Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsey Carico.
Chelsey , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I married Chance while he was in the military and we moved to Fort Bragg. The military pays for education, and he pushed me to use it. That’s exactly what I did; I was also ready for a different career. I had been getting Botox for a few years, and the physician who treated me told me to go further in aesthetics. That stuck. I have always been a product junkie — I’ll pay for it if it actually does what it claims. I started school and thrived, loving and taking in every minute. I soaked up everything I could, and School was not something I survived. It was something I ran toward. I graduated hungry, not finished. Chance retired from the Army a couple of years later and he was ready to come home. Back to the mountains we both had grown up in. Southwestern Virginia is beautiful and it is small. Pulaski and Fort Chiswell did not have the kind of beauty destination I wanted to walk into, so I decided to build one. Salon and med spa under one roof. A place you don’t have to drive to the next county for. Sittin’ Pretty opened faster than I expected, and the school followed because I still believe the same thing I believed in that first classroom: this work changes lives when you take it seriously.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. I would not trust a version of this story that pretended it was.
The first struggle was the size of the dream versus the size of the town. Pulaski and Fort Chiswell are home. They are also small. Building a salon and med spa here meant teaching people that they did not have to leave the county for real skin care. That takes time. Trust is slower than a grand opening.
The second was wearing every hat. Sole proprietor means if it is not done, you do it. Service. Payroll. Taxes. Product. Social. Repairs. I love this work. I have also been tired in it.
The third was the school. Approving a program, building it out, and standing it up while the lounge was already running was not a side project. It was another business inside the first one.
I have had to learn who belongs on the team and who does not. I have had to learn that “fast” and “right” are not the same word. I have had to keep studying after the diploma, because the industry does not freeze when you graduate.
What I will say is this: the hard parts did not make me love it less. They made me more particular about how we do it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What I do / specialize in / known for
I am an aesthetician, a licensed aesthetics instructor, and the owner of Sittin’ Pretty Beauty Lounge in Dublin — a salon and med spa built as a one-stop shop for a small town that used to leave the county for even a nail appointment. I also opened Sittin’ Pretty School of Aesthetics so the next generation can train here instead of driving out.
Day to day I am still in the treatment room. Skin is the lane. Anti-aging and barrier work. Medical-grade homecare, including Obagi. HydraFacials, facials, spray tan, teeth whitening, lashes, body work — the whole menu exists because I wanted someone to walk in and not have to piece their beauty care across three towns. People know me as the one who will tell you the truth about your skin and then actually treat it. I am a product junkie with a standard: if it does not do what it claims, it does not belong on my shelf or on your face.
What I am most proud of?
I am proud that it exists here. Not in a city with a waiting list of spas already on every corner. Proud that a girl from this area can get real skin care without a road trip. Proud of the school. Building a business is one thing. Building a classroom so someone else can have the same fire I had at Fort Bragg is another. I am proud that I did not water it down to make it easier. And I am extremely proud of the group of ladies that surrounds me at Sittin’ Pretty Beauty Lounge, we have built a team that thoroughly loves what we do and thrives on helping others to feel beautiful!
What sets me apart-
I did not open a pretty room and call it education. I kept studying after I graduated. I treat this like a profession, not a hobby with good lighting. I will not sell a client a story the product cannot keep. I will not put a student in a program I would not have wanted to sit in. Small-town does not mean small standard. That is the difference.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I was blessed with a wonderful childhood and two parents who loved me, even though they were separated. I do not have many memories of them together. The one I can still see is a trip to Jamaica with both of them. I was only three. I should not remember it that clearly, and I do. That is the one I keep.
Pricing:
- Facials starting at $100
- Lashes starting at $75
- Japanese Scalp Massage Starting at $100
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sittinprettybeautylounge.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelseycarico/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1skincarespecialist
- Other: https://ChelseyCarico.Glossgenius.com
Image Credits
Angela Fowler
