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Meet Nancy Ham of Gameela Skin in Scottsdale

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Nancy Ham.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Nancy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I had no direction on what I wanted to do with my future before graduating high school. The only thing that truly sparked my interest was my love for makeup and makeup application. A friend of mine had suggested that I go to school to become an esthetician. At the time, I had assumed that esthetician school would involve a lot of makeup application and so I decided to go for it.

After enrolling, I was surprised to find out that makeup application was actually a very small portion of being an esthetician. During my time in school, I learned how to do waxing and different types of facials. I fell in love with the work and sparking my interest, even more was the fact that I was actually really good at it. After graduating from esthetician school and taking my state boards, I ended up not even working with makeup applications and instead focused on doing what I loved waxing and facials!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. My career began at a small spa in California. Shortly after, I met my now-husband and decided to move out to Arizona. At the time, there were no spas in Arizona that were willing to hire an esthetician with such little experience, and after applying to numerous places, I was starting to get extremely discouraged.

Finally, one spa DID decide to give me a chance, but I would have to start off as a receptionist and work my way into the treatment room. Since I had no other promising opportunities at the time, I decided to go for it.

After a few months of gaining experience, I ended up transitioning to a larger corporate spa. This ended up being a great opportunity as I was not only able to learn SO much more, but my experience there truly shaped me into the service provider I am today. As I learned a lot, there was still a struggle. After a few years of becoming more confident in myself and my work, I noticed the corporate office only tries to take more and more control of everything I did there. After nine years of working in corporate, I needed a change and decided to take a course in microblading (which they were not happy about and they did NOT want to offer this as a service). Taking that course forced me to step out of my comfort zone of offering the same services for nine years straight. Once I built up some experience with this service, I decided it was time to start branching out on my own. After a total of 11 years at the corporate spa (and a few years of simultaneously working three jobs), I was finally able to leave and fully focus on my business, Gameela Skin, to take care of all of my amazing clients.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Gameela Skin, I offer beauty services for both men and women. My services are curated with the intention of enhancing your natural beauty, rather than adding anything artificial. I specialize in waxing and hair removal (mainly eyebrows), as well as lash lifts. I also offer an assortment of skincare services such as dermaplaning and customized facials.

I am most proud of pushing through the tough times in my career and being able to create an environment for my clients to come and relax in a clean and safe space where they are comfortable and leave feeling encouraged and empowered to take care of themselves in all aspects of their life. I think what sets me apart the most is the care I have for my clients. I make sure my clients are always taken care of and I try to always stay consistent with providing them a top-notch service each and every time they come in. The well being of my clients is my top priority and I am adamant about making sure they know that.

What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
Eventually, I would love to own my own building where I can work beside other amazing women and create a community where we can take care of our client’s overall well being. I would also love to build a space where I can hold events and workshops to help support women in my community who have their own goals and businesses.

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Image Credit:
David Beiser

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