From Psychology to Skin!

By Louise May

In her earlier years, Gabrielle Singh had pursued a different career path. She enrolled in university to study psychology with the goal of working with underprivileged children. However, after becoming a mother to her first daughter, her priorities shifted, and she desired a more conducive environment for her child.

This significant life change prompted her to rethink her career choices. Having to make a quick decision about her future, Gabrielle embarked on a new journey in the field of Beauty Therapy. It was a challenging transition for her as she went from studying for a bachelor’s degree in psychology to starting over with a diploma in Beauty Therapy. At first, she felt like she was regressing in life, but soon, her perspective changed.

As Gabrielle delved into the world of beauty, she discovered a genuine passion for the subject. The learning process turned out to be far more intriguing and involved than she had initially anticipated. One of the reasons beauty interested her was due to her own past experiences with severe acne during her teenage years which led Gabrielle to developing a keen interest in understanding skin and exploring ways to improve its health and appearance.

Beauty Biz Editor Louise May recently caught up with Gabrielle to chat about her industry journey so far.

What motivated you to specialise in the latest aesthetic technology and techniques, instead of traditional beauty therapy?

When I first studied for my diploma in beauty therapy, I always knew from the start that advanced skin was where my passion was and where I wanted to go; I graduated with my diploma to instantly go on and study all my laser modalities and then onto my grad diploma in cosmetic dermal science, traditional beauty didn’t interest me, I wanted nothing but result driven treatments, wanting to help other women who suffered as I did.

What are some of the challenges you faced in business and how did you overcome them?

The problem with being a new business owner is that we don’t have time on our hands when it comes to trials in business; you open a business, and you may have a small grace period with your outgoings but before long, all the overheads creep up. I found one of my biggest challenges was staff. It was finding not only qualified staff but staff who were passionate about wanting to genuinely help someone to feel better within themselves. You see a lot of girls leave school and go into beauty, but what really sets aside a great clinician to a good clinician is their passion for this industry; going above and beyond, supporting clients through their journey, comforting and educating them along the way.

Could you explain how your holistic approach benefits your clients and why it’s essential to your brand’s mission?

Taking the holistic approach is vital because it allows clients to see themselves more than just through the external factor.

Beauty is more than just looks; who is someone to say what is beautiful and what isn’t? When you holistically look at beauty, you are talking about it as a whole; we all know that when we feel good in our skin that it improves our self-esteem and confidence. We used to look at Beauty as just the face, and we now know that it is far more than that, which is why we are welcoming GC Skin into women’s health and now looking at areas that also support intimate health which I am so excited about.

How has your Graduate Diploma in Cosmetic Dermal Science influenced the services your offer?

This allowed me to have a deeper understanding of the skin and gave me the knowledge to educate my clients on their skin better. I think education is key to results; the better understanding you have, the better chance you have with educating your client on their skin, which in return gives you the results you want and far quicker. I think this is what makes us stand out, skin is a journey, but we know how much it can impact our self-esteem and confidence and how expensive it can become, so you want to be able to create some results quickly for your client to trust you and trust the process, that’s when the magic starts to happen.

What inspired you to create your own line of skincare products?

Working on skin daily made me see so many skin conditions and concerns, and at the time, I was working with three different skincare brands. I just wasn’t completely satisfied with the outcomes my clients were achieving;

I knew I could do better for them, so I wanted to create a product line that was active and very result driven. Don’t get me wrong, there are some fantastic brands out there, but creating Cosmology Skincare allowed me to put all my knowledge and love into a bottle and share that with a broader audience than just in my clinics. Skincare is the first factor anyone should look at when they want to improve their skin, so it just made sense to me to create my skincare and to be completely a part of my clients and customers' skin journey.

What contributed to your decision to open a second clinic for GC Skin Boutique?

It has always been a goal to have multiple clinics, I want to share what we do with so many women, and I want them to experience a new side of beauty and confidence. We started to outgrow our Coolangatta Clinic, but we had already built an established clientele, so it made sense to open another clinic on the Gold Coast. Still, more north that we could cater for more clients in the northern region, we would always get messages asking if we had a clinic north of Gold Coast or Brisbane, so it was an easy decision to open the Surfers Paradise Clinic.

What lessons did you learn from the process of opening your first clinic that helped you prepare for the second one?

Team culture is essential, as well as having a transparent system in place; I learnt along the way that I couldn’t do everything myself and that I needed to let go a little and put others in specific positions to free up some of my time to allow me to focus on the growth of my businesses. I also realised the importance of systems and also all the documentation that you needed prior so having all this already in place just made the transition from 1 clinic to 2 a lot easier because I had just spent 4 years in business and learnt a lot along the way.

What qualities do you look for in your team members, and how do you ensure they maintain their expertise in the rapidly evolving field of aesthetics?

If I’m honest, I first look for a person’s character and personality. I think this is crucial for building a solid team, and when you have a strong team, you have a strong support circle that just flows from there on out. You can learn a skill, but if someone’s personality is built within them, that’s harder to create or change. I am big on self-development along with professional development; I do believe you can’t grow professionally unless you also grow personally, so with this, I like to provide that supportive and nurturing environment to my staff so that they feel supported within their work environment and learning, it’s crucial in the aesthetics industry to stay up to date with the forever evolving aesthetics industry.

What is your vision for the future of GC Skin Boutique and how do you plan to continue empowering individuals through skin health and wellness?

I have some exciting opportunities coming up for GC Skin that will see us being an international brand, so I’m excited to share with more women around the world a piece of GC Skin Boutique and our unique approach to the beauty industry. I would love to eventually build a community of supportive women so that we can come together and support one another as a large community because we can feel isolated and alone at times. I think this is important for a woman’s self-esteem.