Community Highlights: Meet Kaya Chyla of PrettyLashBae

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaya Chyla.

Kaya, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My success in the beauty industry is quite solely the result of everything else that came before it simply just not working out.

As a daughter of immigrant parents from Poland, with one having joined the U.S. military shortly before I was born, (how odd is it to think I probably wouldn’t be in the States had my dad not decided to come to America), there was always constant change and almost a sort of detachment from real life. There didn’t seem to be a point in long-term thinking, as something was always bound to change.

I spent half the time growing up in Germany and visiting family in Poland and the other half the time living in different states.

By the time adulthood came around, and I was no longer forced to move around against my will, there was a sudden realization that most people my age usually find somewhere to live and pick a career for the long term.

The only thing I ever really thought about doing was something I had dreamed about since I was little. When I was around six years old, we got paired with middle schoolers that helped us write a little book. In that book, my story was that I grew up to be a famous actress living in California, but that I was sad and alone, so I invited my family to come live with me, and we lived happily ever after.

They used to have those weird auditions looking for kids for TV shows, so when I was 13, I signed up for one but ended up not being able to go because my dad had to leave the country for work, and I was devastated. I thought that audition was going to make my actress dreams come true.

Fast forward some years, I dabbled in the food industry, then worked in accounting at a credit card processing company, where the culture of the corporate world agonized me so much that I went on a three-day raw food vegan retreat near Canada (I lived in Washington state at the time) and upon my return to work, abruptly quit and decided I was retired from working forever. I thought working was ridiculous and couldn’t understand how people did it.

My savings lasted me about a year. I won’t bore you with endless work history details, but I ended up in the supplement & fitness industries on and off for a handful of years and also ended up with a bachelor’s in sports and health sciences. Though I did change my major so much I think I might actually have a second bachelor’s degree.

I’ve been in California for the past eight years, and somewhere midway, I started a vegan keto chocolate business company with a coworker.

At the time, vegan keto was pretty much nonexistent besides one other brand. As soon as we launched, we were sold out pretty swiftly on a constant basis in a handful of stores around LA. Our partnership exploded (imploded?) eventually as we had vastly different ideas of how to grow the business. Not to mention, we were paying for everything out of our own minimum wage pockets.

Fast forward again, it’s Covid, I’m jobless. It’s been a couple of years since my dad took his own life, and I probably have about $20 in my bank account. My mom just sent me another hundred dollars to get me by that I didn’t ask for. As she’s sending it, she’s yelling at me about having to help me out.

I had already toyed with the idea of offering lash extensions because I thought it would be nice to work for myself (translate: working for people made me so unwell I was on disability at my job to get specific hours to avoid a mental breakdown). I also had been getting extensions for a while and loved them.

I had some cosmetology hours that I never finished, and after a few months of debating, I stopped debating because I realized I didn’t have a choice. It was either lashes or be homeless at that point.

I genuinely did try to get a job, any job, and you would think with so much work experience I was a viable candidate (previously, I had been offered every job I’ve interviewed for), but when you’re meant to do something, I guess the universe won’t allow anything else to get in the way.

I couldn’t afford to pay for a lash extension class, so I did what any desperate person would do – I taught myself. Do not recommend by the way, but my few hours of cosmetology school, plus a knack for teaching myself things, gave me the confidence to see it through.

My prior business failures from the vegan keto chocolate company (which, to be fair, was successful until the partnership fell apart, lol) to trying to be a personal trainer, a health coach, and all these other things gave me a small base knowledge of exactly what not to do. Somehow within a couple of months, PrettyLashBae was established and I was fully booked with lash clients.

I got my Esthetician license along the way and am in my third year of lashing. I realized at some point that getting fully booked so early on was a little bit unusual in the beauty service industry, so I decided to write a book with the help of Uni from Poised Lux to teach others how to do the same.

I wanted to share my experience so that others could give themselves a chance at self-employment and do it successfully. I wrote “Get Booked, Stay Busy”, and started a TikTok to teach other beauty business owners how to grow their clientele.

I’ve also recently launched a lash adhesive called PrettyBabe that I’m extremely excited for; it’s helped my work so much! My selling point is that it’s made fresh and stocked in lower quantities to ensure you’re receiving fresh adhesive… not about -to-expire-five-month-old adhesive.

Lashing has been the only career path that I have not gotten bored of, and feel like I’m constantly evolving in. I love that I’m not weighed down by having to work for someone. My mental health is better- and I easily work 50+ hours and am happy to do so.

I most recently started PrettyBlushBae to coexist alongside PrettyLashBae, where I offer lip-blushing services. I took a training with Alysha from BlushBaby LA and I’m beyond excited at the opportunity to add lip blushing to my menu.

I do some UGC on the side as well for fun. The opportunities came about because of the success with PrettyLashBae. So between all of this, I’m definitely pretty busy, but I love it!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The confidence to pursue something where I wasn’t employed by someone was definitely extremely difficult to procure. In my age group, we grew up on the tail end of thinking we needed jobs in order to pay our bills.

The first month I was lashing was also the first month ever in my life that I didn’t have enough money to pay rent. Interestingly, I somehow won some random contest thing where someone was going around paying people’s rent for Thanksgiving. I sent a response, I got picked, and the rent got paid. I hope his children’s children are blessed for life.

My mom had to help me with the rent the month after. I was picking up clients, but it just hadn’t been long enough to get enough for rent. And I was charging obscenely low amounts at the time. I was basically 30… so this is really embarrassing to admit, but it is what it is.

I’m happy to report I haven’t had any devastating events occur directly related to the business. I found a nice office space, and things have been running pretty smoothly upward and onwards ever since I found my rhythm.

Actually, that might be a lie. Retention was an issue for a time period for me. Because I was self-taught, I didn’t know all the rules, lol. My heart still drops when I see a client’s name pop up on my phone, even though retention is no longer an issue. If you know, you know.

The way I worked around that was investing hundreds of dollars into all the courses I could find about retention until I found the right course that really went into the scientific details of lash adhesive.

With income, there was a slow season here and there that had me biting my nails, but once you get enough clientele, you don’t experience slow seasons anymore. But that’s why I’m working so hard on expanding to sell products now just to cover all my bases.

The biggest struggle, honestly is trying to keep myself from feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing. I genuinely don’t know what I’m doing, but equally I am doing some of the right things since the success continues.

It’s easy to compare your journey to other people’s and feel like you must be doing something wrong since your success isn’t as big as someone else’s. But everything is on our own timing. I think we all go through these growing pains. Don’t compare your chapter 3 to someone else’s chapter 27.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am an esthetician that specializes in lash extensions but have recently added lip-blushing services. The umbrella name for my business is PrettyBae Aesthetics, and underneath is PrettyLashBae and PrettyBlushBae.

The main business and brand that I have built thus far is PrettyLashBae. I do a lot of whispy hybrid and volume sets. But I definitely still love to do classic lashes and mega volume as well. My clients seem to love my lashes, and I think it’s because I take the time to use an intricate range of sizes and curls to create aesthetic customized-to-each-person sets.

Also, I am pretty easy-going, get along with pretty much everyone, and have a unique way we cut the silence during appointments. I listen to a lot of podcasts like School of Greatness, Diary of a CEO, and Jay Shetty. So you’re not just getting lashes, you’re also learning and growing as a person.

I also help beauty business owners to build their clientele and gain confidence in being a business owner. I offer one on one mentorships, my book “Get Booked Stay Busy”, and even have gone viral on TikTok for doing Instagram audits on beauty businesses. I look at your Instagram and help you figure out how to make it look more presentable and appealing to potential clients.

My new Lash Adhesive “Pretty Babe” is genuinely the best I’ve used. My goal is to ensure every order gets the freshest available adhesive. Some companies and even some manufacturers will stock lash adhesives for a few months before even shipping it out. So sometimes by the time you get it, it’s already on the verge of expiration. I genuinely got tired of receiving lash glue that would go bad almost immediately.

With PrettyBlushBae, I’m aiming to specialize in watercolor lip blushing, where it largely just looks like a nice lip tint, and also contouring lips, where we contour your lips much like you would when applying makeup.

With doing UGC and having brand deals, I would love to expand and pick up more deals, and promote things that I genuinely believe in.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Whatever job you’re working at now before you take the step into a solo career in the beauty industry, save all the money you can. Cut back on any extracurricular things that you’re purchasing, and just save up your money.

That’s going to make things quite a bit easier for you starting out. The absolute most important thing when it comes to starting a beauty business coming into 2024, is being presentable. The bar is always rising higher and higher.

Coming into 2024, clients are looking for color palettes, aesthetic design, proof that you’re servicing quite a few clients, great content, and professional-looking videos and pictures when it comes to your social media.

In-person, they expect cleanliness, professionalism, warmth, attention to detail, and a genuinely nice experience. You’d be surprised at how forgiving people are for mistakes if you are actually a nice, personable person.

I’m so grateful that my prior work experience helped give me a tiny bit of a base in terms of setting up a business and servicing clients. If your beauty business is your first-ever business, it may just take a little bit more patience before things get going.

Just remember that your journey is your own, and your timing is your own. There’s enough room in the industry for literally everybody. At this point, clients choose to come to you either because both of your personalities match very well, or you are the best in the area at what you do. It’s all a little bit out of your hands, so all you can do is continue to better your service and just be a genuine, nice person that loves what you do.

Pricing:

• Classic Lashes-$110, Hybrid Lashes- $125, Volume Lashes- $130, Mega Lashes- $135 and Specialized Sets $150.
• Lip Blushing- $250, Touch Up- $100
• PrettyBabe Adhesive $50
• 1:1 One-Hour Business or Lash Coaching Session- $50
• 1:1 Twelve Week Business Coaching – $400

Contact Info:

• Website: www.prettylashbae.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prettylashbae/
• Other: www.tiktok.com/@prettylashbae