Junior Jada Lara is a certified eyelash technician with her own business called Lash Me Up Jae. Despite never having eyelash extensions herself, Lara became interested in putting them on others and was able to make a job out of it. Lara never imagined becoming an eyelash technician; the idea came from her mother who recognized Lara’s attention to detail and strong focusing skills. She tried it out and fell in love with how powerful lashes are.“I’m very tedious and particular about things so my mom recommended for me to do it,”Lara said. “When I took my training, the first time I did it on my model, it immediately boosted her confidence, and that’s what motivated me to start doing lashes. I really want to boost other girls’ confidence. It just makes me feel good myself, and I just like the outcome of it. Doing it in the process, it’s really hard, but I push through, and they turn out really good. It’s kind of like art.”The road to becoming a lash technician is not as easy as one would expect; it requires a lot of learning and practice, Lara described. As the youngest person in her lash class, Lara had to balance school work while taking classes to get certified, she added.“It was a really long course, and the last two days of the classes lasted all day,” Lara said.“I would say it was really challenging, but overall, I feel like I did really well which is a reason why I’m really proud of myself. My lash instructor told me that I did very well and that I picked it up well for being the youngest in the class. Even though it’s really hard to put lash extensions on others, I really like the process of it.”Being a certified lash technician is only tangentially related to what Lara wants to do when she is older. Lara wants to become a doctor and has learned a lot about the health of eyelashes from her classes, she said.“I want to become a doctor when I’m older,” Lara said. “There’s many different aspects of lashes. I learned the theory of lash extensions, the health of it, how to do it, and how to place it.”Lara has her own lash studio at home, equipped with everything she needs to tend to her customers, she said. She is very grateful to her mom for pushing her to pursue certification and providing her with the resources she needs for her budding business.“I’m home based, but I have all the materials,” Lara said. “I have a massage bed, and the lash kits and all of that… Yeah, my mom is very supportive.”
A year from now, Lara hopes that her business will be booming, she said. She wants to continue to perfect her craft and help girls feel more confident and beautiful. “My main reason is not money,” Lara said. “It’s to boost other girls’ confidence and the money comes with that. I feel like I would be very successful since I know a lot of people who would want to get their lashes done, so I feel like I would have a really good clientele by then, and I would already have improved with all my sets.”For business inquiries, contact Lara by sending her a direct message on her Instagram page @lashmeupjae.