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

Hi Tee, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea came from me being this Extra fun outspoken person! I also wanted to be different and try and create something or a name I haven’t heard of. Gloss came from me starting of with lip glosses! Overtime selling lip glosses become a little hard to sell but I started to see other beauty industry services and products that became pretty popular and I found my love for lash extensions and I felt like I didn’t need to change my name now that I wasn’t focusing on glosses much but the word “gloss” fit a lot of things. Glossy lashes, glossy brows, glossy nails or even the name Xtra . Xtra lashes, Xtra nails, Xtra brows. So I stuck with the lovely name “Xtra Gloss”

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Hi, my name is Tee, Ty or even Ana & I am the CEO of “Xtra Gloss By Tee”. I offer different beauty & self services such as Lash Extensions, Brow Services, Makeup, Teeth Whitening, a Certified Nail Tech, Self Taught in Butterfly Distressed Locs, I am also a Lash Instructor & more. I make my own products such a cruelty free lip glosses, body lava & sale a variety of mink strip lashes. I started Xtra Gloss in 2018 making Lip Glosses & Body Lava & started lashing in July of 2019. Before becoming a full time entrepreneurs in July of 2020, I worked at different animal hospitals for 3 yrs. I still and will always have a love for animals & will eventually go to school to become a Vet Technician. I also have a love for beauty, self-care & the creativity of it & will be going to esthetician school to become a licensed esthetician. I plan to travel the world with my services and products. This journey isn’t easy , it never easy running your own business, you will go broke, you will cry, you will make tons of money, you will stress and definitely have good and bad days were you know you’re about to accomplish something amazing and then want to quit. But i love having control over my life, my schedule, my sanity, my time and I make the rules , I pick and choose the energy I want to be around. I’ve learned that you have to keep going because no matter how much support you do or don’t get you have to keep going FOR YOU, nobody will want it as bad as you. Thanks for getting to know a little about us, we can’t wait to service you💕.

-Ana

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mom is a huge person I wanted to thank ! Ofc I want to thank everyone who has ever supported Xtra Gloss but I have had my business for almost 3 years now and it start from me being depressed after a bad relationship breaks up. I had my mom at every step of the way and she suggested I occupy myself with a hobby or passion and possibly build and see income from it. I hated the jobs I had which also made me depressed but my mom is a Huge Queen & the first black owned business I knew ran by a women! My mom not only helped me as my business grew but managed to raise me and maintain her business as well being a single mom. Which push me to do more for my business so that soon I could be taking care of her. From making labels, buying me equipment, saving data, create sites, doing pop up shops, being my assistant when assisting clients and more my mom has done everything for my business. Thank you mom ! Only thing I can do continue to help you build yours.

Website: https://xtragloss.bigcartel.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/xtraglosss?utm_medium=copy_link

Image Credits
Tytiana Johnson

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