, and that joy and the you know they're like OK, so I figured it out and I and now I'm just working on like getting my body parts and maneuvering better Right. That is what makes I'm like, yes, like you finally crossed the line right With in service, just really seeing the skin change. You know I'm such a science nerd and I love really like skin change and changing for the better, right. Like I love a client that has like all these issues right, they're coming someplace from somewhere else and they have all these issues and in two to three sessions you can see a drastic change. So that always keeps me going and as far as entrepreneur, you got to have thick skin to fight in that game and that is also a very you know, knowledge based transition in life. But it's a skill set, it's you got to put your business hat on. So, as much as we love you know the science and the art of beauty because we do it's art right but you have to put your business hat on and do all the business things that come to play when it comes to being an entrepreneur. So that has also been something that I really do appreciate. And with having you as a mentor, right, there's things that you taught me along the way that I'm like oh yeah, we're going to do that, because Shannon said let's do this Right, because because you've been doing this so much longer, so for me I can turn and say well, shannon, what do you think? And you give me the answer. I go OK, we're going to do that and it works Right. So you know, that's been also like a blessing to having great mentors Right, like you are a great mentor to me. So I mean I just love the whole process. It's you have, you have to, you have to want it, you have to want it.

Oh, absolutely. And you have to be open and willing. You know I love that you are open and willing to learn. You are open and willing to hear, you know, critique or maybe a shift in the way that you do your business. You know, in the very beginning, when you were starting out, I remember you're like, oh, what do I do? You know, do I do this? Do I do that? You expanded really fast and then thought, ok, that's, that's not the smartest thing, let's get, let's work smarter, not harder and get tight. And you were really open to to really learning and listening and listening to the podcast and and and growing, and I think it's you summed it up. I mean you really have to always be a student. Lord knows I have this. Last year, when I met Roddick and I know you have, because we thought we knew everything about sugar and boy, we didn't. And and that's been really fun to be a part of that journey with you too, because it's been fun to learn together. Yeah, Teachers can learn too all the time.

That's what makes us great teachers.

Right, right, okay. So what is next for Tahina, rock and Bear Bodies? What is next for you?

Well, bear Bodies is we're working on just continuing educating, continuing services, clients. We're really just enjoying and having fun with where we are right now and we really are like putting the focus on education. So that is where we're really at right now. So in service, I mean we're great, but that's we do that when I sleep. It's really the education that we're really pushing and focusing right now.

Yeah, yeah. So Tahina is going to be not only educating in the New York area for us, but she is such a phenomenal educator. I'm going to be tapping into her to come to other states and doing some of the cool stuff that we're doing together to really spread the word and help people to learn. So, tahina, I'm excited to do some road trips with you Of course we're going to have fun. We had fun when I was in New York, so we're going to take that trip on the road. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for not only being on podcast again, because your original sweet success story you were at a completely different place with your success and you have taken it to the next level. But thank you for you know, I think what's really important in this life is when you find something that makes your heart happy and you become really skilled at is to pay it forward. And that's what you're doing and that's what we're trying to do with love to sugar. We're trying to get everyone to learn to sugar, as I say, so they will love to sugar, and I just love that you are realizing that it's not just about you making the most money you can out of your salon and not sharing any of your wisdom. Really, what you've done is what we should all do in life is work together. Is, you know, not compete and realize that there's plenty of business for all of us, and it's really been fun to watch you truly embody that and realize that, like, we're all in this together and our job as really good sugar pros is to spread that message. So I'm really grateful that you get the message and the kind of the motto and the vibe that love to sugar is going for, which is really just to just spread the passion of sugar. I know you're having fun with that.

I really. You know, when I came in this industry I didn't realize it was so competitive until I was in the industry. And I agree, like I just wanna spread the joy of sugaring. And it's not a competition, we're a sisterhood and we all gotta work together. And I don't. I am tired after doing 20 to 30 clients a day and that is my max right. So I, if I'm only doing 20 to 30, there's a billion people in this world. You can have a piece of this pie too. So I 100% agree. I really think that we need to work together as a team and really pay it forward. I mean, why not?

Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for being on the episode, Ms Fang. I look forward to interviewing you many more times and to sharing you with our sugaring community.

Thank you so much. You're welcome girl.

Okay, everyone, stay tuned for the next episode of the Sugar Show podcast, where we bring you wizards like Tahina and Roddick. We are going to really just work on your business, your technique, your understanding of why you're doing what you're doing, and the idea is to just make sure that you are working smarter, not harder, and that that beautiful ball of sugar is helpful for you and your clients. I look forward to sharing my next episode with you and, in the meantime, have a sweet week.