Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Andrade.
Laura, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m the owner of Bound Lashes an e-commerce brand which sells 3D mink lashes. I launched over a year ago around the same time I took a one way flight out to LAX from Salt Lake City, Utah with nothing more than two suitcases and 200 dollars in my bank account. Wait, I lied, I had more than that, something you can’t physically touch. Optimism, creativity, and the ability of being resourceful in any situation. Once I landed in LAX, I moved in with a cousin in Compton. Weird right? Dropping out two weeks before starting my senior year of college at a university in Utah to start a business and struggle for a bit in Compton. Funny thing is I never saw it as that until after I moved out into my own place and had my business launched for a few months. Looking back entrepreneurship was something bound to happen. In elementary school my dad would give me 5 dollars a week for after school snacks. I lived down the street from a Candy shop.. instead of buying junk food I would buy a pack a box of 100pc of gum, this gum had stickers wrapped around it. Each gum had a different sticker of the then popular Novela at the time. I would go back to school and sell each stick of gum for 10¢ or 25¢ depending on which had the better character of the novela in it… I made my money back and then some.
Owning a business is quite different from what most people would think, I’m still in my first year and income isn’t steady it’s up and down. Bound Lashes started as something my friend and I wanted to do because of the business side but also for our love of lashes. Once you wear a pair of strip lashes you never go back, it’s like a drug. Bound lashes has five styles, prices ranging from 21.99 – 5 bucks. Packaging, photographs, website layout, overall aesthetic is all run by me in my apartment in between having two jobs. The most rewarding part of owning my business is seeing girls tag and hashtag themselves wearing bound lashes unexpectedly. It makes it all worth it when I see how much excitement and difference it makes in their makeup routine. Bound lashes is 3D, regular, and silk lashes. As of now Bound Lashes is based out of the South Bay Area here in Los Angeles.
Has it been a smooth road?
Of course, there was struggles along the way. The original launch date was pushed back seven months because lack of Lunds, samples, packaging that just weren’t cutting it for the representation of Bound…
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Bound Lashes started as something my friend and I wanted to do because of the business side but also for our love of lashes. Once you wear a pair of strip lashes you never go back, it’s like a drug. Bound lashes has five styles, prices ranging from 21.99 – 5 bucks. Packaging, photographs, website layout, overall aesthetic is all run by me in my apartment in between having two jobs. The most rewarding part of owning my business is seeing girls tag and hashtag themselves wearing bound lashes unexpectedly. It makes it all worth it when I see how much excitement and difference it makes in their makeup routine. Bound lashes is 3D, regular, and silk lashes. As of now Bound Lashes is based out of the South Bay Area here in Los Angeles.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Most definitely LA is the city for a business like mine, LA is the best city to live in for a creative. In the future, Bound Lashes is going to introduce custom art packaging. I paint on the side as a hobby to release stress. My painting was in one art gallery in Compton last fall. Los Angeles is THE city to be in for a creative, you belong here.
Contact Info:
- Website: BoundLashes.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: BoundLashes
- Facebook: Boundlashess
- Twitter: @laura_gravano
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
