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Roberta Moradfar's Grand Opening Of Efface Aesthetics

Source: Unique Nicole / Getty

Roberta Moradfar is more than just the fiancé of esteemed comedian and actor Martin Lawrence. From working at Taco Bell at the age of 14 to opening Efface Aesthetics in the heart of Santa Monica, Moradfar has created her own brand as a widely respected beauty entrepreneur, certified aesthetic nurse specialist and practitioner and more. With over 11 years of expertise in cosmetic medicine and a Masters degree in Nursing and a Bachelor of Science from Drexel University, Roberta was the perfect person to talk to HelloBeautiful on tips, tricks and hacks to increase the growth sales of your beauty products during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Willingboro native has always been business-orientated — she even forged her birth certificate to get a job at the age of 14. With financial hardships as a motivation to create a better life for her family and herself, Moradfar had a passion for helping people from a young age. Though Roberta is a Board Certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and is currently licensed in the state of California and Texas, she developed a love for boosting people’s confidence and self-esteem after a job working as a laser and aesthetics nurse upon graduating from Drexel. Hence, the launch of her booming medical spa Efface Aesthetics along with her partner Dr. Athleo Cambre in 2016. 

“I remember being extremely self-conscious about the body hair that I had at the tender age of seven and one day, I got ahold of my mother’s ‘Nair Hair Remover’ and was so fascinated at how this pink, stinky lotion seemed to magically leave my skin smooth, clear, hair free once I wiped the product off. All of my little hairs came right off! ” Roberta reminisced.

Hormones kicked in and before I knew it, I was 14 with more body [and] facial hair, and was given the added bonus of having acne. It was super frustrating especially when a dermatologist couldn’t help manage my issues and of course drugstore products didn’t help a bit,” Roberta continued. “I started working at the age of 14 and would spend my hard earned money on department store products that claimed to ‘clinically improve’ the appearance of acne and was left disappointed and felt robbed. It was something I continued to struggle with up until adulthood. After becoming a nurse, I looked into aesthetics because I wanted to work in a field that combined health, science and beauty. It’s always been a passion of mine.”

Before her first run in with Nair, Roberta’s interest in beauty and skincare was always there from a young age, which she demonstrated by mixing and mingling with all of the beauty products she had at home.

“It didn’t matter if it was face soap – I would mix a little shampoo in there just ‘cause I liked the smell and wanted to enhance’ the experience of using the face soap. I remember one day taking my mother’s fluffy powder puff that sat in a round container of body talc powder and pouring baby oil in the container. I went into the kitchen and got a spoon and started mixing it into a creamy, white paste. I loved how it smelled so I put it all over my face and body. My mother walked in and found me covered from head to toe in a white, oily mess. She said I was always messing with her products so she had to hide her good stuff from me,” she joked.

Science and skin are directly related. “Women’s health, especially our gynecological health and everything going on with our hormones directly affects our skin health. Because of my experience with laser and aesthetics, I went a step beyond and became a certified aesthetics nurse specialist,” she explained. “It’s simply evidence that I have hands-on experience and that I continue to maintain the educational requirements to do what I do. With my background, I can definitely delve deeper into a woman’s skin condition by addressing a possible ongoing gynecological issue they wouldn’t have known otherwise.”

Efface Aesthetics was conceived in 2016 as a medical spa that creates rejuvenated, naturally contoured appearances through expert facial sculpting and aesthetics, specializing in natural results when it comes to enhancing facial features using Botox and fillers. Though their vast clientele list includes celebrities, models, and working actors from Claudia Jordan to Sasha Gates who entrust their beauty needs to her skilled, yet delicate hands, her first year of entrepreneurship made her put in the work. 

Though four years later into the game and is a successful and well-respected beauty business entrepreneur, Roberta confides in HelloBeautiful that her greatest challenge “was and still remains, being a female boss.”

“Getting my first brick and mortar location built out was pretty intimidating. Santa Monica is notorious for being one of the most difficult cities to obtain permits from,” she admitted.

Fast forward to the global pandemic taking place today, most businesses – especially within the beauty industry – COVID-19 had a larger impact than expected on sales, customer retention, shipping and just about anything to do with owning a small business. While most companies are losing money, Roberta is taking Miss Rona by the reins.

“COVID-19 made me realize how important social media is when it comes to marketing and engaging with clients. They will find you on Instagram before they call, email, or even look on your website,” she continued.

With everything being shut down due to the virus, that unfortunately also includes her business which she just held the grand opening for last December. Fortunately, her business is able to stay above water thanks to her online beauty products. She’s been marketing products through social media and sales have increased by 58%. “It’s really interesting to see that social media is the method to which people are finding us.”

Fortunately, Roberta has provided a step-by-step guide exclusively for HelloBeautiful readers on how to monetize social media efforts and continue to grow their online business in the face of adversity. By adversity, I mean this coronavirus:

  • One At A Time – Post the one product that you know people cannot live without, that works, and is cost effective. 
  • Engagement Is Retention – Engage with your clients. I know I need to work on that and stop being so doggone shy, but stay connected with your clients by responding to comments, questions and creating a method to which they can connect with you. Either being available for a virtual consultation or by email works.
  • Honesty Goes A Long Way – Posting REAL before and after pictures of a product that brings RESULTS. People are results driven- if they’re buying your product it’s because you have impressed them with the amazing results that your product is responsible for. 
  • Let’s Make A Deal – Offering a deal that is too hard to pass up. Right now, there’s people out of work and they’re being financially mindful and conservative, but if you have an item they must have, make sure it’s a deal they can’t refuse. 

As she offers final words of encouragement to HelloBeautiful readers, Roberta embraces all budding beauty entrepreneurs and gurus by telling them to go ahead and just do what makes them happy.  “Do it because you truly love it, meaning  you would do it for free. Don’t get swayed into microblading brows, for example, because you think it’s a ‘get rich’ business- cause in reality, you can end up hating it, or maybe realize it’s not something you do best. And someone being the recipient of your subpar brows may not appreciate that so much,” Roberta concludes. 

“There’s so much opportunity for anyone with the passion to become successful in beauty but I do believe the easy way to go about doing it, is to figure out what your niche is, which in reality isn’t easy. But once you find that niche, you’ll know who your target audience is, which means don’t have to cater to everyone.”

You heard her, ladies! Reach out, expand your network and go for that dream that you’d do for free!

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How Beauty Entrepreneur Roberta Moradfar Increased Her Sales During The Pandemic  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com