Meet Claudia Garcia | Beauty Business Owner & Zumba Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Claudia Garcia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Claudia, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The original idea was to start a business with just false lashes with the name ASHNIC Lashes. The name ASHNIC was thought of by my mom, a combination of my sister’s first name (Ashley) and my middle name (Nicole). This business idea was something myself, my sister and my mom could work on together. The idea started to take form when my sister and I started to wear makeup and get familiar with the beauty/makeup industry. We had the opportunity to work makeup artist trade shows which helped give us exposure to network. We were able to come in contact with vendors, beauty gurus and well-known makeup brands. That’s when the idea of having just eye lashes as a product changed. We wanted to have a variety of beauty tools and accessories to choose from. That’s when the name to ASHNIC Lashes changed to ASHNIC Beauty. We researched multiple vendors we thought would fit our brand the best. We also did countless lash wear tests to see which lash styles would be the most comfortable and flexible to wear. We moved on to registering and trademarking our business name before launching anything. We chose out the first three lash styles and named each starting with the letter B, Bonita, Bella and Bebita. We picked the color pink to represent our brand, so of course the lash boxes and most of everything in our store is pink. I opened and designed our website and went live with our store on 7/22/20. We sold out of every lash within the first six hours. About 2 weeks later, we added a fourth lash to the collection (Bibi) which is definitely a customer favorite. We offer a variety of lash styles, lash curlers, lash applicators, makeup sponges, makeup puffs, hair clips and compact mirrors.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
ASHNIC Beauty is a family endeavor owned by three Latin women who have a love, passion and dedication to enhance beauty for all. We are most proud of what we have accomplished so far. We have learned a lot since we started and at the same time, we continue to move forward to bettering and enhancing our products. Of course starting and running a business is not easy. It takes dedicated time and effort to create content to keep customers engaged. Additionally, it requires market research, figuring out strategies and keeping ideas fresh. One way I like to show customer appreciation is by writing thank you notes in every order, super simple but makes me feel connected to our clients. What we would want to world to know is that ASHNIC Beauty plans to continue to grow as a beauty business.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was visiting the area, I would take them to my Zumba class to get a fun workout in before the day. It’s the perfect class to take with friends to socialize and meet new people. I love to dance, one of the reasons why I got certified to teach it. One of my favorite cities to visit is Studio City. Ventura Boulevard is filled with coffee shops (which I love), fine dinning, food trucks and places to shop ranging from small boutiques to well known chain shops. One of my favorite restaurants to go to in that area is Marmalade Cafe. The environment is so cozy/warm and the food is so flavorful and fresh. A fun activity to do towards the end of the day is drive along the Palos Verdes coast during sunset hour. The view is beautiful, never gets old.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would first like to dedicate a shoutout to my parents and my sister. My mom has been a tremendous help with the start of ASHNIC, not only did she come up with the business name (Part of my sister’s first name and my middle name) but she helped take the first steps with starting a beauty business. I’m so lucky to have my sister as a business partner. We work so well together as a team. I also want to give a shoutout to my two closest friends who are very creative in their own way: Brittany Gomez who helps ASHNIC Beauty with photography. Her work is exemplary, excellent eye for details and is very passionate about her work. Michelle Lin, who has a crochet business at Crafted in San Pedro. We are always exchanging social media ideas with each other, btw her work is exquisite! Last but not least, every single customer/supporter ASHNIC Beauty has. We are so happy we are able to share our ideas and make them a reality, thank you! This one is for you, dad.

Some words of encouragement that I always like to look back on. “If you’re not going to believe in yourself, nobody’s going to believe in you” – Devin Booker

Website: ashnicbeauty.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashnicbeauty/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ASHNICBeautyy