Meet Cassidy Gilliam | Licensed Esthetician and Certified Lash artist, trainer and supplier

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cassidy Gilliam and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cassidy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Ive always wanted to start my own business, ever since I was younger, but never did I think it would be something in the beauty industry. A few months after graduating high school in 2018 , I didn’t have any plans for my future and I was contempt with working in the deli at a small grocery store in my city, but deep down I knew I was suppose to be doing something more. I created my own lash strip line called “Cass Lash” and started to try and make a name for myself on YouTube and Instagram doing makeup all while still working 40hr+ weeks at this grocery store, this is when I really started to feel complete. Fast forward a month or so, my mom sets up a psychic reading for the both of us with her psychic she had been going to for a few years prior. This was my first time ever doing something like this and I was sooo nervous, I didn’t know what to expect. She told me a lot of important things, but what stood out to me the most was that if I didn’t start doing what I was really meant to do, I basically wouldn’t be anything in life. And that definitely made me grind and finally start that I was really supposed to be doing. those next few months were my perfect timing, so with that I signed up for esthetician school where I took the esthetics and makeup program in January of 2019 , and I was done with school and working for my first spa job in July of that year. My goal going into this industry was to make an impact and a difference in peoples lives. I really started doing that in September 2020 when I opened up Crave Beauty and spa and it has been up ever since then! It definitely hasn’t been easy and I have been through so much these past couple years, but I know In the end, all of the hardworking will be worth it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The journey of Crave Beauty and spa hasn’t been easy but know its going to be so worth it one day! In September of 2020 I took the leap into owning my own business after being treated unfairly at my previous job, it really fueled my fire for wanting to make a difference in this industry. From the beginning of Crave beauty I’ve wanted to create a safe place for women in the industry to be able to have a place to come to, somewhere learn and express themselves openly in the beauty industry and not feel like its a competition. There is plenty enough room for everyone in this industry to win without having to push the next women down. In October of 2020, one month after opening Crave beauty and spa, my now fiancé and I got into a car accident not even 10 minutes after I left work. In this moment everything changed. before I had left work I had just called to put my 2 weeks in at 7/11, I felt like the whole accident was sign for me to slow down and focus on what I’m really supposed to be doing. after the accident I could only work 3 days a week, because on the other days during the week I had to go to chiropractor visits , brain specialists, and mri & cat scans, taking Ubers back and forth to work and appointments was exhausting and killed my pockets, but I knew it would pay off in the end. The accident slowed down my plan I had set in my mind for my business, but I still had to work at it, baby steps. In March of 2021 I had neck and back surgery and had to be in a neck and back brace for a month straight. in April I went back to work and as my health started to progress so did my business. I was able to open Crave beauty and spas first full time location in June 2021 and launch Crave beauty and spa lash supplies. Business has been blessing me. Im grateful that i am booked and busy and able to share my brand with people in the industry. I want to create a safe place for women in the industry, somewhere for people to come together and not be scared to not know something or need help. A place for anyone in the beauty industry to not feel judged and have a home.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I don’t go out much, I am really a homebody. I call my self an old lady all. the time lol in a 21 yr old body. But if there was one place I had to go to unwind and get my mind right in would definitely be anywhere by the water, thankfully living in Florida I am surrounded. My favorite place is definitely the Sanibel causeway, my fiancé proposed to me on this beach, we’ve spent so many early mornings, beautiful sunsets, late nights together on this beach. In my childhood years my family would go to this beach every Fourth of July for fireworks, you can see every islands fireworks from this one beach! There were nights I would go to this beach alone and just listen to the waves crash on the sand, surrounded by the dark with the only source of light is coming from the moon or oncoming planes. pure tranquility.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I give thanks to my psychic Gigi that is till go to this day, if I didn’t have that first reading I don’t know where I would be, still working at a grocery store probably, not doing what I am really destined to be doing. I wouldn’t be where I am in my career if I didn’t have my fiancé Camron by my side pushing and supporting in every way. Helping me, being my own personal assistant without even having to ask

Website: https://www.cravebeautyandspa.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cravebeautyandspa/

Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/cravebeautyandspa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cravebeautyandspa

Other: https://www.google.com/maps/place//data=!4m3!3m2!1s0x88db3f6aa5e6e511:0x8abea2074e1942f2!12e1?source=g.page.m.id._