Q: Ah I see, so it’s kind of hidden away …

A: Yeah, but I didn’t really realize that, but there you go!

Q: So how have you got into this whole bridal makeup and beauty industry?

A: When I left school, I got a job a Decleor in House of Fraser on a Sunday and basically I was asked what to do on the skin types and stuff like that and I was totally clueless. So I just did some small courses with beauty at college, I used to go to evening classes there, it was just a hobby; I really enjoyed it, just to get some sort of knowledge on skin types and skin textures and stuff like that… I never thought I would have a salon!

Q: Really?! You didn’t ever have an ambition of having your own…

A: No, I did a degree in English, I was an English teacher, I taught for six years and while I was teaching, while I was studying as well, I was always doing my bridals on the side at weekends, because weddings are mainly at weekends, being booked up you know for party makeup and hair and makeup on brides and stuff like that, so I’ve been doing it for a number of years; I was actually eleven when I did my first bride, believe it or not I used to be really good at Mehndī back then. I started off with Mehndī and then yeah, I just thought let’s try something else, teaching got a bit challenging because there are too many people involved in the marking and planning, it’s just gets to tedious for me.
So I thought “oh well, I’ll just try something else”. So while I was teaching, I opened up a salon near my Mum’s house and it just kicked off, so it was the first salon in the area. It was like the women were desperate to have one of those; they were gagging for it, kind-of thing.

Q: Fantastic, so you must’ve done really well.

A: Yeah, it was really good, when we first opened; the turnover was really, really great and like within the year, we did so well and I had a team of like five staff, six staff there in a small little box room you know, in a room about this size. Yeah, we did really well. And then I expanded, on the main road I bought a shop there, so I’ve done that up and it’s twice the size of this place here.

Q: Right, and it’s still doing very well?

A: It’s been there for the last ten years, yeah.

Q: Fantastic! How about your Mum, I mean was she the one who kind-of encouraged you?

A: No, they didn’t want me actually. My parents didn’t want me to open the salon. They told me “What are the people going to think?” “Oh no, everybody will know in the area”, “What are all the men going to think?”, “What are you doing to our daughters?”, “What are you doing to our wives?” kind of thing, So there’s a lot of that perception there. And yeah, it took a lot of courage. My dad supported me though.

Q: Excellent.

A: Yeah, he’s quite supportive.

Q: So do you think that if he didn’t kind of back you up, do you think you would have had a salon at all?

A: It would have been difficult but I think I would have still taken that step.

Q: You’re that kind of person?

A: Yeah, I’m quite daring…

Q: Rebellious?

A: Yes. I was always a rebel

Q: So do you think that culture, family, friends, the society that you were brought up in, and deal with, have a lot to play in terms of any kind of any decision making for, let’s say a women of…

A: No, because I’ve always done my own thing, whatever... I never used to follow the crowd. I mean I always used to do something different to my sisters; I come from a family of eight sisters, yeah, and I used to always do something different. If you see my sisters and you see me, you start thinking, “where’s the link?”

Q: Really… Are you younger?

A: I’m the youngest of the eight.

Q: So what about your sisters, how did they kind of, think about you.

A: They’re all for it, they’re all married and doing their own little things. You know there’s no harm in trying I guess. If it fails, at least you know that you did try, even if it didn’t work out you know …

Q: How hard did you have to fight to get your kind of feet into this world? Despite anyone saying “Oh no you don’t need to do this”

A: Well, to be honest, back in the days there wasn’t many…there wasn’t anything like this before. You know, in the last five years there have been a significant difference. It’s just … boomed!

Q: Why do you think it is?

A: It’s just that, women have been introduced to it and it’s easy money and nowadays people are doing it at home… I think it’s spoiled the market a bit as well with the Asians who are doing it at home, like you know coloring, the beauty treatments and makeup and stuff… It’s probably because I’m training up too many people as well!

Q: You’re the guru of beauty! You said there were less before, why do you think there are more people, obviously there are more people, do you think they have disposable income or do you think that women are standing up for themselves to have a business?

A: It’s easy money, making strategy, if you’re good at what you do it’s easy money, no stress, no overheads for you at home and it works around well for mothers, you know, working around the kids, they can suit their own working hours. For various reasons really…

Q: Because, I’ve been coming to Ladypool Road since I was very, very young and I’ve noticed that there were no women leading in the shops, whether they were clothes shops, whether they were groceries or they’ll be at the tills, they would be very shy and not really engaging with any of the customers and even my Mum used to say you know “Girls shouldn’t go down to Ladypool Road unless they’re going with their Dads to the grocery shop and get their weekly food stuff”; and recently there’s been more women, many more women opening their own businesses. Whether they’re beauty salons or they’re clothes shops.
Why is there a sudden boom? Do you think it is because people are standing up for themselves?

A: Oh definitely, there are a lot more women who are confident in themselves, a lot more independent, crea-minded, a lot of the women are now very crea-minded, they want to do something and not depend on anybody. And back in the days it was, you know, all about the men, bringing the income back home, and now, it’s equal. Equal now, both men and women are able to bring the income in the house equally, and get childcare and I think that people are a lot more lenient with their daughters, a lot more lenient.
My older sister she wasn’t aloud to go to school, college, at the age of eighteen, she had to get married, the latest she was aloud to stay at home was at eighteen and wasn’t aloud to step out of the house before marriage.

Q: Did that change for you being the youngest?

A: Yes definitely. My sisters, the older two than me, they kind of like helped a little bit as well because they started going to Uni and colleges and did me a little bit of a crib before they got married. But they still got married quite young as well. But now the average age of a bride is like thirty plus now, thirty-one… It’s just a number really. They’re not really into their family making; it’s all about careers.

Q: It’s all about careers. Can I ask you, are you married?

A: I am. I have three children. They’re all under five.

Q: Wow! So boys? Girls?

A: I’ve got two boys and a girl.

Q: So how do you…

A: I’ve got a nanny.

Q: So you manage with a nanny.

A: I couldn’t do it without my nanny at the moment. She comes six days a week.

Q: At what time do you open up the salon?

A: I open at 10am.

Q: And you leave here, at?

A: I leave here at 4pm but I’ve got staff to cover my hours when I’m not here.

Q: Sure. So obviously you still have to give time to your family, you have to make that balance, how does that work?

A: Now my kids are getting a bit older, they need me round a bit more, and so I have to really, you know, “stick around them” and cut down my hours. I’ve got to prioritize to be fair.

Q: Right, right, if you didn’t have your nanny do you think that you would have the business?

A: Well, with my other first two, I used to bring them a lot in the salon and now we’ve got nurseries, so, once the kids are about two, it kind of gets a bit easier you can take them to nurseries and stuff so, I think the nanny does help a lot but yeah I should be able to manage without her…I would just have to get a cleaner in, once or twice a week!

Q: Yeah other people do the other chores that you’re supposed to do!

A: Oh yes! Definitely, I hate cleaning; it’s one of the worst chores … cleaning… especially the bathrooms!

Q: Oh dear! What about your husband? Does he support your business? Does he have much to say in it?

A: Yes actually, he’s got his own enterprise; he’s calling himself Beaute Additions he does photography, videography, which is you know, leading onto weddings again and brides

Q: So do you combine the work at times?

A: Yes, he does all the wedding planning for all the brides who come into the salon; I obviously introduce them to him because I’m really established. He just set it up about four years ago, five year ago and he’s doing well. He’s making really good videos, with all the editing, the photography, videography, wedding stages.

Q: Do you think that you inspired him for this job?

A: I have yes, he was my I.T. consultant. He’s from London, my husband is. H moved here in Birmingham. And he was doing I.T. for the last eight years before he started his business, so he’s still using his skills.

Q: That’s fantastic!

A: next question?

Q: Ladypool road, you’ve obviously only been here for ten months or so, have there been any changes? In any way that you can think of, some people have said, “it’s much cleaner”, ‘the city council has given more money to this part of Birmingham because it’s been recognized as a good business area”...

A: I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that. I’ve seen a lot of rubbish in the roads when I go parking on the side, when I come from my journey to the salon. There’s a lot of clutter and an a lot of bin bags left lying in the corners which are not very pleasant to be around.

Q: Is that a change you would like to see? To clean the place?

A: Oh yeah! Definitely!

Q: Do you think it will get more people in?

A: I think the restaurants make it interesting, don’t they? They make it quite … messy. Because the food and stuff, people come here anyway, they don’t care they’re regardless.

Q: What about the men, who run the businesses on Ladypool road, how do they respond to women coming here and opening up their shops?

A: I haven’t heard any negative comments.

Q: Are the relationships good?

A: I don’t really have much interaction… the guy across the road he’s actually quite supportive, he’s been really supportive and the landlord he’s very supportive, he’s helped me out quite a bit. And yeah, I haven’t had anybody negative. All the guys they seem to be quite supportive.

Q: That’s good, because there’s been a change of attitude I understand, because we’ve had a few who’ve said they didn’t like so many salons and so many clothes shops being opened and they said it used to be more grocery and more videos and more restaurants and now all these shops are popping up run by women, they should be, maybe, behind doors doing their usual thing.

A: No I’ve not had anybody, apart… well I don’t know anybody of the older generation but all these guys are.

Q: They’re all very supportive

A: They’re quite young and all supportive. Maybe the older generation will probably see something different, say something different to what these guys think. But, no, I haven’t had any negative response

Q: That’s good

A: Or positive!

Q: That’s very, very good! So what do you think are your key achievements, in everything that you’ve done so far?

A: In what sense? The business? Or…

Q: The business yes, or as a woman, has there been anything that you’re particularly proud of?

A: I think being a mother is the hardest thing.

Q: Yes…

A: Being a mother of three kids all under five, that’s the biggest challenge.

Q: And running a business.

A: And running two businesses and running a home, cooking, cleaning, you know, doing the school runs, nappy changing, bottle-feeding and breast-feeding actually! And at the same time juggling everything, that’s an achievement in itself, I think. And dealing with the customers round here as well. They can be quite… funny at times.

Q: What type of customers do you get actually?

A: They’re very different to the Handsworth clientele

Q: In what way?

A: There are all weird and wonderful people, very, very strange; everyday is different. We have a new face everyday in this place yes.

Q: And do you find there are mainly Asian women, are they like mostly from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh or do you get a variety of women?

A: We’ve got some African Caribbean as well; we have a few of them but predominately Asian: Pakistan, Bengali community and we’ve got a few Arabic actually!

Q: Really?

A: Yes, Arabs, Somaliens or Yemeni people come through the door; so it’s quite colorful.

Q: That’s good, and do you think it’s more kind of day-to-day maintenance they’re looking at or do they only come for special occasions or …

A: No, no, we can’t rely only on special occasions in this place, we need to have day-to-day treatments like every week or two weeks you know, threading, waxing, facials, cuts, colors.

Q: So women are more aware, do you think?

A: Yes, a lot of people do take care of themselves now. More than they used to, now that it’s available.

Q: And competitive prices

A: yes, I think we have to put our prices down because it is really competitive and they don’t want to pay more than you know what other salons charge. We have to draw attention.

Q: And despite being very high quality, they don’t reflect that. They don’t want to reflect that in paying slightly extra?

A: Most of them do but then again you get the odd few who want to get the best, but for free

Q: Well, I think it’s not very hard at trying to do!

A: I think it’s just an Asian thing, you know you’re just like to barter, most women just get like to get a good bargain.

Q: And if I could ask you what would you like to kind of achieve later on? What would be your aspiration “I want to see this happen in my life”?

A: Well, if this place works, you know it would be nice to get better facilities because this shop needs a lot of TLC, a lot of attention because it’s not properly laid out if you know what I mean. There are a lot of things that we need to do. So, ideally, if it does pick up, and we do get along with the clientele I would like to have my own shop and do it up properly and nicely and have like, a “Training Academy” properly.

Q: Right, so you would have more students training up, opening up their own businesses.

A: And have a proper classroom setup

Q: Right, right, so there’s room to expand here?

A: yes, we’ve got upstairs and there’s just behind this door as well. So if it goes well, I would like to make it like the one I’ve got in Lozells. Because I’ve done a lot there.

Q: Fantastic. How about your daughter, do you think that you would ever expect her to learn a little bit about this business or learn a little bit about looking after yourself?

A: I’m not paying ten grand a year for her to become a beautician or a hairdresser. She’s in private education so I would like her to do something a lot more academic than this. You know, she can do this if she wants to but ultimately she needs to become a doctor or something.

Q: Right.

A: I don’t want to bring her up into this sort of industry.

Q: Why not?

A: I just think that there is so much out there. So many people are doing it now and it’s just getting too… common.

Q: Right

A: You don’t need to be clever to do this; you just need to have an artistic hand and creativity

Q: Of course, yet you’re an English teacher! It’s good to have that back up.

A: Yeah definitely!

Q: Excellent. If as a closing message, you wanted to give a message to the next generation of girls, women, who probably are hesitant in standing up for themselves or not sure about having a business for themselves despite what, sometimes, you know there are challenges in the society about being independent and working. What would be your message to these women?

A: I’d just say make the most of what you have and what you could do and there is no harm in trying so try your best and if it doesn’t work out you know it’s not meant to be and keep your chin up, always. And carry on because when one door closes, another one opens.

Q: absolutely

A: Yes, so always give your best to the world and the best will come back to you.

Q: On that note A, thank you very much.

A: Thank you.