I love hearing stories of individuals who become successful despite a misfortune. And I love skin care tips and tricks. That’s why I think Clark’s Botanicals story is such a great one that can teach us so much.

Francesco Clark worked at Harper’s Bazaar at the time of his accident. In 2002, he suffered an injury to his spinal cord that left him paralyzed and even took away his ability to sweat. Because of this his skin did not have the ability to fight breakouts and he needed something more than what traditional dermatologists were offering him. He looked to his physician father, who went on to help him develop a botanically-based skin care line that officially went on the market in 2005.

Today, Clark’s Botanicals is a successful skin care company that has been recognized by Allure Magazine and has found all of its success via word of mouth. Using natural products, like Jasmine Absolute, this skin care line is good for your skin. It’s supposed to work for all skin types, too. The line is meant to reflect Clark’s personality and journey, as he says on his website: “Everything about this line has a purpose and reason for being, from the ingredients to the packaging to the contribution to medical research. It’s an expression of who I am in its purest form.”

And to make a good thing even better, part of the profits from the line go to benefit research at The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which is working to help those who have been paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury.

-Amanda Fornecker

It’s always a fear. What if you pick the wrong career path? It is possible to study for two or four years, come out with a degree, and start working in a field that doesn’t excite you or even have anything to do with what you want to do. So then what do you do?

It’s important to look at what you feel a passion for. If it’s cooking, you may become a chef; if it’s beauty products, you may become an esthetician; and if it’s helping others you may pick any of the beauty fields because they all contribute to making individuals feel genuinely good about themselves.

This kind of thing happens all the time. One instance: Andrea Hirsekorn. Starting out with a typical job in marketing, Hirsekorn quickly became restless with the stress and long hours. It is a job with nightclubs and bars in Sydney, Australia, that would help her along her path to massage and wellness school. Read her story here.

Others may have the passion, but they don’t exactly get into their beauty career right away. Joey Noufal earned his degree in graphic arts before he fully pursued his true passion of hair color. Today he owns his own salon in Tysons Corner, VA. See how he went from painter to big time hair colorist here.

A career in beauty doesn’t necessarily follow a traditional route of study. Some beauticians may start out in one place that will lead them into another. But it’s the true passion that really comes through in the end and helps these individuals be successful in a beauty career.

-Amanda Fornecker

Halloween can be an excellent time for many different beauty professionals. It’s one of the holidays that people are willing to go all-out for in order to make their costumes as true as possible. Here are some careers that can lend a hand, just like Casper the Friendly Ghost.

The makeup industry will certainly be in demand for Halloween in order to point people in the direction of the best Halloween makeup. From the glam to the glitter to the gore, a makeup artist can help transform a person into their costume for the night.

Hair salons also may see a spike in appointments on Halloween, as the perfect hairdo is a must for many costumes. Last year, my friend (who does not have bangs) went as Sarah Palin and didn’t want to change her hair for just one night. So, she found a salon to give her just the right look that helped put the finishing touches on her costume.

Wardrobe stylists can come in handy to find just the right items for your costume of choice. Even if you don’t know what you want to be, a wardrobe stylist can help pick out pieces from your existing wardrobe to match your interests and make you the perfect Halloween costume!!

Nail technicians may be up to their ears in orange and black nail polish. They may even paint on different holiday designs, like a witch or pumpkin, onto nails. The possibilities here are definitely open for a nail technician to be creative.

Those are just some of the parts of the beauty industry that can spook you up during Halloween. It’s the perfect holiday to use your creativity and talent on anyone! Happy Beauty Halloween, everyone!!

-Amanda Fornecker

For many trying to muddle through this tough economy, career fantasies have been downgraded from visions of pomp and circumstance to simply a dream of having a job that will weather the recession. Many are temporarily shelving the idea of professional fulfillment as they hang on tooth and nail to jobs that ensure a regular paycheck. But is there a better way? Cosmetology students and salon professionals seem to think so. Not only does a beauty career seem fairly recession-resistant these days, it promises a rewarding work day outside of the 9 to 5 norm—not to mention a lot of good hair days.

Many cosmetology students refer to their early days of playing beauty salon with Barbie dolls or younger siblings as being the impetus for their career. But for some students, it takes a little while longer to realize that what some might consider child’s play is really a precursor to a legitimate career aspiration.

Take Sara Hales, for example, a student at the Aveda Institute in Minneapolis, who completed her undergraduate degree in English and held several different jobs before realizing that an office environment just wasn’t her style. She liked fashion and thought she might have found her niche in retail, where she really enjoyed working with customers, but she wanted to take her skills in customer service to the next level. Enter the Aveda cosmetology program.

“It seemed like the perfect thing for me,” Sara says of her new career path. Not one to settle for a ho-hum office lifestyle, she chose cosmetology because the field would offer her “a lot of different avenues” when it came to career options down the road. Whether she plans to open her own business one of these days is still unclear, but she will be starting her career as an apprentice at a top salon after graduation.

Steven Bartling, another student at Aveda Institute-Minneapolis, was also attracted to the high level of customer interaction that a career in cosmetology promises. “The idea of being my own boss some day was very appealing,” he says, also noting that he liked the idea of having a trade that he could take with him wherever he chose to go. It’s a good call on his part, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a country-wide upswing in employment for nail technicians, estheticians, massage therapists, and other spa and beauty workers.

Erin Snyder Dixon of Newport News, Virginia, is a veteran of the beauty profession, having completed a cosmetology training program at her high school during the 1980s. She also earned her undergraduate degree in accounting, which prepped her well for salon ownership; today, she is the owner of the aptly named Extremities nail and body care spa salon in Newport News. Additionally, Dixon worked with other salon professionals over the years to establish licensure programs for esthetics, waxing, and other specializations.

“No matter how much time I spend in the salon, I try to make sure I stay on [the education] end of [cosmetology],” says Dixon. While she believes that spa and beauty schools do an excellent job of arming students with the initial set of skills that they need for passing cosmetology board exams, Dixon feels that there is always a need for continuing education that will help “bridge the gap” between what is learned in the classroom and what can be done for clients in a salon setting. It’s also why she, in addition to running her own salon and writing for beauty-based publications like Nails Magazine, goes into cosmetology schools to talk about the field of beauty and salon ownership.

It’s difficult to call any occupation recession-proof these days, but careers in cosmetology come pretty darn close, as Teri Cipowski, Director of Aveda Institute Minneapolis can attest.

“I cannot even imagine not researching and/or wanting a career in cosmetology, esthiology, or massage during these tough economic times,” she says. “It is the ultimate win/win career choice for people who love to give and to serve others.”

-Barbara Bellesi