Conversations with Ayme Gamboa

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ayme Gamboa.

Ayme, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey as an esthetician started back in 2018 when I made the decision to drop out of college. I was going for a degree in early childhood education, after working as a pre-k teacher for a year I decided it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue anymore. At the time I was living in Missoula, MT and was going through some major skin issues that lead to cystic acne. I remember that year for my birthday, one of the family’s I babysat for gifted me my very first facial. I remember that appointment like it was yesterday, I picked that estheticians brain the entire hour, asking question after question. I remember coming home and searching “facial video” on YouTube and spending hours watching skincare content, I became obsessed. My boyfriend (we’re still together and have been for almost 11 years) and my best friend both told me I should look into becoming an esthetician as my obsession with skincare grew. I decided I would move back home to Thousand Oaks in the summer of 2019 and enroll in esthetician school, which is exactly what I did! I moved back in June 2019, started my program in August, graduated the week of Christmas & then COVID hit in March. It’s funny, I never wanted to own my own business, I thought my passion for skincare would land me in a med spa or a derm’s office (which was the end all be all in my eyes.) However, with the pandemic in full play, it was extremely hard to get a job anywhere. I started to worry about how I was going to get my hands on experience to build up my resume if nobody was hiring. I ended up getting a job at Target until things settled with the world and decided to start advertising $30 facials for close friends and family in my home so I wouldn’t forget the hand movements I had learned in school. To be quite honest, my hands were itching to touch somebody’s face! And that’s how Complexion by Ayme started, working at Target in the mornings and taking “clients” at home whenever I was off. It started off with just one or two appointments here and there. It quickly started to snowball into “hey, can I bring my mom?” or “my friends want to get one too!!” Before I knew it, I was taking clients 7 days a week while still working full time at Target. I was able to quit my job at Target in October of 2020 and take clients full time at home! That was the first time I thought to myself: “Wow, I actually don’t have to work for somebody else to make this a career.” Shortly after I decided to go full time into my business I found out I was pregnant and the second big wave of Covid hit & the world shut down again. Clients were slowing down, so I picked up a nanny gig full time mon-fri, and took clients once I would come home & on the weekends! As things opened back up, my business picked up again and before I knew it I was booking up to 3 months in advance, while still nannying full time AND pregnant. I was really doing the damn thing and the excitement was palpable. It was something I had never felt before, it was like the more I wanted it the more clients I attracted it. If I wasn’t preforming a facial, I was making content about facials, consuming other estheticians facial content, practicing new techniques on my boyfriend, watching a webinar on ingredients, researching different brands—I wanted to learn more, I wanted to know everything there was to know about skin, skin conditions, different approaches to treating the skin, I was so hungry. Towards the end of my pregnancy, my boyfriend unexpectedly got laid off and we made the choice to move out of our space and into my parents house to save money. I think I knew it in my gut that letting go of our space would mean taking a break from my business for a while, so I soaked up every last minute I had with my clients (my last appointment with a client was a week before I gave birth.) My son was born in August of 2021, I was lucky enough to be able to stay at home with him for the first year and as grateful as I was to get that time with him, all I could think about was getting back to my clients. In October of 2022, I decided to start posting on my business page again (I went ghost after my son was born) and started offering house calls. That was very short lived, I did not enjoy hauling a 55lb massage table, 2 suitcases & a stool in & out of my car or up & down flights of stairs. After that didn’t work out, I decided to start nannying again with my son in tow. One day after our shift, I got in my feels and logged into my esthetician page with the intention of deleting it when I got a DM from one of my very first returning clients and it read something like “Just wanted to say hi and let you know that although I haven’t had a facial since the last time I saw you, I’ve been following my routine and my skin is still doing great! Can’t wait until I can get a facial again, you’re the only person I trust with my skin!” I was shocked that she remembered me and even more shocked at the fact that she was waiting for me to open back up instead of just going to see another esthetician. It ignited that flame again and I took action the very next day. I popped into a local nail salon that had re-opened under new ownership after work the following day. I saw they posted a video documenting their remodel of the space and noticed a small room in the back. They probably thought I was insane, I went in with my baby on my hip, and they all turned around to greet me ( thinking I was a walk in client) and I said “Hi, my name is Ayme, I’m an esthetician and I’ve been looking for a space to rent! I saw on Instagram that there’s a room in the back, I can pay $600 a month in rent and once I pick up I can give you more! Let me leave my phone number incase that’s something you guys would be interested in!” They looked so confused and told me they had just opened and hadn’t really thought about renting out the back room but they’d keep me in mind if things changed. I left thinking I’d probably never hear from them but was okay with that because I had at least put myself out there and was that much closer to opening up my business again. Less than a week later they called! I posted on my page that I had found a new home for Complexion by Ayme and my clients were hyped! The room was already painted and furnished so I really didn’t have to do much. It was smaller than I had thought and the door couldn’t open all the way with my treatment table in there, but it was mine and I could take my clients again and that’s all that mattered! I was there for about 6 months when I met another local esthetician, Martha (@me.aestheticss on insta), and we instantly clicked! I quickly became a client of hers and at my 3rd appointment with her she mentioned that she was looking for somebody to split her suite with, and she invited me to join her. I immediately said yes and was moved in a month later. It was a full circle moment because there was a med spa a couple doors down from her suite that I had applied to the year before where I got “hired” but my start date kept getting pushed off and eventually it fizzled out and I never heard back from them. When I first joined Martha, I only did facials. Martha ended up training me in waxing & lash lifts, thanks to her I was able to expand my service menu and clientele. The special thing about Martha is her “there’s room for everybody” mentality. We shared a space, offered the same services, and I even actually took over her clientele while she went out on maternity leave—without signing any kind of “non-compete agreement.” A lot of people around us would ask things like “Aren’t you worried it’ll get messy? What if her clients leave you and go with her?” Her response has and will always stick with me: “Not everybody is for me and I am not for everybody. There is room for us all!” Martha helped me grow, instilled so much confidence in me as an esthetician and her girls girl mentality was so refreshing to see in the beauty industry. My 2 year anniversary at the suite with Martha would’ve been today, June 3rd, but instead I will be spending it putting the last finishing touches on my new space (that Martha actually found for me!!) As I write this, I feel myself getting emotional because I am entering a new chapter in my business, and it’s gonna be the best one yet. I feel as though I’m back where I started 5 years ago, in my own space, open 7 days a week & ready to pick up where I left off.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would say being a new mom was my biggest challenge. Especially with spending the first year as a stay at home mom, there were periods of time that I felt like that was all my life would be. When I thought about everything that I would have to do in order to get my business up and running like: finding child care, financially committing to renting out a space, buying equipment/product again—it would just get too overwhelming and the mom guilt would take over. There I was getting to spend every second with my son, something so many moms wish they could do, and all I could think about was getting back to my business. I would get discouraged and felt like I had to let go of my business so that I could focus on my son. Ultimately, I had to switch my mentality from “I can’t do this because of my son” to “I’m going to do this for my son.”

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a licensed esthetician who specializes in facials and customized skincare routines. I also dabble in a little bit of waxing & lash lifts but my love language is facials. I’m most proud of how I’ve been able to create a space where “little me” feels like she belongs. I am a first generation Mexican-American, my parents immigrated from Mexico in the late 80s early 90s. I grew up in a typical Hispanic household, speak fluent Spanish and was raised by hard working parents. Days off or self care was not a thing I grew up around. What I observed growing up was that girls who looked like me were not the ones getting pampered, they were the ones providing the service. Fast forward to now, I have created a space where women who come from the same backgrounds, grew up in similar households, who look and sound like me, feel comfortable enough to treat themselves because they can relate to me. A huge part of my clientele are Latina, Hispanic, Spanish speaking women, and I am so f*ck*ng proud of that. Last summer in June I actually went to the village where my parents grew up and serviced over 30 women in 3 days, I refer to this as “Project Glow.” These women have dedicated their whole lives to serve their families and others, making everybody else a priority. It’s not uncommon for women to have big families in these rural communities, my paternal grandmother had 12 children and my maternal grandmother (may she rest in peace) had 6. Becoming a mom myself, I realized how easily you can fall into that “I’ll take care of myself later” mentality and I really wanted to do something to give back to other women who deserved to be pampered. I thought to myself “if there was anybody I could give a facial to who would it be?” and immediately thought of my grandmother and the other grandmothers in her village. It was time somebody take care of them for a change, so I did just that!

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I often hear a lot of other professionals in the aesthetics industry say it’s become “over saturated” with the rise of social media and the “romanticization” of being a solo beauty professional. I say, if you’re thinking about it, do it—there’s room for all of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://complexionbyayme.glossgenius.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/complexionbyayme?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==