Ep 379 – Generation Gaps: Same License, Different Starting Lines with Kiarra Smith

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0:01:34.5 Ella Cressman: Hello and welcome to ASCP Esty Talk. I'm Ella Cressman, licensed esthetician, forever student of the skin and content contributor for Associated Skin Care Professionals.

0:01:44.3 Maggie Stasik: I'm Maggie Stasik, licensed esthetician and ASCP's program director.

0:01:48.7 Ella Cressman: We're gonna have a fun episode today and I'm really, really excited because it's all about generational gaps and not just in age, but in how we became estheticians. Maggie and I entered this industry as Gen Xers. We're gonna pull her in with us. And it was really a totally different world. It was pre-pandemic, pre-pandemic education even, hands-on classrooms, and a business model that usually meant working for someone else before we ever thought about owning our own practice. But today, our guest, Kiara Smith, represents the newest wave of estheticians, and that is Gen Z, who went to school after COVID, built her professional identity online, and stepped into entrepreneurship almost immediately. Same license, same industry, completely different starting lines. Maggie, are you excited?

0:02:42.7 Maggie Stasik: Yeah. I'm really interested to hear what Kiara has to share with us.

0:02:46.1 Ella Cressman: We're diving into what it really means, from post-COVID education and learning styles to online presence versus treatment room presence. This isn't about who did it better. It's about how the industry changed and what we can learn from each other when different generations sit at the same table. Welcome, Kiara.

0:03:03.5 Kiara Smith: Hi. Thank you for having me.

0:03:05.0 Ella Cressman: You're not really new to the podcast 'cause I've talked about you. You got a shout-out and I always mention you, but I'm happy that you're on to share your experience. So for listeners, and Maggie knows this too, really what I love about sharing space with you is that we get to talk and bounce ideas off of each other. And I really value your insight and such, but our experiences are totally different also from Maggie. So you entered into this industry into a post-COVID world. So tell us, when did you go to school?

0:03:35.8 Kiara Smith: I went to school in 2021, 2022. So this was kind of right after COVID when we were transitioning back to a new normal, I guess you would say.

0:03:46.8 Ella Cressman: Yeah. What made you want to be an esthetician?

0:03:51.7 Kiara Smith: Esthetician school or cosmetology was kind of always on the back burner. After I graduated high school, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, and I went into nannying, and I got into a role as a behavioral therapist for kids with autism. So I did that for five years. And I think during that time of COVID, I don't know if you guys agree, but it was kind of a realization for everybody, like, "What do I want to do with my life?" The world shut down, so what am I gonna do when it gets back to normal? And I just thought I wanted to go back to school, and I've always been in a role that serviced others. So I kind of wanted to transition out of being an ABA and go and help people with their skin. And I was drawn more to skin rather than hair for cosmetology.

0:04:41.8 Ella Cressman: The servant heart, but in a pretty way.

0:04:44.7 Kiara Smith: Yes, exactly.

0:04:47.6 Ella Cressman: So you got into the industry post-COVID. In that post-COVID world, how do you think that shaped the way you learned skin care and what you expected from this career compared to how we were trained?

0:04:59.1 Kiara Smith: I think going into school after COVID was definitely a unique experience because we just had got done wearing masks and being really crucial on our sanitation and just living life that way. So going into school, safety was a huge focus for us for hygiene and sanitizing everything, how we interacted with clients. I feel like it was a little bit hands-off, I guess you could say. We just had to keep in mindset of being safe with our clients. And I think during when you guys went to school, that wasn't... You guys didn't have a huge pandemic.

0:05:40.8 Maggie Stasik: Did you find that as clients were coming into the student clinic, were they leery of being treated by students because you were a student or because COVID had just occurred?

0:05:54.9 Kiara Smith: I think it was a little bit of both, but at the same time, if you're coming into a school, you're kind of expecting to be with a student. But I would say they definitely were... I would say a little bit of fear in terms of somebody's touching your face and you're in a room with... There's a big turnover with a bunch of people throughout the day, not just in my classroom, but the daytime students as well.

0:06:08.9 Maggie Stasik: Yeah. Ella and I have talked before about the kinds of hands-on experience that we got when we went through school, and it wasn't much. There weren't people that booked the student clinic often. I mean, really, we were just practicing on ourselves all day long or we brought our mom in.

0:06:39.0 Ella Cressman: Yeah. So you guys still had clients coming in, but I think with our school that it was not popular, not like the clients weren't seeking out those same kind of services and the profession wasn't as well known or well understood, I think. You know what else was interesting too? When we went to school, I think we went to school before MySpace.

0:06:50.6 Kiara Smith: Yeah.

0:07:02.2 Ella Cressman: Do you know what MySpace is?

0:07:04.4 Kiara Smith: Yeah.

0:07:06.6 Ella Cressman: Remember?

0:07:08.8 Maggie Stasik: Yeah.

0:07:11.0 Ella Cressman: So really that was just starting out as an esthetician and having my top eight or whatever, but it wasn't as integrated into our daily lives as it was before. But how did social media... It definitely wasn't talked about in school. Was it talked about when you went to school?

0:07:28.2 Kiara Smith: Yeah, it was brought up a lot. And post-COVID, we also had a lot of online learning opportunities for virtual days, which I don't think you guys had at all. Sorry.

0:07:35.7 Ella Cressman: No.

0:07:43.1 Kiara Smith: Not to be like, "Back in your day," but...

0:07:45.2 Ella Cressman: We had a book and we opened it and it made a sound.

0:07:49.8 Kiara Smith: Yeah, they actually encouraged us to... I remember an assignment of ours was to create a business account for while we were in school so we can post on it and we can get people to book through us that way so we can meet our quotas.

0:08:04.7 Ella Cressman: That's interesting. So for you, how important is having an online presence compared to being strong in the treatment room? And do you feel pressure to balance both?

0:08:14.3 Kiara Smith: I think having an online presence as well as being in the treatment room is important in today's society. I always think still having the exceptional skillsets of how to work with a client and being in that treatment room is really important. That's the fundamental to your business. You're physically healing somebody. You're physically putting your hands on somebody and looking at their skin that way versus doing something online. You're not getting that quality time face-to-face with somebody. So I think being in the treatment room is really important. It's the core of your business. However, in today's world, I think a strong online presence is really important too because that's the way that somebody is seeing your results. It's educating potential clients, it's building your brand. And we live in a society that's such a "see it to believe it." So I think that's really important too because, for example, if we want a restaurant, we look online or TikTok it and look at the reviews just as much as if we listen to word of mouth of, "Oh, hey, this is a great restaurant."

0:09:22.3 Ella Cressman: Maggie, how do you find a restaurant?

0:09:25.3 Maggie Stasik: I TikTok it, Ella.

0:09:27.6 Ella Cressman: Yeah. No, that's something that was interesting that Kira told me the other day. She says she goes to TikTok to look up a restaurant, then she goes to Google. And I was like, "I'm just done. I can't." I ask somebody. I roll the dice and see if it's good or not.

0:09:36.3 Kiara Smith: Yeah, for real.

0:09:45.1 Maggie Stasik: How many people in your class or when you were in school had the mindset that, "I'm going to school and then I graduate and I'm opening my business"?

0:09:54.6 Kiara Smith: Honestly, I don't think a lot of us talked about that. That wasn't a route that was really suggestive for us. Obviously, it was brought up, but it was more so going into a salon and working for somebody. I can tell you now from graduating, it's me and one other person that are a small business and a couple just work for people. So for us, it was a really small group.

0:10:21.7 Ella Cressman: Were you encouraged to consider self-employment?

0:10:25.7 Kiara Smith: I think it was brought up. I think that was a part of a curriculum, an avenue that you can go down. I don't necessarily think we learned about the backside of the businesses, like how you can really succeed as a small business. It was more of creating a fun, "What would your spa look like? What would your services look like?" and the aesthetic of it. And it was very surface-level.

0:10:52.1 Ella Cressman: Isn't that an interesting point, Maggie? Like it's, "What would your business look like?" And do you think, and both of you guys, do you think this influences the expectation of the students entering the workforce, the licensed professionals coming in, that it's just so easy-breezy and all you need is a social media presence and uplighting and you're good? What do you guys think?

0:11:16.5 Kiara Smith: Yeah, I think coming into this field, everything is so aesthetically pleasing. I mean, all over social media, you see these beautiful treatment rooms. But the reality is, when you first start out, it's, "What am I gonna have for my bed? What am I gonna have for my towel warmers?" It's the essentials that you want in the treatment room. And I'm sure you guys can agree, when you first started out, it was very minimal, and then you added on to the aesthetic of your treatment room. So I think it's people coming in, I mean, all over TikTok and Instagram and social media now, it's just these beautiful "day in the life" that people post, and there's nothing really being talked about, like, how do you get there?

0:12:04.8 Maggie Stasik: I think that building on Kiara's point, the administrators and the educators who are teaching this industry at the heart are artists. They're not business people. And so to think about it from the aesthetic perspective makes sense. And we can all relate to that as estheticians. We're not thinking about the numbers and the data. We're thinking about, "Is this pretty? Does my client feel good? How am I nurturing them? How am I nurturing my space?" And so when business is, quote unquote, taught, it's not really the business. It's, "Is your space pretty? How do you want to make it look? What do you want your menu to be? How are you gonna make your client feel good?"

0:12:50.4 Ella Cressman: I remember doing that and making a diorama in a shoebox of what my spa would look like. FYI, it doesn't look anything like that now, but it was very much the aesthetic, the facade of it, and not the things that you have to consider, like inventory management, like your back bar ROI. What are you getting there? Instead, I just followed the brand that I signed up with, and I just really duplicated all of their protocols, put them on my menu, and crossed my fingers and prayed, hoping that I was gonna get something. And I think it's interesting too. We had a conversation about... And it was just kind of like a short conversation too, about social media and follows and prestige and what that means, and then also the conversion of that interaction online into clients. What is your experience?

0:13:44.2 Kiara Smith: I think there's so much pressure to be online, and I guess it's kind of like your status quo, who you are versus how often you're getting clients in from online. It's more of just how somebody's following you and just keeping up with you. And like I mentioned again, the aesthetic of your social media. I would say I don't have a lot of clients that come in from social media. It's more of just a presence of who I am and what is in my treatment room and my personality that people can see and kind of keep up with. And it's also a place, I think, outside of the professional title of mine, that clients can kind of see who I am as a person.

0:14:29.0 Ella Cressman: Do you think that's important?

0:14:30.2 Kiara Smith: I think it's very important. Yeah. We were always kind of taught to be professional and keep it professional, but at the same time, I feel like I do so well with my clients being just as vulnerable as they are, and obviously keeping it professional. But I think we live in such a world where interaction and just exchanging vulnerability is important.

0:14:56.2 Ella Cressman: I had a thought recently about the different industries and online presence. I think there is a definite association with wanting to patronize a business based on the way they show up online. The example of restaurants. I do see on my feeds, "Oh, try this spot, try that spot," and it definitely makes me want to at least pursue it. And then recently I switched hairstylists, which was traumatic, but I was researching them and I pulled a Kiara. I had to go online on their Instagram to see. I read their menu, right? I went to their website and I was like, "Oh, I think this is the person I want." And then I noticed it was like, "Look at me here on this social media link." So I clicked it and I was like, "Oh, no, that's not what I want." And then I went to the next one. "Oh, that's not what I want." And I feel like those are visual or instant gratification things. I don't know that I would go to, like, my injector, secret's out.

0:15:26.2 Kiara Smith: Yeah.

0:15:56.3 Ella Cressman: I get a little Botox here and there. I wouldn't go to my injector based... I wouldn't seek out the Instagram. I wouldn't pick my OB-GYN on Instagram, which people do.

0:16:08.1 Maggie Stasik: What does that look like?

0:16:09.5 Ella Cressman: I'm not explaining it to you. I don't know. It happens. They'll go seek out, find one near... A little bit deeper than a Google, I guess. I don't know. But they'll do that stuff. And I think with esthetics, with corrective skincare, let's say corrective skincare or spa, relaxing time, I am curious if online presence is because everyone else is doing it or because that's what we're supposed to do. But is it for gaining clients or is it for a status among other professionals? Like, who's following me? Mostly estheticians, not clients. What do you guys think?

0:16:53.8 Kiara Smith: I think it's both, right?

0:16:56.2 Maggie Stasik: Yeah, I think it's both. And I think, like what Kara was saying about just having that presence, having your personality out there, you're gonna have people that are maybe gonna Google for the reviews, but they're also checking the Instagram. "Who is this person really?" Whether it's true or not, they're reading into those images, gaining an understanding of this individual and deciding, "Do I really want to go see them or not?"

0:17:24.8 Ella Cressman: Yeah. Interesting. You moved into self-employment pretty quickly. Did working for yourself feel like it was a goal from the start or did that come from what you saw online?

0:17:33.9 Kiara Smith: It wasn't necessarily something I saw online and thought, "I have to do that," especially when esthetician school really didn't push that avenue. I would say when I really wanted to become self-employed was an unfortunate work experience after I graduated and got my license. And then I really sat with myself and I wanted that control over my career and I wanted the freedom to create the kind of experience I wanted for myself and for my clients. So it happened a lot sooner than I actually thought it was gonna happen. But looking back, I'm really grateful that I just took the leap. And I told myself, "The worst that can happen is I fail," and I haven't. So I've been learning and growing and evolving. And I think that it's sometimes something that just crosses the street when it needs to happen, you know?

0:18:32.8 Ella Cressman: And let me tell you, I'm super impressed with you as a business owner.

0:18:34.4 Kiara Smith: Thank you.

0:18:36.1 Ella Cressman: We had events, right? Independent. We work in the same space, but we have two separate businesses. I had an event early December 2025, and a week or so later you had an event. And the difference between our events was striking, especially because I was so proud of you as a business owner. She put together the best thing. It was games and it was ways to get new people's email address. And I was like, "Dang, I wish I would have done mine after." And then when it came to checking people out, I was helping her with that. And it was, I'll use the word savage. It was savage that none of her family got a discount at all. It was like, "No, this is my business. You're taking my business seriously." I was taking all kinds of notes for it. It was so funny. But so you're doing really, really well.

0:19:23.2 Kiara Smith: Thank you. I appreciate that.

0:19:24.7 Maggie Stasik: As social media and influencer culture are huge right now, Kiara, how do you personally decide what feels authentic versus what feels performative in this industry?

0:19:35.4 Kiara Smith: Yeah, you're right. Social media is performative, and that's really tough to navigate. It's challenging to find a balance between showcasing my work and staying true to myself and still focused on being present in the treatment room. For me, the key is to trust my intuition and be me and be honest. And I'm not an influencer, so I have to realize that too. And it's okay to do aesthetically pleasing things. Like I do like taking the pictures of my treatments and my lash lifts and the videos and putting that together and being creative and having that freedom. But I just try to be mindful of what feels authentic versus what feels kind of just going through the motions and what's trending and what that person is doing or what they're sounding like. And there's just so much pressure to that. And sometimes I feel guilty not posting to my social medias or feel like I'm, quote-unquote, "lazy," but I'm not. And I'm still in the treatment room doing all these treatments, but I'm just like, "Dang, I forgot to take a picture." And I'm like, "You know, I don't need to take a picture to solidify that I did a treatment."

0:20:12.0 Ella Cressman: Yeah.

0:20:48.5 Kiara Smith: I did a service.

0:20:49.5 Maggie Stasik: You said that social media is important, but you don't feel like your clients are coming directly from social media. So where is the balance where social media lands and new clients are gained?

0:21:03.4 Kiara Smith: I feel like the balance for me is I think of my Instagram as a part of my digital diary, my digital portfolio. On my business page, you can have the option to click on my Instagram link. And I kind of just think of it as showcasing my work like an artist displays it..

0:21:26.0 Maggie Stasik: A portfolio.

0:21:27.1 Kiara Smith: Exactly. And that's how my Instagram can be. But my clients, the majority of time, are word of mouth. And I'm still handing out business cards, leaving business cards out, and talking to people in person. Shout-out to my husband because he really does a good job at helping marketing for me. So I think that's just a digital diary of my Instagram.

0:21:53.5 Maggie Stasik: I think that's a really important note that you're saying, how valuable there is in networking, word of mouth. You're still pounding the streets, if you will, passing out business cards. And there's this outward voice, if you will, about, "Oh, social media, social media, it's all about social media. You got to post, post, post. That's how you're gonna build the business." And here we're hearing it firsthand that really it's still about making that connection with the individual.

0:22:23.0 Kiara Smith: Yeah, it is. And my dad also owns his own business and he doesn't have a website, he doesn't have social media. He gets his business from word of mouth. So I also really admire that for him too, especially because now we're sitting here talking about social media and he's like, "Nope." And so I see that with him and I understand that that can happen for myself and for my business too. And it's still interacting with people face-to-face and greeting somebody by name and knowing who they are. And it can come so naturally to get clients that way.

0:23:00.1 Ella Cressman: I feel like that has generationally stood the test of time because that's how it was for me too. Different, I mean, I printed flyers and put them on door hangers.

0:23:05.2 Kiara Smith: Right.

0:23:10.3 Ella Cressman: Which was my social media.

0:23:11.2 Kiara Smith: Right.

0:23:12.2 Ella Cressman: Got zero people. But definitely word of mouth is important.

0:23:14.5 Kiara Smith: Yeah.

0:23:16.9 Ella Cressman: I have a question for you though. What do you think is the biggest difference between you and me with how we practice?

0:23:23.6 Kiara Smith: I would say I've really learned that you can see clients day-to-day and you can get them in the treatment room, get them what they need to get done, and then send them on their way and still have that time of interaction and that peace that can come with just being in a treatment room and laying on the bed. And it made me realize, okay, I don't have to have these 90-minute facials for every single one of my services. I can get my clients in and out of the door and sometimes they prefer that too. And I would say a difference between you and I also is you do a lot of your consultations still on paper and you keep them in the binders, versus for me, I have them all in my clients' portfolio on my booking system.

0:24:16.2 Ella Cressman: Old school.

0:24:18.2 Kiara Smith: I love it though. It's pen and paper.

0:24:18.8 Ella Cressman: Yeah. I draw pictures of what it looks like. And I don't know how to move out of that paper model into something else. For the initial consultation, it feels very clinical. I've got my little clipboard and I'm asking you questions. I don't know how to move that into the digital space, but I'm working on it with my new software.

0:24:39.4 Kiara Smith: You know, all you have to do is get an app, like an iPad or a tablet.

0:24:43.8 Ella Cressman: Don't say the I-word. I know, right? I can still be clinical with my...

0:24:47.5 Kiara Smith: You know, they have the Apple Pencils so you can still write.

0:24:50.0 Ella Cressman: Oh, no. I'm allergic. Cool. So from your perspective, what do you think Gen X estheticians misunderstand most about Gen Zs that are entering the field?

0:25:02.4 Kiara Smith: That's a great question. I think one of the biggest misunderstandings is maybe Gen Z entering the field is assuming that we're all just social media crazed or we're trying to be over-the-top influencers. And I think the reality is a lot of Gen Z estheticians, and I'm Gen Z by a year, so...

0:25:13.9 Ella Cressman: By a year?

0:25:25.5 Kiara Smith: By a year. But a lot of us are still genuinely eager to learn from Gen X and millennial estheticians. We value the experience and the tried-and-true techniques that come from years in this industry. And we understand that there's a lot to learn beyond what we see online. So perhaps some Gen X estheticians might underestimate our drive to learn the fundamentals or they might assume that we're only into the latest trends. But a lot of us are still looking for the mentorship and the guidance and the deeper understanding of skincare and we're willing to learn. So I will say I'm especially grateful for what I've learned through my Gen X mentor.

0:25:48.3 Ella Cressman: Oh, thanks.

0:26:11.0 Kiara Smith: So I think just the open communication is really big, that we're not all closed off. If that makes sense.

0:26:16.1 Ella Cressman: Yeah, And I think it's important as a crusty, rusty esty to learn from the freshie estes because I've learned a lot from you and hopefully we'll talk about more later. But I've learned a lot from you and I know Maggie and I learn a lot from the people that we are in contact with every day too.

0:26:37.7 Kiara Smith: And I would say too, in the field, I think a lot of us that are new and fresher, we're a little bit more bold and speak our mind a lot more. And I think that's something that is okay to do. I hear a lot of people online saying they're not afraid to fire a client or to charge that no-show fee. And I see a lot of people that are Gen X, millennials that are a little timid. And so that's something I'm learning too, especially people that are younger than me that are new estheticians and they're like, "Nope, 90% charge. You canceled, rescheduled, I don't care. You're still gonna pay me."

0:27:28.6 Ella Cressman: Savage. And no discount for family.

0:27:31.9 Kiara Smith: That's me, but that's as far as I'll go.

0:27:33.6 Ella Cressman: Nice. Now, listeners, we really want to hear from you. Are you a freshie estie ready to tackle your own business and faithfully showcase that on social media? Or a crusty, rusty estie trying to figure out the TikTok? Or somewhere in the middle of both? Reach out via Instagram, Facebook, or send us an email at getconnected@ascpskincare.com. We want to know all the details. In the meantime, thank you for listening to ASCP Esty Talk. For more information on this episode, or for ways to connect with Maggie or myself, or to learn more about ASCP, check out the show notes and stay tuned for the next episode of ASCP Esty Talk.