May 15, 2017

Meet Kayla Iacopucci of KayLash in Reading

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Iacopucci.

Kayla, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I attended Fitchburg State University for college originally to take science prerequisite classes thinking that I wanted to become a dental hygienist. During my junior year I finally decided that after graduating college I was going to go to skin care instead. “AMEN!” my mom said, as I had been picking at her skin for years! I was always torn between a job that I knew I would enjoy but could just easily make more money under someone else roof vs. having to work harder to make a living doing something I really LOVED!

Summer going into my senior year my mother in law and I helped her niece at a wedding that she was the event planner for. As we walked around in black clothes serving appetizers to people we couldn’t get enough of the bride’s eyelash extensions! We had never seen or HEARD of lash extension before! It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to know that the three of us ended up with lash extensions within a few weeks after working at this wedding and soon thereafter it was clear it needed to be added to the list of services id be able to provide as an aesthetician.

During my last semester at FSU I lived at home to save money, got an internship working at a local spa’s front desk and took my first Eyelash Extensions class! I would drive back and forth to Fitchburg for one on-campus class and bring my lash kit with me when I went! The girls would lay on their bunks at Fitchburg while I practiced! (I was lucky if I got 10 lashes on each eye in an hour and a half at that point!) Anyone who was willing to lay on their bed with a lampshade removed from a lamp post for better lighting was fair game as a “dumbie” as I called them although model is the correct term.

Working at the front desk at the spa was a wonderful learning experience for me. It probably comes as a surprise as front desk spa receptionists have to constantly hide behind a smile, but it is an extremely stressful job! As I graduated aesthetic school I slowly made my way into the back doing treatments on clients. I was still keeping the lashes out of the spa as I needed quite a bit of practice before I felt they were worthy enough to bring into the spa as a chargeable treatment. I practiced a lot at home on anyone and everyone. Soon friends that had lashes were telling me their cousins, moms, aunts, friends, sisters all wanted them. The practice continued … until it wasn’t practicing anymore but a decent unintended part time job that was now worthy of charging full price for.

It soon became obvious that I needed a place of my own outside of the house to do lashes full time. In my searches for space of my own I was introduce to Michele Daly, owner of MJD Electrolysis and for the last 4 years I have been happy to rent space from within her wonderful business and call it home to KayLash.

Has it been a smooth road?
I have been extremely lucky, it has been a pretty smooth road! I will be the first to admit that I am not a super go-getter. I tend not to take leaps in hopes that it works … I have taken baby steps as they have come. I moved into my own space as business had grown and I took on two employees as my clientele became too large for me to handle on my own. The biggest struggle that I would say that I have, which I’d image all working parents would say is a struggle, is finding the balance between family time and work time. Somedays I think I have it mastered while the very next day I could feel like I’m drowning. I will say again I have been lucky and if this is one of the only struggles I’ve faced I consider myself extremely lucky!

We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Kailash, eyelashes are our expertise. We use high-quality products, pick the lash size that is right for each client, and apply each lash individually in the comfort of a private, welcoming room. Lots of naps are taken in our rooms! A lot of therapy sessions take place in our room too! We see our clients every 2-3 weeks so we have built wonderful close relationships with all of our clients!

We pride ourselves on having a comfortable place for people to come and relax for one hour out of their day. Our prices are reasonable. And we also make sure that we don’t over book ourselves with clients. If clients commit to getting a full set of lashes they should be able to have a few options of fill times within the required time frame to get a fill. It wouldn’t seem ethical to me to pack to many clients into our schedule and not be able to accommodate them all. At times we have put a freeze on new clients to make sure we can handle our current clientele.

We don’t want to become some mass producing eyelash business. We want to care for our clients that are with us now first and foremost!

Keeping our menu simple is also important to us. Aside from eyelash extensions we have a few add on services such as an eyebrow and lip wax or a soothing lip treatment that can be done during your lash extensions services. We like to specialize in what we do — consider us more of a Lash Boutique!

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
It is hard for me to answer this question based on our wonderful City of Boston which I’m sure if my business were bigger and if I were involved more closely to the city it would be great. But I’m not. We are located in a small suburb of Boston called Reading.

Speaking for the town of Reading, I wouldn’t be happier to have my place anywhere else. Reading is a close knit community, especially business wise. There are so many great little Mom and Pop shops in town and I have been happy to network and work amongst some of the best!

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