Mangomint Women Leader Series: Introducing Gina Lafler of My Little Beautique
As a celebration of Women's History Month, Mangomint has decided to feature some of the strongest women leaders on our blog. These women are passionate, dedicated, and excellent at what they do.
Treat people the way you want to be treated. Treat people like they are human beings. While this shouldn’t be rare, it truly is. But it’s not the way Gina of My Little Beautique wants to run her business. With her dad’s voice ringing in her head, she explained that “without happy employees your business is nothing.” She couldn’t be more correct. In this day and age, we tend to forget the little things when we’re thinking big picture (and Gina is thinking big picture!) but she doesn’t forget her employees are the lifeblood of her company. “Still after almost 4 years, I always tell them a thank you before I walk out the door. They are a family to me. I love and appreciate all of them.”
My Little Beautique, a place that Gina says is a place “to get all your beauty needs from,” is expanding rapidly with the goal to provide exactly that, a place to fulfill all your beauty needs. Having opened in July 2017 as primarily a lash salon, they now offer microblading, body contouring, teeth whitening, and much more. She’s happy to provide a “good place to work...a well managed, happy second home to hone their skills & express themselves.”
In fact, Gina is actively working on becoming a licensed manicurist. “Nails and nail art are my passion, I can not wait to be able to do what I love at My Little Beautique!” She has always been interested in the industry but sometimes life can get in the way, as we all know. “I started to get my Cosmetologist license about five years ago, but then I had two babies!” But now, her dreams are all coming true. Not only is she able to own her own business, but she’ll soon be able to offer her own services. Owning a business, getting her license, and raising two kids - there are truly no days off for Gina (and she’s still got time to binge Queens Gambit, and is currently reading The Survivors by Jane Harper!)
Knowing many lash artists in the space has truly helped her build her business. When discussing what she wished someone had told her before she started her company, she talked about the value that they were able to bring to the growth stage, “it’s very helpful when your team is experienced in the industry.” That doesn’t mean she didn’t have her share of growing pains - “Building from the ground up is hard. I went through so many changes, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted but as time went on and having inspiration and direction from others helped build the salon to what it is today.”
