Meet Diamond Gardner | Lash Artist

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

Hi Diamond, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Diamond Vanity was created during a time when I realized that my hard work and ethics could never fully be valued at someone else’s dream company. I knew that it was time for me to create my own and that I had graduated from being a worker to being a boss. Beauty and inspiration has always been my true passion and I wanted to create something that catered to both. Diamond Vanity’s slogan “Forever Gorgeous” is a reminder that with or without beauty enhancement you are always beautiful. I am a strong believer that beauty is not excluded to external appearance but also heavily influenced by what is within.

I started Diamond Vanity knowing that I wanted a brand that I could always expand on. A Vanity room is typically where women spend time making themselves feel beautiful with countless of things. It is almost like a therapeutic room to spend time with self and feel the most confident before stepping out. A vanity room can include all things beauty. I started out with only providing cosmetic products and have recently extended to providing luxury lash extension services. I will continue to expand and create the full vanity room experience for both my customers and clients.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Whenever I think of a product or service to add for Diamond Vanity there is always the thought of “how can this protect their natural beauty or add value to their life” behind it. I value the way that my products make my customers feel. The improvements and results they see from the products and services are a plus, but the best part is the level of confidence that they feel after each experience. With Diamond Vanity I offer a level of personalized customer service that is unique to each client or customer. This allows me to provide proper information they need suitable to them.

I am most proud of how Diamond Vanity started as me just doing what I enjoy for myself to being something that I can provide for others to enjoy as well. In my spare time I would always play around in make up but I was known for always wearing bold lashes. I taught myself how to do individual lashes in highschool and from there lashes have always been apart of who I am. In college I would always have people ask who did my lashes and once I responded with myself then came the question of “can you do mine”. Lashing became a way of income for me in college and was something that I always enjoyed doing. I always say that I’m not new to lashing, I’ve just improved on my technique with lash extensions.

Transitioning into full entrepreneurship was not easy but it was even harder trying to work full time and run a full time business. I admire those who manage both but when I added lash services I knew that my clients would need me more than I could be there for them while still working. It was important for me to set the tone in this new journey of my business to not be one of a side hustle. I took the leap of faith and I don’t regret it at all. In the beginning it was very scary for me knowing that my way of living was now solely dependent on my brand. Today I can appreciate the fear I felt because it made me go even harder and push my brand even more.

The biggest lesson that I have learned along the way is to just put yourself out there. I feel that a lot of becoming entrepreneurs limit themselves by playing it safe. Everything does not have to be perfect before you put your brand out there. People like to see and be apart of the growth, so let them. When you get opportunities to help your brand, take them. You have to work through fear and doubt, that is the only way to keep climbing to the top.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Atlanta is a beautiful city full of things to get into and people to meet. Whenever my best friend comes into town I always feel like a week is never enough to give her the full experience but we definitely have a great time with what we can squeeze in. My favorite area to hang out in would probably be Midtown and Buckhead. We love seafood and good drinks so our first stops are usually Cirque daiquiri bar in Midtown and The Boiler Seafood located in Buckhead. My favorite time in Atlanta is during the summer because of the outdoor festivals. Its a festival for pretty much anything you can think of from the Caribbean Carnival to Wine festivals.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My support system is phenomenal! I am truly blessed and thankful for everyone who continues to be behind me every step of the way. I want to dedicate this shout out to my friends, family, and mentor Jasmine Brown of Sunshine Empowerment. When I needed the extra push to take the risk of becoming a full time entrepreneur, they were right there with words of encouragement. The words were then followed by action. My friends and family took initiative to use their talents to help my brand. In result of that I have a marketing manager, financial advisor, advertisement and anything else that I need to keep the engine going. My mentor who was actually my lash instructor has been wonderful with encouragement and multiple opportunities for getting my brand out to the world. She has recently included me in her marketing campaign and book ‘The power of failure’ which I am greatly appreciative of. It was at one point where I felt like they had more faith in me and my brand than I did for myself. It is so important to have a great support system for the times when you need someone to step in and help you overcome the doubt and fear that comes with being an entrepreneur.

Website: diamondvanitybeauty.com

Instagram: diamonds_vanityco

Other: Email: diamondvanitycompany@gmail.com