Swan’s beauty taster day inspires career change for customer

We held a beauty and aesthetics taster day at King Edward Community Hall, Basildon, in March 2022.

The one-day session provided an opportunity to hear from a professional about what qualifications, skills and expertise is needed for a career in the beauty industry.

Among the treatments showcased were: Hopi ear candling, massage and eyebrow tinting. The tutor also explained what you needed to become self-employed, alongside things such as health and safety, licensing and funding opportunities.

For one particular resident, Claire, it made quite an impression. Here’s Claire’s story.

Following the taster day, Claire, one of our customers, has decided to dip her toe back into the world of beauty and is looking to pursue a career in the beauty industry, with plans to sign up to further courses in the hope of gaining additional qualifications and working as a beauty and aesthetic practitioner.

The taster day was not Claire’s first experience of beauty and aesthetics, she is already qualified to level two in beauty therapy and worked in a salon 10 years ago. Since then though she has been running her own printing and dressmaking business but has faced challenges because of the pandemic, which made her keen to get back into beauty. The taster day really reignited her passion for it.

Claire said: “It is always a risk to start from scratch again and to build yourself up but going to the taster day reminded me of how much I enjoy it and that it was a happy stage in my work career. Just talking about it and being around other people, it definitely made my mind up to pursue my dream.”

Claire added: “The industry has changed a lot in the past 10 years, so I thought I’d just have a look and see what was on offer. I know a lot of people now offer cosmetic enhancements and I was curious about that, the aesthetics side of it.”

Warm in Winter

We have joined the’ Warm in Winter’ campaign for a number of years to support older, vulnerable customers. This year, visits to homes were not permitted once again, due to the risks of Covid-19, but this did not deter our people in providing support.

In December 2021, we sent out 435 Warm in Winter letterbox boxes, to residents aged 65+ and living alone, which contained important hints and tips on staying warm at home, who to contact in case of need, places to go for company and financial aid information.

The boxes also contained a pair of woolly fingerless gloves, a sachet of hot chocolate, mini marshmallows and some tasty cookies for people to enjoy, while reading the information.