Today we’d like to introduce you to Cherry Estrella.
Cherry, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I moved to San Diego when I was nine-years-old from the Philippines. Growing up, I was always surrounded with hair & makeup. My mom was a hairdresser and my grandmother owned a salon in the Philippines. So you could say it was in the family. I grew up always doing my hair & makeup and my mom always encouraged me.
Right when I graduated high school, I signed up for beauty school. I eventually went to Bellus Academy in Poway. While I was in school, I did bridal makeup and hair on the side for a wedding company to earn some money and had two part-time jobs. I’ve been in the bridal industry for over three years now and I started my own bridal business over a year ago called Glamour By Cherry.
After I graduated from beauty school, I also applied to be a salon assistant to explore more of the hair color aspect of the industry. Now I’m currently working at Salon Del Sur as a stylist assistant. Its been a short journey and it’s crazy to think I’m just getting started. I’ve been incredibly blessed by all the wonderful opportunities I’ve been given and all the inspirational people I’ve gotten to meet in this industry.
Great, 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?
I feel like everytime you pursue your passion, I don’t think there will ever be a smooth road. It’s been difficult. Life in general tests you mentally, emotionally and even physically. You have to start from ground up and that’s never easy. I think the main struggle that I’ve had to face is knowing if this is really for me. If being in the beauty industry is the “right way” for me to go. Growing up, I was expected to go to college and work a “real” job. Even though being a stylist is a REAL job. Unfortunately, not a lot of people think so. There was a lot of thoughts going through my head, is this for me? Will I even get clients? Will I be able to live off this? Will I be able to feed myself doing this?
There were times where people won’t pay for my services (when I was just starting out) or expect me to do it for free in exchange for exposure, to a point where I wasn’t making any money. Or I was giving services for free (even when I had enough experience) because I wanted people to know me so I can get more clientele that I didn’t know my worth. I was charging so little that I forgot I went to school for my craft. It was taking a toll on me emotionally, especially on my confidence.
Thankfully I have such an amazing support system to lift me up and keep me grounded at the same time. They reminded me what I was worth and I make sure to remind myself why I’m doing this in the first place. One reason is that I love makeup and hair and the second is to see the smile on people’s faces knowing that I can make them feel good about themselves.
Glamour By Cherry – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I started Glamour By Cherry over a year ago, at the end of 2018. We offer bridal makeup and hair services. For two and half years, I worked as a bridal makeup & hair assistant and one day. I thought, hey why not start my own business? Let me tell you. It was NOT easy at all! I didn’t know anything about starting a business. I didn’t know if my clients were going to take me seriously or if I’m even going to have clients! It’s been a challenging process but definitely worth it. I was twenty-years-old at the time. I wanted to try new things, get out of my comfort zone and see where it takes me.
My company’s style of makeup is between natural to soft glam makeup. I strongly believe on enhancing someone’s beauty and not covering it up. I want my clients’ beauty to speak for itself. For hair, I would say we’re known for having a boho style. So lots of loose braids, somewhat messy. You can kind of describe it as “free flowing” style. I believe bridal hairstyles shouldn’t be too structured, it should be fun, creative but it should also show who you are.
What I am proud of most as a company is when my team and I work on a bridal party, we don’t just do their makeup/hair and leave. We don’t treat them as another one of our clients. We try to get to know them more on a personal level. Not only does this make them feel comfortable and at ease, you bond with them and they end up trusting you a little bit more. Weddings are stressful and can be chaotic at times. We’re the first person they see. We spend 5-8 hours with them; we have to make sure the whole bridal party is smiling and having fun!
I guess you can say that’s what sets us apart from others too. We don’t just deliver quality makeup and hair services. We also deliver a quality experience!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Honestly, I’ve been so blessed with so much opportunities! I’m so proud of many things I’ve accomplished. It’s so difficult to just name one. But if I have to choose, I have two moments. One would be getting offered to do makeup and hair for a bridal segment on TV (FOX 5). I had a chance to talk a little bit about what’s in trend for weddings. It honestly felt good seeing my work on TV and it felt good to showcase what I can do.
The other moment would be getting flown out to New Orleans to do hair & makeup for a photography workshop. Being able to travel and do what I love has been my main goal. It was kind of a shock to me that someone would fly me out solely for makeup and hair?? It was an amazing experience and I got a lot of good photos from it!
Having that experience made me so confident in my skills and made me realize how close I am to my goals. Being in the beauty industry for only a short time, I’ve been extremely blessed and super proud of what I have accomplished so far. I can’t wait to see where I am in five years.
Contact Info:
- Website: glamourbycherry.com
- Phone: 858-247-2642
- Email: cherrylsestrella@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glamourbycherry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glamourbycherry/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/glamour-by-cherry/0ea76ee092323b04.html
Image Credit:
Photography:
Gabriel Conover
Eunice Beck
Dani M.
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