Beauty Therapist
Saks

Jessica B

0:00:01 My name’s Jess. I’m a beauty therapist. I work at Saks, Guisborough and it’s about ten minutes from Middlesbrough in County Durham. I love meeting and greeting clients, doing the treatments, seeing them leave with a smile on their face and then coming back for more treatments and bookings. I think the most fun thing is doing massaging because it’s like, it’s very, very good, it’s like a workout but it’s really hard work but yeah, the most popular treatments are, a lot of clients are happy with what you do. I think my job’s turned out to be a lot more than I expected to be. It’s a lot more exciting and a lot more fulfilling, definitely. It’s an industry you can get really into and it’s constantly growing so yeah, it’s definitely something I want to pursue for a long, long time.

00:00:42 When I was sitting my GCSEs, I sat them in hospital because I was ill and it was over a period of like three months I was ill. I had to get like an extra tutor to come and sit with me in my hospital room, to sit in and actually do like extra tuition. It was a very traumatic time. It was over Christmas as well that I’d eventually like came down with the illness so. But yeah, it was a very traumatic time. I was quite young at the time to know what was going to come out of it, you know, and it was a big…it had a huge impact on my family and myself. So that after that happened in my life, it made me inspired to go out there and you know, and just achieve what I can do and just, you know, just go out there and be the best I can.

00:01:27 I left school after my GCSEs just because I wanted to go out and work because all my friends were. So yeah, I wanted to do that as well and follow them. I went into a business admin role and that was with my sister. I went to work with her. So yeah, I was there for a year and it was then that I decided that I wanted to become a beauty therapist so it was time I, you know, went out there and did something to get my qualifications. So I came to Saks Academies to get my NVQ level 2 and NVQ level 3. So it was a fast-track course and you did it over 20 weeks.

00:02:01 The course was very interesting. It was very exciting. It was something new so it was a bit daunting at first but once I got to know everybody on my course I really, you know, I got along with them really well. We all enjoyed it. We did lots and lots of treatments ranging from facials to waxing to body massaging to tanning and it was yeah, I really enjoyed it and I could see myself, you know, going off and doing more interesting things with that qualification. So why I wanted to do the fast-track course at Saks Academies was to get onto the cruise ships and then eventually I wanted to, after that experience of doing that for a couple of years, I want to own my own salon in London.

00:02:39 The cruise ships, they range from anything from 500 people to 3000 people so it’s quite big. It’s like, you know, like a floating city on there so that’s what attracts a lot of people. I actually attended the interview yesterday so I’ve only just found out, within like 24 hours ago, so I’m still quite shell-shocked, I can’t believe it. It’s going to be for nine months and with it being so close to Christmas, I’m probably going to be spending Christmas Day and New Year on there so I’m looking so forward to it, I can’t wait. I think the most exciting place I’m excited to see is Australia because I’ve got family over there and I’ve never had the chance to meet them. So I’m hoping when I’m over there I can see them and, you know, that’s my job that’s led me to that.

00:03:20 Someone who was a huge inspiration to me was a lady called Kirsty who I used to work with. She was a beauty therapist herself so yeah, she used to do treatments on me and she said to me one day that she could see me being a beauty therapist. So one day I just wanted to go out there and just become and follow in her footsteps.

00:03:39 My idea of a dream job would be to own my own salon in London and have a fantastic team of people working for me and yeah, you know, just living the dream really. If I was to give anyone some advice it would just be to just go out there and follow your dreams. Just go out there and go for it, you know. Don’t ever think you’re not capable of doing it because, you know, there’s always something out there for you and if you’re passionate enough about something, you should just go out there and do it and achieve your dream.

ENDS