Getting Schooled by Alexander’s Aesthetics with Tiffany Montalbano

Have you ever thought about going back to Sugar School? I know what you’re thinking - “But Shannon, I already have my Sugaring Certification and a solid book of clients who keep coming back for more, what more could I possibly have to learn??”

The answer is a whole heck of a lot! This week Tiffany Montalbano, lead educator at Alexander’s Aesthetics, is back on the podcast to reminisce about the dark days of COVID lockdown and the massive benefits of continuing sugaring education.

So even if you feel like a seasoned sugar pro, put down that cap and gown and grab your pen and paper because you’re not done learning yet!

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

• Why committing to sugaring is committing to a lifetime of learning.
• The safety net that Alexander’s helped create during the tumultuous era of lockdown.
• How proper product education can actually save you money.
• The secret to harnessing your own power of sugaring education and bringing it straight to your clients!

Jump on the Sweet Education Train with Alexander’s Aesthetics HERE!!

🌟Come Give Me a Hug at The 2023 Esthetician Summit!!🌟

If you’ve connected with or been inspired by this episode in any way,  leave us a review and let us know your biggest takeaway - I’d love to hear what you’ll be learning next with Alexander’s Aesthetics! And while you've got your phone out, make sure to follow us on Instagram @Love2Sugar and check out @AlexandersAesthetics.

Want more? Join The Sugar Tribe for your one-stop shop for all things sugar!

If you’ve connected with or been inspired by this episode in any way, leave us a review and let us know your biggest takeaway - I’d love to hear how you embrace Sugaring For All!! And while you've got your phone out, make sure to follow us on Instagram @Love2Sugar.

If you are interested in learning more about Radeq Lab's Premium Prebiotic Sugar Line of products, you can find them at www.radeqlab.us.

Cheers to your Sweet Success!

Transcript

INTRO

Interview:

[00:00:00] Shannon O'Brien: Tiffany, my girl. You are back on the Sugar Show. Good morning. Yay. You know, I love our relationship with Alexander's Aesthetics. I love that. I don't know if you know this, but I have been with Alexander's since I graduated 22 years ago. Yeah. I'm dating myself. Yeah. Um, and I just, I love the company. I you, how long have you been with 

[00:00:27] Tiffany Montalbano: Alexander?

[00:00:28] As an educator. Um, I've been teaching for them for 12. I've been with them since 2005. I was a, I was a client first. Yeah. Uh, in 2005. Um, I started as an, uh, as an aesthetician in 1998, but, uh, 99, sorry. But, uh, it was, there were no good places to. Aesthetic supplies and yeah, thankfully I met a wonderful aesthetician and so she brought me in to Alexanders and [00:01:00] that was kind of the end of that.

[00:01:01] And I lived there and I love that place. 

[00:01:03] Shannon O'Brien: So, yeah, it's funny, um, when we started, so I was in 2000. You were 1999, so we were probably walking into the berlingame location, like passing each other in the, you know, to order our supplies. Yeah. So back in the day, in the olden days, 

[00:01:22] Tiffany Montalbano: right, we used to, our 

[00:01:23] Shannon O'Brien: day we used to officially walk into the building.

[00:01:26] Yeah, yeah. We, we literally hope that wasn't loud in people's earbuds. Um, but we used to walk into the building almost like with a little, you know, basket and buy our cotton round. And there was no online shopping. We would buy our co like grocery shopping. We would, you know, walk into the shelf and buy the tints and buy the, you know, sticks and strips and all the things that we needed, like a grocery store that was Alexander's, it was our, it was our beauty supply.

[00:01:56] Oh 

[00:01:56] Tiffany Montalbano: yeah. It was, it's still like a fun playground in there. [00:02:00] Yeah. 

[00:02:00] Shannon O'Brien: Yeah. And then after I started with I Sugar University, I went down for the first time to see your training facility there. And it is gorgeous. It's really a special place. And uh, and then now they've expanded, well, not now. They've been in Colorado for years now cuz Wendy Yep.

[00:02:19] Sees daughter. And if you haven't already heard the Wendy and c story audience, uh, you can tune into the Alexander's Aesthetics, uh, um, podcast episode where we talk all about the background of Wendy and C two legends in the industry. Yeah. Um, but. They have a, you know, facility in Colorado so they can f you know, help kind of central to East Coast and California handles the west.

[00:02:45] Yep. And the training facilities are just gorgeous. And what I love is that, especially because see and Wendy have been in the industry for so long, that they've really been able to pivot and the website, the new website, [00:03:00] Really good. Yes, yes, really good. Like really, really hit the nail on the head. And you, but you still feel like you kind of grab your physical basket and walk onto the shelves and you still get your smiles and you see, you know, I see them at the trade shows and I feel like I know them.

[00:03:18] It's not just some company you click on and get your cotton rounds. 

[00:03:24] Tiffany Montalbano: You can call and, and the same people they answer the phone. Uh, everyone that works in the office is an esthetician. Even our shipper packer, lovely ladies, they are, they are estheticians as well. Uh, and we are a family. We are very much a family.

[00:03:41] Uh, I, I work there just because I love them so much and I, I have high respect for them, right, as women and all of those things. But it's always been. Alexander who had started Alexander's aesthetics education was the biggest thing for him because again, aesthetics, [00:04:00] we were like the stepsister to hair and you know, it, it shouldn't have been that way, but that's what it was.

[00:04:06] And so he always felt like education is key. And our single esthetician that is, that is who we really wanna connect to because we want you to be successful. That's our goal. In that office and everyone is there to help. We all help each other. I mean, again, we're a family and it's imperative that the education goes along with everything that we sell on the shelves.

[00:04:32] Yeah. And so hence, I'm, I'm on staff with them. When I'm not in my own studio. We have an educator in Colorado now as well, which is so great to have her on board too. Trini is amazing. Uh, her and I work together. Yeah, she's so fun. It's, it's, we, we have great energy. It's so fun to be able to talk to different people and I always learn stuff every time I'm teaching people.

[00:04:57] Right. Um, being able to do things [00:05:00] like this and give back to our industry is really, it's a big part of what we do. I. 

[00:05:06] Shannon O'Brien: And knowing that you are supporting as a consumer, as a business, that we're supporting each other. You really feel that? Yeah. You really feel like we're supporting you all in, you know, in in shopping local, so to speak.

[00:05:21] And then you in turn, seriously support me. In fact, my first business was Shannon's Day spa up in Lake Tahoe. Oh God. That was again, 20 years ago. So long ago. I know. So long ago. But, uh, but I really honestly couldn't have done it without you all because I, I didn't even know what sugar was then. I don't think you had a sugar line.

[00:05:41] It was all waxed. We didn't then. Um, no, but I will tell you that when I wasn't sure about what to bring on, Your staff walked me through it, you know, like c walked me through, Hey, I would try this line. Or Hey, did you know if you used this different brand of cotton rounds? They, you know, they leave [00:06:00] less residue or, you know, whatever.

[00:06:02] And it's, you felt like you really had a partner in this industry, which has really been great. And so I wanna talk about partners because Alexanders and Love to Sugar really came together in the pandemic. Yeah. Solid. So great. No joke. And you and I are both in the treatment room. You're in the Bay Area in ca, in California.

[00:06:24] I'm up in Northern California and we got hit hard. I think we were closed 10 months if I to count my months. Yeah. And California really had the lockdown on us and I was so impressed with how your education team came together in covid with us. We locked arms. And not only with us, but you were teaching, I mean, skincare, like people were at home and needed something to do so they got educated.

[00:06:54] Yeah. Yeah. And it took a pandemic to sit people, some people down, because you know, they're in their treatment rooms [00:07:00] all the time now. They had nothing to do and they were really trying to, to better themselves in this time. Some people were, you know, reorganizing their closets, estheticians were going on webinars and Right.

[00:07:11] You know, that's what we were doing. Um, What I, I'm so grateful for Alexanders and you and, and, and Wendy because we were on, I don't even, I should probably count how many webinars we were on cuz we were on quite a few together. I watched quite a few of yours talking about safety and, you know, cleaning procedures and we, you and I talked about sugar.

[00:07:34] Yeah. The wazo we were talking about. I mean, I was at one point in my bathtub. With my leg up on the side of the bathtub clothed by the way, but showing people how to sugar. On the side of their bathtub with their leg up so they can practice showing people on the couch. Like that's what we were doing.

[00:07:51] Yeah. Yeah. To 

[00:07:52] Tiffany Montalbano: figure, figure out how to, how to organize your house and Yeah. Yeah. My husband, who has no back hair, he was a, [00:08:00] a demonstration for me in our living room. Yeah. 

[00:08:04] Shannon O'Brien: That's what we had to do, and Yep. I am so grateful that you all, we kind of like locked arms and, and spoke to the people, you know? Yep, yep.

[00:08:13] And we train. Hundreds, if not a thousand people, how to sugar work their businesses better and Right. The, the response was just incredible. So I know that I'm a success story as a result of working with all of you. And I know that you really, you know, we talked about this before we came on the air is, You know, hair removal really was the thing that kind of kept us going.

[00:08:42] And we both do facials in our practice. You're heavily facials. I do sort of facials these days mostly cuz I'm so busy with sugar. But talk about kind of coming out of Covid for your business as an aesthetician and, and how that looked for you. 

[00:08:59] Tiffany Montalbano: [00:09:00] Um, it was actually kind of amazing. I, I. I was very lucky also, I'm not gonna lie, because I'd already been very established and my clients, I think a lot of it is because I, I teach as part of this job that I taught enough people that they were so excited to come back to me.

[00:09:21] Yeah. They also were, I had one of, one of my good clients, he, he goes, I at one point was just gonna call and ask if. Be illegal and just sugar me anyway. Right? When we were locked down, he was like, cuz my back hair was just driving me nuts. He goes, and I can your back door. Right? Which I'm not gonna lie to you, I did, uh, after a little while, but he, he was funny.

[00:09:47] He goes, I knew this was the safest place for me to be. And I had more people come back to me and that's where they broke their quarantine, was coming in to see me. Yeah. And. A [00:10:00] lot of the, a lot of the other counties weren't open when we were. And then we weren't. And we were. So I got a whole bunch of new people and it was mainly sugaring because people couldn't figure out how to do that at home.

[00:10:14] Yeah. Safely. Right. And so that became, so I just went full force and advertised nothing but sugar. And now, I mean, I had a full clientele, but now even in slow. I'm still getting more for sugaring cuz there's less people that still do it and that's really, people then realize this is what's important to me.

[00:10:38] It's not gonna matter what happens. I will figure out how to budget this. Always. 

[00:10:42] Shannon O'Brien: Yeah. Now you wax and sugar in your practice? I do. I do. Okay. What's the response on both, do you. 

[00:10:51] Tiffany Montalbano: So it's the, it's a mixed bag. Uh, I will say my numbers and sugaring are much greater. I do charge more for sugaring than I do for waxing as well, [00:11:00] but, uh, at average I probably am about as far as hair removal.

[00:11:09] I'm in about 65% is sugar. 65, 70% is sugar. In the rest is wax. Yeah. Um, because more people, I mean you, more people are like, is this new? Not even sort of, not even a little bit, not even kind of. Yeah. Um, but I think it, it's just, it, not as many estheticians offer it. I found it just more people are a little, it's a little, it can get a little frustrating.

[00:11:36] I mean, you boys. When you were trained, like I was atrocious at it. It was hard. I hated everybody that came in for it in the beginning. Just because you knew that it, it's a new thing. I, you know, after you're doing something for so long, I've been sugaring for since 2013 now, and I had already been waxing for so long that switching to something I wasn't very good [00:12:00] at was a little challenging.

[00:12:01] Mm-hmm. But you just practiced and I'm obviously. I'm very confident in it now and I feel just fine about it, and I do write, I do really. And I, I do think that coming out of the pandemic, it was, it was sugar that really kind of pulled, that, got that business really back flowing, I think. Yeah. Right. 

[00:12:24] Shannon O'Brien: Yeah.

[00:12:24] And so now we are in, um, as we record this, we're kind of, it's super rainy. It's super rainy is an understatement. Yeah. So for those of you that are tuning in either at a different time or maybe in another state like Florida, Um, where it's sunny, we literally, it's called an atmospheric river, and we are, we're, cuz we, she and I are about two hours from each other and we're just getting pummeled.

[00:12:49] I mean, lake Tahoe is getting dumped on in snow and it's just been crazy. So much snow. So much snow. And so what we're finding is that the books slowed [00:13:00] down. Yeah, because people don't wanna go out in this crazy weather and, you know, and so maybe this is the same for you if you're listening to this at another time or another state, you, we all have that kind of weather time where our books died down even in sunny Florida when they have, you know, a hurricane or you know, something's happening.

[00:13:18] Even in sunny Florida, or you know, the East coast or, or even Hawaii, it could be gorgeous, but Oh yeah, a couple of months where, you know, it's always a little bit of a challenge in whatever state you live, and what I have found is that people will throw on their boots and their hat and drive through the rain to make sure they're smooth.

[00:13:36] A B, if they put it off, they just put it off for a little. You know, it might be really bad, you know, and the weather's terrible now, but it won't be next week. Cuz then can I move to next week? So the next week is already slammed. And then c, did I say A, B, C or 1, 2, 3. Anyway, the third point, uh, gosh, I get so excited.

[00:13:57] Uh, the third point is when they're in [00:14:00] their sweats in their house and they're not noticing their bits, or, you know, they're maybe not noticing their eyebrows or you know, their hair's been in a messy bun, what do they care? When the sun starts shining and they're looking in the rear view mirror and the sun is hitting their eyebrows or their upper lip or their nose hairs for guys.

[00:14:21] Oh mean. Yeah. Oh yeah. Or they, you know, it's like time to go back out on the lake and the back hair. Or the chest hair is not so tame. Ladies and gentlemen. Those are the months that we are slammed. Oh, 

[00:14:37] Tiffany Montalbano: it's coming. It's happening. It's, it's, it's on its way. Spring break is gonna be that massive shift, so.

[00:14:44] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like I had said earlier, I am trying to enjoy the downtime, get some things done. Yeah. Make sure everything is ready and organized, and I'm rested because it will be, I mean, even today in this horrific weather that we have, all, my whole day [00:15:00] is all hair 

[00:15:00] Shannon O'Brien: removal. Yeah. And which is key to survival, right?

[00:15:05] Which is key to bringing in that business is making sure that even if your people are, eh, they're kind of not getting as many facials as they did. You know, inflation is high. Like we've got kind of uncertain times. Gas is expensive. They are not taking that outta the budget. Yeah. They might take a official outta the budget, but they're not taking hair removal.

[00:15:24] Are you finding. 

[00:15:26] Tiffany Montalbano: Yeah. Yeah. I definitely, like my retail game is high. Mm-hmm. For facial wise still. Uh, and people are coming in a little less for their facials and your retail game should be high all the time, especially with hair removal because you're still gonna have the ingrown hairs and all of that.

[00:15:42] If people are going on vacation, they still need their skin to be smooth, they still need their sunscreen, all of those things. Right. So, uh, I even have clients. One had decided to stop coming in for hair removal, but he still buys products. So he comes in every, you know, two months when he is out and he still buys [00:16:00] products.

[00:16:00] So that, is that rotation that if they're not getting all the services, you still have retail going 

[00:16:07] Shannon O'Brien: on? Yeah, for sure. For sure. Because you know, razor bumps are the reminder, right? Uhhuh absolutely. Either go in and get sugared instead or get something to, to solve that, and they know that you're the one that has it, you know, which is fine.

[00:16:22] What I, we talked about this earlier about training, and I just love that you all have kind of all things at your shop, you know, at your training facility, you, Alexander's aesthetics is so good about, and it's, I'm so proud of them for having hybrid, right? Like online. Oh yeah. And hands on because. Really like that was a lot in the beginning.

[00:16:44] I remember sitting down with C, God, this was probably when I first started Ice Sugar University 14 years ago. I remember sitting down with C and she was like, wait, you wanna teach this online? I'm like, oh yeah, this is a great idea. She's like, okay. [00:17:00] I kind of don't get that, but okay. Yeah. You know, online courses weren't really.

[00:17:05] As much of a thing. And so now I love that you all again, we, we talked about the pivot, have gotten the fact that we can teach the, the theory and the concepts and, and get, you, get people to practice online and, you know, it helped in the, in the pandemic for webinars and all of that. Like it really helped people to, at their own pace, kind of grasp this and then, I'm finding that we, when we do the hands-on classes, people are better prepared to kind of get down to it.

[00:17:37] Yep. Right? Yeah. So that's what I love about our partnership is the folks that are online, that are learning out of the studio at their own pace, pace. Pace with paste. That's hard to say. Five times fast. Those folks are really understanding the theory and getting it down, and they're like, oh, okay. And [00:18:00] then they come to you and they get that perfection or they get that Brazilian class and it, the, the, the brain in the hand works already.

[00:18:08] They're not trying to pull it out of the jar and you do some basic certification in your training facility. Right. Um, but you know, those folks that you know, maybe are in the area of California and Colorado can come in and just get hands on training from all of you. Right. Right. Which is really, really great.

[00:18:24] And right on other lines too, not just sugar, you know, on, on skin care lines as well. Right. Which is. 

[00:18:31] Tiffany Montalbano: Right. I, you know what? I think what's, what is, I think the reason why our partnership does work so well is we are very adamant about making sure that you are successful. If you come into our space and you want to learn from us and spend time with us, we want to invest in you.

[00:18:50] Mm-hmm. Right. That's, that's part of my job, and that's the part of my job that I love so much, is when people actually will reach out and be like, I'm having a problem. [00:19:00] Can you help? Absolutely. Yeah, I'd love to. Let's fix this because I think one of the biggest problems is you go to the class, you learn the things, you forget heck things, you go back to your office, you try some of the things, and then you're like, I forgot the rest of that.

[00:19:17] And then there's no, then you, then you, then you put that jar aside or you put whatever you've learned those tools, you put 'em aside and you forget about them because you don't know how to follow up with someone. They didn't give you enough of that information, or they didn't, they weren't as adamant that Please talk to us.

[00:19:36] We are here to help you. You know? And I think that's, that's one of the things I think that works so well is that. That's the goal. We don't care how we get you there, but we wanna get you there, which is 

[00:19:48] Shannon O'Brien: huge, right? You're not trying to sell product, you're trying to help these people be a success, and I think that's truly where the genuine success is.

[00:19:57] Yeah. Is. Really [00:20:00] helping folks to get better in their treatment room, not just, Hey, I'm gonna do some product knowledge training, and you're gonna learn how to buy more products, right? Like, you need to use two handfuls of sugar every single time because, ah, you're gonna need to buy pace faster. Like, that's not your goal.

[00:20:16] Your goal is like, Hey, let's be cost effective. Let's learn how to do this in a, you know, more efficient manner so that you can get more bodies in the door. And I, I really appreciate that and I, I love. That's the goal for anything you do with Alexanders, whether you're waxing, sugaring, you know, doing facials, doing tinting, like whatever it is, you all are really trying to help people be better at it.

[00:20:40] Yeah. That's the goal, right? That, I mean, as educators, that's what we want. We don't sell you product. We wanna just get you better at it, you know? I mean, product comes with it, which is great, but that's not why educators educate. We educate because we want you to be. 

[00:20:54] better 

[00:20:55] Tiffany Montalbano: I would rather have a hand in having, you know, a small hand in having [00:21:00] better estheticians out there doing this job so that we all as a community do really well.

[00:21:07] Yeah, because how many times have you had people. That are, I, you know, I've had a couple of people who are like, the sugaring thing was awful, and I was like, it was, tell me how that was bef, you know, bef when they get to me and we talk about their experience, and in my head I'm like, that poor person just didn't have enough knowledge about what they were providing to someone.

[00:21:29] I mean, let's be realistic. When you're removing hair from bodies, it's not comfortable. So some people just, that's how it is yeah. It's, it's a lack of, it is a lack of education that can go along with that, and I'd rather have, I'd rather be able to refer people out when I'm too busy. I would rather be able to refer people to people I know that do a good job and love what they're doing and wanna protect the skin and do the best thing for their client.

[00:21:55] They're, I'd rather have more of those in the world because that will make all of us [00:22:00] successful. 

[00:22:01] Shannon O'Brien: Yeah. What I wanna wrap this up with is, An understanding of like how it works with all of you, not just with sugar. So obviously we've talked about, you know, we want you to be educated. We want you to understand, and here's what I love most, is that when I call Alexanders, And say, I'm not Shannon.

[00:22:26] Say I'm, you know, Sally aesthetician. That has been sugaring for a little bit and now I've, you know, taken, um, by the way, we haven't talked about the fact that you distribute sugar of the Nile. We, we do. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, by the way, they're sugar line is sugar of the Nile. Um, and it's not an oversight. I think it's educators.

[00:22:43] We just get so excited about the feel good stuff. Right. Right. So if someone's calling, say they already use sugar denial, and they're like, oh, Alexander is the distributor. Maybe they moved to the west coast from the east coast or whatever, and they're getting sugar of the Nile now from you. And they've [00:23:00] always used tropical or they always use, right.

[00:23:03] What I love is that maybe if an order says, okay, I use this paste and I get powder and uh, cleanser, when you call Alexanders, they might say, oh, well what are you using for post? What are you using for retail? Are you retailing products? Oh, no, I don't really do that. Okay, let's talk about that. Like what other company suggests other things for your success?

[00:23:32] Right? When you call Alexanders, they're not gonna just say, oh yeah, order, order, order. It's shipped. When you call Alexanders because everyone's an esthetician, or when you go into a training class that you just were like, okay, I used Sugar of the Nile. I wanna go to this Brazilian class cause I wanna get better.

[00:23:48] At Brazilians, you are going to learn about supplies that you never even dreamt of using, right? You're gonna learn about post-care. You, uh, of maybe even a like that company or a [00:24:00] different company that maybe sugar than now doesn't have peel. Right. Right, right, right, right. And you could be adding to your, your, your practice, right?

[00:24:07] Brightening products. Yep. Sensitive skin skincare to go with your sugaring, right? It's a one stop shop. Everything is there. So I love, in fact, that was what I loved about the very beginning of working with y'all is that there I brought on skincare lines I didn't even know existed. Uh, And I can just get one or two things from another company.

[00:24:28] I might be able to get that tint, or I might be able to get, oh, now I can just get my gloves, my, you know, my sanitizing products, my derma planning products all in one place, right? Oh, wait, like I can learn a new skill that can benefit my sugar business. There's a novel concept, so I love that. Not only kind of expand people's horizons, but you really dive into, okay, I know that you o you used to only order like one or two [00:25:00] things with sugar of denial.

[00:25:02] Let's talk about their, you know, their, their ingrown resolution solutions and stuff. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about that. And by the way, we're having a class on this next month if you'd like to come. Yeah. That is how you are going to be successful in business. Is by partnering with businesses like Alexanders that use professional lines like Sugar of the Nile.

[00:25:26] Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for not like, I don't even know that you would cook it in your own kitchen, but No, no. Or even 

[00:25:34] Tiffany Montalbano: tried what? I'm not that talented, but No. 

[00:25:37] Shannon O'Brien: Right. But you've really also, you know, you've all done your due diligence and selected a strong company like Sugar of the Nile to. To represent.

[00:25:45] We 

[00:25:46] Tiffany Montalbano: we test everything. Yeah, no, we test. Anything that has to do with hair removal immediately comes to me. I practice, I use it on my clientele. I talk to my client. The nice thing about my clients at this point, I'm like, I guess I'm new guys. [00:26:00] I need some feedback, right? And I can talk about it with them.

[00:26:03] They give me feedback, but I try everything before it goes really on the shelves. And we talk about it as a group, and these are our experiences with it. This is what we like, this is what's challenged, and we go from there. It's important to us. It's always been important to see, it was very important to Alexander himself that we.

[00:26:23] The best products that we can find that support us with education as well. Right. We as a staff need to be educated too. And so if there's education that goes, I mean, that's why we're partnered with Skins Script. They have phenomenal education. Mm-hmm. Right. There's, we, we, we worked really hard to make sure that.

[00:26:42] That all coincides in that our products we, we've known and touched and I use here in my own office on my own people. Yeah. So 

[00:26:51] Shannon O'Brien: if you are listening and you wanna learn a little bit more about Sugar of the Nile, we have already interviewed Mark with Sugar of the Nile, and you can learn more [00:27:00] about that.

[00:27:00] We'll put that in the show notes and you can understand Mark really speaks highly and they vetted you out as well. Like they really said. If we are gonna have distributors, cuz they're a Canadian company and they, you know, they were shipping things all over the US and they were like, okay, we really need help with this.

[00:27:18] And they really vetted out the best distributors. And Alexanders is who they've partnered with for quite a long time. And it, I just love that people are understanding that partnerships work because we work together to really make sure that you're successful. You're 

[00:27:35] Tiffany Montalbano: more successful that way as a team.

[00:27:37] You really are. Yeah. If you look as a single aesthetician, if you look in your own business, if you go to a class, you're with like-minded people. They wanna learn. And most of the time we all wanna talk to each other and be like, how do you use this? How do you mix that? Do you do this together? How do you, right.

[00:27:51] Like we learned from each other. That's, that's the goal is to have, is to have your, your tribe and your team. Yeah. And I think that, you know, [00:28:00] I, I do think that, you know, you gravitate thankfully towards each other. So I think that's why we have such a good love story. 

[00:28:09] Shannon O'Brien: It's a love story. I love it. Um, and I do love the buzz inside your training facility when people are like, what about this?

[00:28:16] What do you use for that? They're just, is this. It's like the original social media, right? Like the original influencers of, Hey, have you tried this? Oh my gosh, it's right here. And they can touch it and feel it. And you know, as estheticians we need to play and get our skills and our brain right before we, you know, talk to our clients and tell them about all the wonderful wisdom we have.

[00:28:37] Well, we got back in that training room. That's where we got it from, right? Yep. So thank you so much for. All that you've done over all of these years with Alexanders and, and I know your clients thank you and are thankful that you brought in sugar and, and you bring, and you Guinea pig on them, the good stuff.

[00:28:53] But thank you so much for always getting that this isn't, you know, that this is really a family [00:29:00] and it is a love story and that's what this should be in this industry and I. The longevity of not only Alexanders, but how long you have believed in them and they have believed in you as an educator. Yeah.

[00:29:11] And if you'll share just a little bit kind of what Alexanders has coming up for training, that would be great. Like what kind of things you're training on in there that Yes. So 

[00:29:20] Tiffany Montalbano: many. Yeah. So many things. We have a derma planning class coming up in April. We have a webinar coming up, uh, that Trini will be teaching.

[00:29:29] Also in April, uh, on the jelly masks, our new jelly masks, which are phenomenal. I love them. Uh, I'm so excited when we brought those on, I'm not gonna lie. If you 

[00:29:39] Shannon O'Brien: can use with sugar, it's a great add-on. Oh yeah. 

[00:29:42] Tiffany Montalbano: Well, and if you're gonna do a, a, the JAL of any kind, you can use jelly masks, you can sugar, and then do a JAL with those.

[00:29:48] Mm-hmm. Uh, which is also nice. And we've got an extracting. With Douglas Preston, he has an extractor tool and he's doing a in-house hands-on class. [00:30:00] Yeah. Are you 

[00:30:00] Shannon O'Brien: serious? Uh mm-hmm. He was my original, very first educator. Yeah. Preston. Yeah. I used his private label line back in the day. Yeah, he, that man is something else.

[00:30:11] Tiffany Montalbano: We've, he's gonna be, this I think is his last year in treatment and he has partnered with us, so we carry his extractor tool and so he'll be doing classes, which I'm super pumped about too cuz he's a great educator. Yeah. Um. We have so many, I honestly, we have so many things where can they, they 

[00:30:28] Shannon O'Brien: find, where can they find, if they're listening to this podcast, they're like, you know what?

[00:30:31] I kinda wanna, I wanna jump on, you know, and see when the next class is. Where can they find that education? 

[00:30:36] Tiffany Montalbano: Yeah. Everything is on our website. Everything is on our brand new beautiful website, alexanders aesthetics.com. And you, it, it is separated out. So you can see the in-house classes in California, the in-house classes in Colorado, our webinars, and we are working very.

[00:30:53] On, on demand classes as well. Uh, most of those are gonna be some product knowledge things, but in there we have a [00:31:00] business 1 0 1 class right now, which is really great. Um, so we have a lot of different, we are, we try. Really hard to find a lot of different topics that people want. If there's things that you want to see, tell us, because we really do try to find and fill in those gaps for you too.

[00:31:16] So everything is on our beautiful website. You can join us on social media. Of course. We, we definitely, everybody else does that. I'm not, not very good at any of those things. Uh, but this stuff is my, my, my bag here. But we do all the online, the Instagram and the, all the. So yeah, everything's on our website.

[00:31:36] Yep. 

[00:31:37] Shannon O'Brien: And we will have that inside the show notes. Thank you so much for 

[00:31:41] Tiffany Montalbano: all of it and the love story. Thanks for having me. I always love seeing you. Yes. 

[00:31:45] Shannon O'Brien: And I'll see you at the next trade show cuz we always get to give a giant good, real hug. And it's so good to be back live. I love these, I love these podcasts, but it's really good to hug your life.

[00:31:55] Absolutely. I agree. 

[00:31:56] Tiffany Montalbano: All right. Stay dry my friend. I will. Thanks you too. See 

[00:31:59] Shannon O'Brien: you very [00:32:00] soon. Sugar Tribe, sugar Show audience. As always, it is my pleasure to bring you the very best in this industry, and Tiffany is a perfect example. Have a sweet week.

OUTRO