I was born and raised in Calgary and didn’t initially plan to go down an esthetics career path growing up. Throughout my three years in high school, I was in cosmetology which I loved, but I planned to take a year off and go back to school for psychology to become a psychologist or social worker eventually. Thankfully, at the end of my first planned year off in 2011, I was fortunate enough to get a job at Merle Norman in Chinook mall because of my cosmetology background. I soon fell in love with not only the work, but the clients as well. Being an esthetician often means playing therapist for many clients, which I enjoy. After three years at Merle, I decided to get officially certified as an esthetician at Esthetics Institute in Calgary. After completing courses there, I worked at Merle Norman in Chinook for another year before moving to another franchise of Merle Norman, the Signal Hill location. This is where I fully realized how much I enjoy esthetics and fell in love with my career even more.
Over the next few years at Merle in Signal Hill, I would get trained on Hydrafacials and Dermaplaning and in 2017, I took Shay Danielle’s course for Microblading and, shortly after, Microshading. After five years of working at that Merle location, Covid hit, and they were forced to shut down permanently. At first, this was devastating news, especially after being at Merle for nine years. Having acquired a fair amount of clientele over the years and wanting to be more independent in my career, that Merle location not reopening turned into a blessing in disguise because it gave me the push I needed to start my own business. Of course, I was terrified, especially after a worldwide pandemic, but in June 2020, Samantha Nicole Esthetics was born.
Currently, I am working out of my lovely former Merle Norman colleagues’ walkout studio in Signal Hill. Having a Hydrafacial clientele from Merle already and knowing how amazing the results are from it, we decided to buy a Hydrafacial machine together shortly after opening in 2020.
As scary as it was and sometimes still is, owning your own business is so rewarding and worth it. I am so fortunate to have as many amazing clients as I do that have followed me throughout the years. I love being able to create my own schedule and book more time in between appointments than at Merle to build an even more personal relationship with them. I know how lucky I am to have a career I still love after 11 years!
The Studio