Phoina aka Lucy Wambui’s journey in the beauty industry is nothing short of remarkable.
The Beauty entrepreneur is looking forward to Christmas and will be hosting her family from abroad for the holidays.
“I am looking forward to spending time with family” she told Mungai Eve in an interview Saturday November 30.
The 2024 business environment has not been easy.
She began over a decade ago, and she remains so passionate about the business as a fashion, beauty and travel influencer.
The holidays are also a busy time for her business. “You just have to juggle. Also, I will never say to money. Right now, this is the season to make money because in January…” she laughed.
“2024 it’s been a hard year. I can’t wait for it to end. I want to make a huge scream, I want to scream and just forget about but yeah, we are grateful”
Describing further how her year has been, Lucy told Eve that things were a bit slow
.”I had so many plans, and then things have just been progressively slow, but I mean, at least there’s been progress” she shared.
“I can’t complain, I’m just saying, it’s been hectic for alot of Kenyans, the way government has been, businesses are shutting down. For me personally, I’m grateful coz I have had clients who have been supporting me throughout, in this business over a decade. So already I have a clientele base and I’m grateful that we keep advertising ourselves, marketing so we are not too badly off, seeing how others are closing down” she added.
Describing further how her year has been, Lucy told Eve that things were a bit slow. She has a makeup brand and her salon, two separate entities. She also trains students. She does this twice a week with the help of other staff members.
She is grateful to the tutors. “My schedule is crazy so I have t to really be in point. Juggling is not easy. I have a great team behind me, so over the years I’ve created a team that helps me with my business and when it comes to influencing, I enjoy working with brands, it’s a joy to connect with other people”
She described business as being in her DNA. “It’s something that was in me,”
Adding
“Even though I’ve been in business for so long there are still challenges that come up. I thought by this age I would be retired. I was like in my thirties, I will retire, woi that is when it starts getting harder.”
She had expectations of retiring in her 30’s, but that is a dream. “So, it has been like that, but I thank God because I have been consistent, and I’ve had supportive people around me, and it’s something that I love doing, it’s a passion of mine.”
She chose to dive into business as her passion as she explained further
“That is something that has always been in my DNA. Like growing up I even use dot be chased away from school because I had applied makeup eye pencils powder, lipstick. It’s something that was in me and even my mum was mu biggest inspiration because she also when she wasn’t younger, she was a slay queen, So Phiona beauty is something that has always been there.”
She started as a makeup artiste, then she needed to expand as she grew, “I needed to look for more avenues to have financial freedom and always have time” Her hustler spirit saw her expand t Phoina beauty academy, then hair business.
She revealed the service industry is plagued by several negative issues “it’s a bit of a hustle, so you have to it’s something that happens ins service industry, not just salons, even restaurant’s, boutiques. Business owners are going through it”
Where did she get capital from “Capital obviously my mum has been my biggest support, my mum and my grandma. Then my aunt she has a good job over there, like back in US, so she sends. So that is how I started.
How much did she inject “I didn’t start with anything, let me just say it starts small because I started in my house, and you see makeup ins a skill” she was living along Forest Road where clients would go. “I was charging 700.”
by MAUREEN WARUINGE