Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Creese.
Jessica, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started Bronzed Belles almost 15 years ago. I got a job at a local tanning salon at 17 and fell in love with the industry. In 2009 a few months after I had my son, we were in a terrible accident where a semi-truck came across the highway going in the wrong direction and hit us head-on. My life changed instantly. I was forced to spend months in and out of the hospital, learning how to do everything for myself again. Walking, driving, being alone without assistance. It was a really mentally challenging time and I knew I had to prove all the doctors wrong. I would lead a fulfilling life not tied to a wheelchair. After years of dealing with surgeries and treatments to try and fix the damage done by the wreck, my marriage had fallen apart, my son was growing up quick and I had to find a way to support us. So I went back to what I loved and knew spray tanning.
I went back to offering mobile tans locally and spent a good year toting all my equipment in and out of clients’ homes praying I didn’t mess up their carpet with overspray or knock over a priceless heirloom with my tanning tent. It was a dang mess. I had built back up my client base and knew it was time to get a building somewhere. I got this cute little loft in our downtown area and painted the walls hot pink stripes like the Victoria Secret bag and popped up my tanning tent in the corner. I really thought I was something. Looking back, it’s a miracle client came to me. The ceiling was so short you almost had to duck, there was no air and it was so hot in the summer, you had to walk up rickety old stairs but I was slinging those tans like my life depended on it.
I had my daughter a few years later and decided I needed a job that provided benefits, so I joined corporate America. Yall, I tried my best for a whole year to the day to make it work and it turns out you can’t fit a round peg into a square hole. I was too much for the office life. I got fired and was told my personality was “too strong”. At the time, I thought “Wow, I really failed. I couldn’t be serious enough or business enough”. I felt that way for a good week until I remembered who I was and that the reason it didn’t work and never would have worked is because I was not meant to fit some mold. I thrive off interactions with my clients, I need a creative outlet and a corporate gig didn’t offer that to me. Plus, as strange as it seems, I missed the tanning solution stained hands, late night appointments and genuinely missed having to actually hustle to earn a living. I was born to be an entrepreneur. I had continued taking mobile clients while I was working my corporate job, so it was an easy transition back to full-time spray tanning.
I bounced around from small rooms, shared rooms and pop up tanning parties for a little bit until one day, I saw the very building I had as my first non-mobile location was up for lease. The whole building not just the upstairs. I HAD to have it, it was like some weird sign that I was meant to be a salon owner. I signed a lease the next day and got to work on a $0 budget to make it mine. 124 York was home to Bronzed Belles for the next year. We had outgrown it big time and going into my 13th year of business. I wanted a place that had more for my business.
I found an old office building that looked like a scene out of a 90s office building. It was so ugly. Everything was blue. The walls,the carpet… the carpet on the walls. I recruited all my friends and basically forced them to help me paint than my kids and I got to work ripping up the hideous cookie monster blue carpet. There’s a reason I’m a spray tanner not a home renovator. Almost two years later and my five-room salon is a page out of my New Orleans inspired Pinterest dreams. I’ve been voted Best Spray Tanner Texas, Best Tanning Salon three years a row. I’ve trained 100’s of other women across the U.S. how to spray tan and just recently launched Babe In A Bottle an at-home tanning line.
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?
It has been anything but smooth. I went from an 18-year-old, stubborn girl trying to make extra cash to shop with to almost 33-year-old businesswoman still not sure if I’m doing this whole entrepreneur thing right but I’m just winging, praying and making it work.
One of the biggest struggles was my accident. My injuries have caused life long damage to my spine. There are days it is just physically impossible to get out of bed. In the beginning, I felt sorry for myself, then I quickly realized that wasn’t getting me any closer to my goals or dreams. If I wanted to own and run the biggest, best and most fun sunless salon while being a kick-butt mama and create a legacy for myself, I had to get off my butt and do something about it. It was hard but I truly believe the pain, the struggles, surgeries, my 1st marriage being caught in the crosshairs and all the lessons I learned because of that wreck made me the painfully hardheaded, take no crap business owner I am. I couldn’t do this if I hadn’t gone through that.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Bronzed Belles & Babe In A Bottle – what should we know?
Bronzed Belles is a fully sunless salon meaning we have no tanning beds. We offer airbrush/spray tans, teeth whitening and in 2019, added a lash tech, massage therapist and a boutique in independent suites all owned by female entrepreneurs. Babe in a Bottle is like Bronzed Belles spunky little sister. Babe in a Bottle is an at-home tanning line so all the babes can be bougie and Bronzed at home when they can’t make it into the salon.
I’m most proud that Bronzed Belles has grown enough that I can now help other female entrepreneurs start their passion and add real value to my industry. I think what sets me apart from others is the fact that I genuinely care about each client. They aren’t just a number. I get to know them. We are in a pretty intimate and intimidating situation because these men and women are trusting me to see parts of themselves some of their partners don’t see. I don’t take that lightly. My clients confide in me and I in them. I hope they can feel the realness of that and I believe that sets me apart.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Being as stubborn as a mule. Hands down. I’ve been told no a lot in my life. Each door that was slammed in my face made me more and more determined to prove them wrong and to kick that sucker down and do what I wanted and knew I could do.
Contact Info:
- Address: 165 College Park Dr.
Weatherford TX 76086 - Website: Bronzedbelles.com & babeinabottle.com
- Phone: 8177714769
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Bronzed_belles & babeinabottlekit
- Facebook: Facebook.com/bronzedbellesweatherford
Image Credit:
Tribe Photographery
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
