Meet Illinois native, Sydney Pryor, esthetician and owner of Sydney Taylor Skin located in Chicago, Illinois. Sydney grew up in the suburbs of Illinois and went to Hampton University for a little while before coming back to Chicago to attend Roosevelt University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management with a specialty in special events. Sydney’s mom was a theater art major and she would help her host play openings which then evolved into her planning and hosting gatherings for her friends. She would go on to intern for the City of Chicago at Millennium Park (a new park at the time) and work for the City in the hospitality and events industry for nine years before she decided to become an entrepreneur. Sydney offers facials, chemical peels and micro-needling services to refresh, restore and rejuvenate the skin. She also provides a relaxing space, nurturing energy and a detailed consultation to go deeper than your skin and nurture your spirit.

Sydney’s experience is like many of ours: we know it’s time to transition into something different, something more fulfilling, but for whatever reason we hesitate. Until the Universe forces us into it. Sydney saw and felt the signs that it was time to move forward as an esthetician and she gives details about her journey below.

What inspired you to start your business, Sydney Taylor Skin? What’s the story behind how it came into existence?

I have always loved the beauty industry and for the longest time, I was interested and looking into how I could get into it. I didn’t really know how to get into it or what I exactly wanted to do. I was working with the City of Chicago doing events and I already had one foot out the door. I was already interviewing and looking for jobs. So, the job that I had, I actually got let go of and so in that moment I was like ‘this is it’ like ‘this is this is my time.’ I knew it was telling me to do something else and so I took that [as a sign] and said all right I’m going to enroll in esthetics school. I knew I wanted to be in the beauty industry but wasn’t sure if I wanted to be hands-on or if I still wanted to be in corporate America. I realized I wanted to get a little bit of training, you know, instead of just going into corporate America if I do get a beauty job somewhere, and so I enrolled in 2018 and that’s kind of how that transition started to happen. I think I lost my job in May of 2018 by September 2018, I was in school.

I had been in the hospitality industry for about 9 or 10 years and I started to lose connection with people. I missed that and I love that. I think that's one of the reasons why I went into the hospitality industry because I love connecting. I love meeting people. I love being social and so I lost that connection and I was just hosting events not really getting to know these people on a one-on-one basis. So, that's why I think that ‘one foot out the door’ started to happen because I was just working to work and working for a paycheck, not really being fulfilled. I think that’s why I’m an esthetician now, because I get that one-on-one experience on a daily basis.

How did Sydney Taylor Skin manifest?

It actually did not start for me to open on my own. I’m still to this day like what am I doing, or I’m shocked. The goal was actually to go to esthetics school and then after that go to nursing school. I wanted to become a nurse injector so I could do Botox and fillers and all that stuff. I was like I'm doing this, but then I was like I don't want to go to school for two years for nursing. It's a lot and you have to really give up a lot and so I was just like, what else can I do? How else can I break into it? So, finally I just said, let me just finish school and then figure it out. But then, as I started to finish school that's when a lot of people started to ask me when are you opening, are you offering any services? I was like no, not really, but then it just started to happen. I was like well, I can. I can get a spot. I can get a place. I buy products and all the other stuff I need. And, so that’s how it slowly started to evolve and because of that, that’s why I am here right now.

Tell me about the highlights and lowlights of being an entrepreneur

We can start with the lows. Working in corporate America for so long you’re so used to things being taken care of for you, whether that's benefits, retirement plans or your steady bi-weekly or monthly paychecks. It's not too low, but it's a low where you are now doing everything on your own. You have to figure all that out and set up your own plans. Your paychecks can fluctuate week by week or month by month. You set your own goals, versus someone else having goals for you and you trying to meet them. So, I think that that is, I won't say complete lows, but those are just different things that I don't think we really realize going into being on our own.

As far as the highlights for me, I say you get to do what you want to do. You get to follow your dreams and your passions and put your all into it and create your ideal. So, for me that is really important. I get to create my menus of what I want to offer to my clients. I get to set my own goals to say, you know what, this month I need to do this because I want to make this. Not just money, but I want to help out “x” amount of people. So, I think those are my highs that I've experienced lately where it’s just been like I kinda get to do my own thing how I want to do it. Even just time off for how much I want to work, I never experienced that. Before, it was very strict, like you get two weeks’ vacation and that’s just it. So, those have been some really good highs, again another high is that I get to connect with people again. I love having that one-on-one experience. I love saying that now I set two hour appointments for each of my clients because I want to get to know them. I want to connect with them. I want them to come back and we still have conversation that's overflowing from the last session, so those are really big highs for me.

How did the pandemic impact your business?

The pandemic has definitely affected my business because again, I am a one-on-one service and with that service I’m very close to people, I'm less than a foot away. I was already big on sanitation but I’ve just amped it up even higher. It's also shown me value, that I have to see the value of myself and other people will see the value in me. And, whether that’s retention, retaining those people and making them feel comfortable in coming back, and have them say you know what she really does take care of me, she's really clean and on time, [that adds value] to Sydney Taylor Skin. People see that and that's what kept me afloat during this pandemic because if you’re not professional or on time, you can't get pushed to the back and people forget about you or they may not feel comfortable especially with all what's happening with the pandemic and all the social justice and everything that's been happening so I think that that’s been a big thing.

How has your tribe helped you on this journey?

During the pandemic, back in June of this year, with all the riots, I actually had some stuff stolen from me. So, I left the space that I was in where I was servicing people and I was in limbo. I was just like, I don't know if I want to reopen, I just think I want to take a break. I don't know what's happening, you know, we’re in a global pandemic and I was nervous and scared. My tribe was like keep going, keep pushing. Find somewhere to go, sign a lease and make something of Sydney Taylor Skin. And so, if I did not have that extra push or that extra confidence that I had from people standing behind me, I don't think that I would have reopened. I was just so distraught. I was frustrated, but with that push, like I give it all to them, because I would not be open to this day if it wasn't for them.

What is your Why?

My why, to be honest, has been the lack of representation. There are not a lot of us in this industry who are doing something, and doing it, I don't want to say the right way but servicing and so that is my why, and I realized that this year. I feel like with us self-care has always been like getting our hair and nails done but I want to go deeper than that. I want to represent health and wellness and self-care in a different way than by getting manis and pedis and getting our hair done. I want to show that we can take care of ourselves with other ways and it starts from the inside out. I’ve just seen a difference with my clients, because a lot of women are women of color who see me, during the 30 minute consultation, many admit that they don’t take care of themselves the way they’d like to. They don't take the time to have that piece of self-care and so, for them that's what this has been. And that’s something that I wanted to be able to offer.

And the more and more times that I hear that, I’m like this is my why. I want this to be an experience that you can come in for two hours and you have an experience: relax or go to sleep if you want to. And, then when you go home, you feel good and look good in the days to follow. I think skin care also gives people something to look forward to morning and night when you do your skin care regimen. It also amps up your confidence, you’ll be outside and get compliments. It just kind of gives you that boost and so I've seen it and I’m like this is why I am doing this this, this is why I'm here.

Advice to aspiring estheticians?

Never stop learning. Even to this day, I’m learning, you're always going to learn something. You think to yourself, okay I went to school, passed my boards and got my license. Now I may work at a spa or have my own spa and I bought into products, but there’s always something changing. There's always a new device or a new product, so I always say continue to learn. Take as many classes as you can, connect with as many people as you can. Networking is huge. And I also tell estheticians something that I am learning is, you never know who's watching. I say that in a good way, because I've had people who reach out to me asking questions because they see the work I’m doing. So, professionalism and how you carry yourself is really important.

Schedule your skin care service with Sydney at www.sydneytaylorskin.com