A Cramlington beautician has been recognised for her hard work and has won the best-home salon in the UK prize at the SOS Beauty Awards.
Pauline Stephenson, 54, had a major career change back in 2020, after previously working in a first aid based role. The travel involved in the job was very stressful, and with a husband who also travels for work and a daughter at home, she felt it was time for a change.
After deciding that she wanted to do something different, originally just on a part time basis, Pauline decided to set up a beauty business from home.
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She had everything ready to go in February of 2020, but weeks after opening the Covid-19 pandemic began, forcing her to put her new business venture on hold for the time being.
This didn't deter Pauline, who worked to help vaccinate people during the pandemic, putting her first aid background to good use and helping to coordinate the vaccine effort in the North East.
When she was allowed to reopen, Pauline had to build the business from scratch. She has spoken about why this proved difficult to begin with, and wow her nomination and award win came about.
"It was originally difficult to earn people's trust, as I feel there's definitely a a stigma behind people who work from home in the beauty industry. When I saw that this was a category at the award I felt I had to enter it.
"I literally jumped up and down in my living room when I found out I was in the final and would be going to the awards in Nottingham. The event was amazing and I was so surprised that I was able to win, I honestly couldn't believe it.
"The whole thing was quite overwhelming personally, but I hope that people will feel empowered from seeing this, if they are in a similar position where they work from home. I will always recommend it as you can have a much better work-life balance that way."
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