Ashley Pizarro was the guest when The Entrepreneurs’ Club Podcast recorded its first episode at WDIY 88.1 FM, and host Carter McKinney introduced her as his fiancée. Pizarro owns Lovelyyfaces Spa Lounge, which at the time of the recording was preparing to move from Bethlehem to Hellertown. The salon covers hair and beauty: aesthetics, lashes, brows, facials, hairstyling and bridal packages.
Their conversation covered how she started, what her training required, why she teaches, and what she has learned about building a business that clients trust.
Where it started
Pizarro was born at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, grew up mostly in Florida, and came back to the area near the end of her junior year of high school. Her interest in beauty came from her mom and sisters, who always made sure they looked their best before walking out the door. She was sneaking makeup before she was old enough to wear it, then practiced on her sisters and family.
Her early career was freelance makeup, traveling to clients around the Lehigh Valley. It never felt sustainable. She went to college for a year, came home still unsure, and went back to makeup. Then a salon offering a full range of aesthetic services hired her, and her world opened up. She saw that beauty was far more than hair and makeup, with lash extensions, brow tinting and henna. Working the front desk as well, she learned the back end of the business and how to handle customers through the good, the bad and the ugly. When a client was unhappy, she treated the feedback as an opportunity, and that habit made her resilient.
The experience is the service
For Pizarro, success in beauty comes down to customer service: greeting clients, consulting with them, and giving them what they actually want rather than what she assumes is best. Clients talk and vent during appointments, and she listens.
She takes notes in each client’s record, especially at a first visit, then brings those details back up when she follows up after the service. She wants clients to know she was actively listening, not rushing to the next person. She compared it to buying a car from a luxury dealer that keeps checking in weeks later to ask how it drives. That follow-up is what earns the next sale.
“It’s just not about getting something done and letting people go. It’s how you make them feel when they walk in the door.”
Learning, then teaching
Pizarro explained the training path in hours. Her aesthetics course was 300 hours, which can take three months full time or six months part time. She then earned her teacher’s license, about 600 hours, which also covered cosmetology and nails. More recently she went back for her cosmetology license, about 1,250 hours. She credits strong instructors at every stage.
She has since trained more than 300 students over roughly four years. Students often tell her she breaks things down simply. Her method is variety: some people learn visually, others hands-on, so she teaches several techniques instead of one narrow way. The hardest part, she says, is building a curriculum that everyone can follow. She also wants to be a teacher students can come back to with questions later.
“You definitely have to be patient when it comes to teaching because not everybody is going to understand the curriculum in the same way.”
A move is not a step back
Asked about the move to Hellertown, Pizarro shared something she heard before making the decision: many people believe success means staying in one place for a long time, and it does not have to. “Success can be pivoting your life, doing something different,” she said.
Privacy drove the change. Her current salon has an open layout, so she hung curtains to section off each station, and clients loved the privacy. The new space has individual rooms, which she says is more intimate while keeping the same energy. She admitted to feeling both excited and nervous, and ready to welcome longtime clients, new clients and new staff.
Building a team and a clientele
Pizarro started on her own in a suite until a client asked what it was like to sit between four walls all day. Her test for hiring is simple: when calls, emails, messages and bookings outpace what you can handle, and you are near burnout or past it, it is time to bring people in. She started with one person in her suite. Seeing how motivated that first hire became pushed her to open a full salon.
She also remembered how hard it was to find a real job in her field, searching Indeed and finding nothing for makeup artists. “I just wanted to be that person, give that opportunity where people can come and create and do what they love,” she said.
As a woman and a Latina in business, she says her experience has been great, and that passion matters more than background. She only takes on what she is passionate about, so the work never turns into a draining job. She has watched the Lehigh Valley lean into self-care. Her first ideal client was the corporate professional, but her clients now include moms, nurses, doctors, lawyers and other beauty pros, and she still stops strangers to compliment their lashes or brows.
- Take notes on clients and bring those details back when you follow up.
- Consult first, then give clients what they want, not what you assume.
- Teach in more than one way. Patience is part of the job.
- Hire when bookings outpace you, before burnout sets in.
- A move or pivot is not failure. Success can look like change.
