Beauty Hub Magazine interviews Vanessa Yakobson and Nathalie Smith about the exciting news of their new “sisterhood”.

INTERVIEW

Beauty Hub Magazine

Hi ladies. Congrats on getting together. I think this is a really great partnership. I mean it’s such a good idea to combine hair and lashes. It’s what everybody wants.

So, why don’t we start with you?  Give us your name and tell me about starting MYNC and how it all came about.

Nathalie

Sure!  I’m Natalie and I’m the founder and brand President of MYNC. It started out actually a few steps from here. We opened our first location in 2011. You know, it was a brow and lash craze at that time and we just recognized that movement. Our first little space was on the third floor based on Cumberland Street. and you know, it was just me.  I had learned lash extensions and was really eager to practice and help people look good and feel better. After our first year then we moved to Yorkville Avenue into this studio with a team of stylists. So, a bit of a whirlwind and just something I had always been really passionate about.

I had to start very early on. My career took a few detours but very early on I did work for a bit at the spa connected to the Four Seasons. I think what was most impactful for me was that is that guests would walk out completely different people then they had arrived. So that, you know, look good to feel good sentiment has always really stuck with me and I knew I would find my way back to that.

Beauty Hub Magazine

Ya, that’s fantastic.  You got a stellar location here in Yorkville. I remember seeing this open and I thought you got the best spot.  This is really good! That’s amazing.

And what’s your name and when you started and why.

Vanessa

Sure.  So I’m Vanessa Yakobson. I’ve been a partner since we acquired Blo from the founders. Before that my husband Ari Yakobson and our partner Paul Spindler had started Melonheads which is a children’s hair concept in Toronto. We later sold that and decided to focus on Blo.

It was founded in Vancouver in 2007. We bought it in 09 and turned it into a franchise and today we have got over 100 locations and growing. And now we’ve got this beautiful new sisterhood with MYNC which we are going to transform into a franchise as well and we are very excited to get going.

Beauty Hub Magazine

Ya, that’s amazing. So, as of now are you going to open other locations in the future?  How are you going to combine your two businesses? How is that going to work?

Vanessa

So we are going to grow the brands separately in terms of business space as well we are going to be looking at a hybrid model where we can have the combination of blow-dry bar services alongside of MYNC lash and brow bar services ah, but we are going to start by taking the existing corporate locations, the six MYNC locations here in the GTA.

We are going to turn those into franchises and sell those to new franchisees. And then we are going to take all the wisdom and experience that Blo has accumulated over the years in growing this franchise system and apply it to the MYNC model as well.

Beauty Hub Magazine

That’s amazing.  Wow, that’s so great.

Vanessa

Thank you.  

Nathalie

And we basically opened a pop-up in Blo Vaughn.  MYNC lash pop-up that we will be having for the holiday season that will become permanent. It’s been since last week. It’s off to a great start.

Beauty Hub Magazine

That’s great!  What a great concept. And ah, you are in hotels as well?

Vanessa

Um, so in a couple of markets we had been inside the Four Seasons originally in Toronto but that property was redeveloped so we moved out of that. But we are mostly in streetscape stores across Canada and most of our locations are actually in the US.

Beauty Hub Magazine

I saw the map.  Ya, that is a lot of locations. It’s such a business that everybody needs. I mean, I was just in Vegas and this is after like three days of a blowout and this is as much as I can deal with! So, I mean it’s a business, it’s a recurring business that women need to do on like a regular basis. Especially with lash extensions.

Nathalie

Ya, I think we’ve seen these types of services really move from being a luxury to a necessity. You know, it’s a part of our routine.

Beauty Hub Magazine

Ya, absolutely. Ya, it’s very true.

Vanessa

You know, part of the decision behind the acquisition, Blo’s acquisition with MYNC, was that we understood that we could take that business because of the similar customer base, the similar motivation for the customer, that desire to feel wonderful, through the services that we do with our craft at Blo and at MYNC um, and take that understanding of the customer what motivates them the understanding that the stylists, the artists that work for us there are a lot of similarities and crossover. And from a franchisee perspective, we know that franchisee who is attached to Blo who becomes passionate about delivering our services and offering that to community is very similar mindset and values to what we imagined that franchisee would be as well.

Beauty Hub Magazine

And so, is there some kind of franchise incentive that you are offering now?

Nathalie

We are rewarding ten $10,000 grants to our first group of franchisees, MYNC franchisees, and that’s just to really be in support of our partnership and ya, it’s an exciting opportunity.

Beauty Hub Magazine

Ya, that’s really great because it’s hard to start a business and you know, if you need that extra cash to motivate and get someone started in business that’s really fantastic.

Nathalie

Ya, I could have used a grant back when I first started.  Also just, a franchisee was such a beautiful network of support. You are surrounded by an experienced franchiser, and network of franchisees, and business coaches, and literally, all the things that checked my wishlists when I first started out. So it’s exciting to be able to give that back.

Vanessa

And our early franchisees on the MYNC side are going to have the benefit of working so closely with Nat to learn how to grow their businesses. So that’s a real advantage to those who are going to come in while we are still small.

Beauty Hub Magazine

Ya, absolutely.  Just starting any kind of business in the beauty industry, to have this business knowledge and background and educational support is really a great way to get started. Yes, it’s really amazing.

Well, congrats ladies. I think this is like a perfect partnership.

Vanessa

We think so too!

Nathalie

We really do!