“You ever get to that place in life where you ask yourself, what’s next?”
Alicia Fajardo
Beauty Nomad owner, Alicia Fajardo is no stranger to the beauty industry. She’s been in the hair and beauty world for 20 years and it all started thanks to a cosmetology program she enrolled in during her teenage years. However, prior to her embracing her true love, Alicia pursued college, graduated and eventually moved on to corporate work that didn’t seem to satisfy her soul or match her personality. Inside her was a burning desire to allow her entrepreneurial spirit to take flight. But first, Fajardo tried the entertainment industry including acting and modeling in Los Angeles.
“Hair just kept chasing me down, even while in L.A. I always ended up booking hair gigs,” said Fajardo who realized hair was much more than a job but something she truly loved. It was those opportunities that ultimately led Fajardo back to the hair and beauty industry. According to her it came at the right time in her life.
“You ever get to that place in life where you ask yourself, what’s next? I had a lot to think about at one point and decided to start over and clear my table,” added Fajardo who often jokes around and says God gifted her with too many talents to choose from.
Fajardo’s vision for life became fully clear when she decided to step back and focus on hair. She became a celebrity stylist, eventually making her way back to the salon where she gave birth to a great idea. That idea involved beauty supplies and an innovative way to help women maintain their beauty without hassle through a mobile hair service.
“For women who don’t always have time for themselves, I thought it would be great if I became the person who could take something off their plates and that’s when the Beauty Nomad grew into a business,” said Fajardo who’s committed to making beauty easy and accessible to women.
Fajardo stepped into another market when she realized that there was high demand for some of her favorite beauty supplies online. In fact, the pandemic expedited her plans.
“At one point I was anti-online because it was not a part of my idea. But that goes to show when you have something in mind and try to plan, God will wake you up and show you a better way. I fought to have things my way for a year, but just a few weeks shy of the pandemic shutdown, I launched my online business and it took off.”
In a blink of an eye, Beauty Nomad went from mobile to virtual and it proved to be the right decision because the pandemic shut down beauty supply stores, freaking out women who worried about getting their hair done and supplies for the most simplest styles.
Today, Beauty Nomad is more like a virtual boutique shop for various types of ethnic hair. What started as an idea led Fajardo to her purpose and now she is one of a few black owned beauty supply businesses making her mark in a male-dominated industry.
Fajardo’s hope is that her story will lead other women to their dreams and help them find their voice as well.
