January 30, 2017

Meet Lindsay Snipes and Johcelynn Fawcett of Girl Meets Bongga

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Snipes and Johcelynn Fawcett.

Johcelynn and Lindsay met 9 years ago at a salon in DTLA. Lindsay (originally from Florida) and Johcelynn (a local girl) started doing hair and makeup for many of Johcelynn’s friends’ weddings. Slowly, word started to spread and they were getting more and more request. In 2011 they were invited to a wedding industry party by friend Scott Clark. This is the moment the girls realized they were on to something and Girl Meets Bongga was born. They were introduced to Hallie Slade of LB events and Jen Ebert of Prim and Pixie and asked to join their shared space at Flock Studios. “Over the past four years, we have watched our business grow. Seeing our work being featured in wedding blogs like: 100 Layer Cake, Green Wedding Shoes, and Style Me Pretty. It has been an incredible journey so far (this includes all the bumps along the way) but we are just getting started. In 2017 we are growing our team and are excited about the future of Girl Meets Bongga!”

Has it been a smooth road?
You cannot truly become a business without some struggles along the way. When it rains it pours, so to say. As Girl Meets Bongga began growing so did their families. In 2013 Lindsay was pregnant with her second child.(Kiana,9 first child) After having Wesley in January 2014 only a few month later Johcelynn was excited to find out she was expecting her first child Kennedy. “The biggest challenge became balancing home life at the same time as starting a business.” – Johcelynn) The girls took this challenge head on and both worked right up until due date. “2015 brought some calm as we finally got our shit together.”
Then in January of 2016 something no one could have predicted. Lindsay at the age of 33 was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. ” This past year has really put us to the test. I started Chemotherapy only a couple weeks after the diagnoses. I had to go every other week for a two-hour treatment at the clinic and then take home what I liked to call my “Chemo kit” that ran for 46 hours. This by far has been one of the biggest struggles of my life. Not because of the disease itself but of having to take a step back and let others take on more. I am so thankful for Johcelynn, she not only stepped up and handled the business but she was also a supportive friend and had so much faith that we would get through this. I remember her coming to sit with me at treatment so we could have business meetings. This was not going to stop us! After 6 months of responsive treatment, I found out that I was a candidate for a special surgery called HIPEC. On August 26 I underwent a 7 1/2 hour surgery at UC San Diego and spent 20 days in the hospital recovering. I worked my first wedding a month after surgery. I had my first CT scan on December 9, 2016, and I am happy to say that I am CANCER FREE! Only time will tell what the future holds. Today I can say I am grateful for my business partner, my friends, family, and the wonderful industry we work in! Today we live!”

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Girl Meets Bongga story. Tell us more about the business.
We are and onsite hair and makeup duo for any occasion but weddings have been our niche. Our brides say they love that we can bring out the bongga (glam) in them while still making them feel and look like themselves. What sets us apart from other companies, like us… is we stay connected with our brides from the beginning to the end of the planning and truly care about the mood we create together on their big day.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The wedding day can be overwhelming for a bride. The last thing she wants to do is stress over traveling to a salon. We have seen that brides enjoy the intimate setting that is created when a stylist team comes to them. We are already seeing companies catching on to this trend and we believe we will see more companies like us in the future.

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