Today we’d like to introduce you to Charnae Wynn.
Hi Charnae, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Looking back, both creativity and entrepreneurship were part of my life long before I ever knew they would become my career.
I grew up immersed in the arts. I attended Pine Forest School of the Arts for elementary school, LaVilla School of the Arts for middle school and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts for high school. I later attended Clark Atlanta University before graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta in 2011. That creative foundation has shaped the way I see almost everything I do, including the way I approach business.
Entrepreneurship was also modeled for me very early by my dad. He owned his own business for many years, and from the time I was young, he constantly encouraged me to eventually have something of my own. I don’t remember growing up with some big dream of becoming an entrepreneur, but when I look back, I can see that it was already in me and that he helped nurture it.
I was the kid who would buy fun sized candy and sell it at school. In high school, I would customize clothes and sell them to my friends. I was always creating something, selling something or finding a way to turn an idea into money. My dad continued encouraging that as I got older and even provided seed money to help me pursue some of my early business ideas. He passed away several years ago, but I can see now how much of what he instilled in me became part of the foundation for the life I eventually built.
While I was still a student at SCAD, I launched my first real business, Heels & Hers. I eventually closed that business around the time I graduated and stepped into what I thought would be a more traditional career path.
In January 2012, I started working as a merchandiser and buyer for Rooms To Go. I stayed there until August 2013, when I decided to leave and focus full time on the hair extension company I had been building. That business did really well and gave me the opportunity to support myself completely through entrepreneurship. Thirteen years later, I’ve never gone back to traditional employment.
Around 2015, I started paying attention to lash extensions. They had been gaining popularity for a few years, but I began noticing small salons dedicated specifically to lashes popping up around Atlanta. I remember thinking that lashes could eventually become an industry similar to nails, something women incorporated into their regular beauty routines rather than only getting them for special occasions.
At the time, Jacksonville didn’t really have the type of dedicated lash salon I was envisioning, so I saw an opportunity. I decided to learn how to do lashes myself, not necessarily because my ultimate dream was to spend my career as a solo lash artist, but because I wanted to understand the service and see whether there was enough demand to eventually build a salon around it.
I took my first lash client in February 2017 from a small room I rented in the back of a hair store on the second floor of a plaza in San Marco. Before I started, I gave myself a very specific goal. If I could build the business to $10,000 a month by myself, I would know the idea had real potential and I would move forward with opening a salon.
By August 2017, just six months after taking my first client, I had reached that goal. That same month, I signed a lease and started the buildout for what would become iGlam Lash & Beauty.
From the beginning, I wanted iGlam to be more than a place where clients came to get their lashes done. I wanted clients to have an elevated and consistent experience, but I also wanted to create a place where beauty professionals could develop real careers, increase their income and grow.
Since then, iGlam has grown into a commission based lash and brow salon, and the business has taught me more than I ever could have imagined when I started. It has evolved many times over the years, and so have I.
What I’m probably most proud of isn’t a revenue number or even something I’ve personally accomplished. It’s seeing what iGlam has been able to mean in the lives of other women.
Over the years, I’ve watched women who worked with me or trained with me develop new skills, increase their income, gain confidence in themselves and, in some cases, go on to build businesses and salons of their own. I don’t take credit for what they’ve accomplished because they did the work. I see myself as a vessel for what God has allowed me to learn and share, just as other people have poured knowledge, encouragement and opportunities into me throughout my own journey.
There is something incredibly rewarding about realizing that something you created became part of someone else’s growth and elevation.
I’m also experiencing the business differently now that I’m a mom. My daughter is three, and it’s really special when she asks to go to “Mommy’s salon,” although I’m pretty sure at this stage she’s mostly excited because she knows we keep snacks at the front desk.
My story isn’t one of everything going perfectly. It’s really a story of creativity, opportunity, taking chances on myself and continuing to evolve. From watching my dad build his own business, to experimenting with my own ideas as a kid, to starting businesses in college and eventually building iGlam, entrepreneurship has been woven into so much of my life.
This business has changed and elevated my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I started, and I’m forever grateful for what it has allowed me to build, experience and give to other people.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I think one of the biggest challenges of entrepreneurship is that there is no real blueprint for so many of the situations you encounter along the way.
You can take classes, read books, listen to podcasts and learn from other business owners, but at the end of the day, you are still going to face situations that are completely new to you. I felt that when I first started, and I still experience it today. The difference is that after all these years, I trust myself a lot more to figure things out.
Being content with leading has probably been one of my greatest challenges and areas of growth. Running a business by yourself is one thing. Leading a team of people with different personalities, goals, needs and expectations is completely different. You have to learn how to communicate, set boundaries, hold people accountable, develop people and sometimes make decisions that are best for the business even when they are uncomfortable.
Then there is the actual responsibility of keeping a business healthy. You have to understand your finances, manage expenses, market consistently, hire the right people, retain clients, adapt when consumer habits change and make sure the experience you’re providing stays relevant. A lot of those lessons aren’t things I learned before becoming an entrepreneur. I had to learn them while I was already responsible for keeping the business moving.
For me, longevity has become challenge that I’m grateful we’ve continued to overcome. It’s one thing to create an experience that someone enjoys the first time they visit you. It’s another thing to create something they still want to come back to for their 22nd visit. We have clients who started coming to iGlam in 2017 and 2018 who are still clients today. In a very specific niche, in a constantly changing beauty industry, I don’t take that kind of loyalty for granted.
Personally, the challenges have also changed as my life has changed. Earlier in my entrepreneurial journey, so much of my identity and time could revolve around the business. Now I’m a mother, and there are more parts of my life that deserve the best of me. I’m still learning what it looks like to show up for myself, show up for my family and show up as the leader my business needs in different seasons.
I don’t know that I’ve ever found a perfect balance, and I’m not sure that I believe there is one. I think I’ve learned more about being present in the season I’m in, knowing what deserves my attention and giving myself permission to evolve.
Entrepreneurship is hard. There have been plenty of moments when things didn’t go according to plan, but I think the challenge and the gift are almost the same thing. You keep learning. You keep adjusting. You become a better decision-maker, a better leader and hopefully a better person because of what the journey requires from you.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
iGlam is a Jacksonville-based lash and brow salon specializing in lash extensions, lash lifts and brow services. We offer everything from classic, hybrid and volume lash extensions to brow shaping, tinting and lamination. At the core of the brand, though, I think what we really specialize in is creating a consistent beauty experience that women can make part of their lifestyle.
When I started iGlam, I didn’t want to build a salon that depended entirely on me as the person providing the service. I wanted to build an actual company with a team, systems, standards and a culture around the client experience. We operate as a commission-based salon, which is an important distinction to me because the artists who work at iGlam are part of a team rather than simply renting space and operating separate businesses under one roof.
That model allows us to invest heavily in training and development. An artist can come into iGlam, strengthen her technical skills, learn how to communicate with clients, understand retention and rebooking, increase her income and grow professionally without necessarily having to figure out every part of entrepreneurship on her own.
On the client side, I want someone to feel confident that when she books with iGlam, she is booking with a brand that cares about her experience from beginning to end. Of course, the actual lashes or brows need to look beautiful, but beauty services are also very personal. You’re spending a significant amount of time with us, you’re trusting us with your face and, for many of our clients, you’re seeing us every two or three weeks for years. The relationship and the experience matter just as much as the service itself.
Some of our clients have been coming to iGlam since 2017 and 2018, and I think that says more about our brand than anything I could put in an advertisement. Trends change, businesses open and close, and clients have more options than ever. The fact that women continue choosing us year after year is something I don’t take for granted.
Education has also become an important extension of what we do. Through Train to Lash, I have been able to teach aspiring and existing beauty professionals the technical foundation of lash artistry while also sharing the business knowledge that I’ve gained from actually operating in this industry.
For me, training has never just been about teaching someone how to apply lashes. A skill can create options. It can become supplemental income, a full-time career, or eventually the foundation for someone’s own business. I’ve been able to watch women take something they learned through training or through working at iGlam and use it to elevate their own lives, and that is one of the parts of this work that means the most to me.
If there is one thing I want people to understand about iGlam, it’s that I’ve always cared about both women involved in the beauty experience. I care about the woman sitting in the chair and making sure she feels beautiful, comfortable and taken care of, but I also care about the woman standing behind the chair and whether she has an opportunity to learn, earn, grow and build something for herself.
Almost a decade later, iGlam is still evolving, but that part of the vision has stayed the same.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
It’s hard for me to choose one favorite childhood memory because so many of my best memories are centered around my family, but there is one that still makes me smile.
When I was graduating from fifth grade and getting ready to move on to middle school, I randomly asked my mom if a limousine could pick me up from graduation so I could go out to eat with my friends afterward. I don’t think I actually expected her to do it.
But when I walked outside after the ceremony, there was a limousine waiting for me with a banner congratulating me with my name on it. I was absolutely ecstatic. To a fifth grader in the ’90s, I’m pretty sure that was a flex. I just remember feeling so special and being so excited to celebrate with my friends.
Looking back, a lot of the memories I value most from childhood are moments like that. I grew up with a large, close-knit family, so there were always gatherings at my grandmother’s house, family reunions and people around. I think being raised as an only child I appreciated being surrounded by family, but now I value and appreciate those memories even more as an adult.
Contact Info:
- Website: iglamlab.com | train2lash.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/iglamlab | instagram.com/train2lash
- Facebook: instagram.com/iglamlab
