My Story
I'm Erica Roybal — Mother, Entrepreneur, Esthetics Educator & Founder
I’m Erica Roybal, a mother, entrepreneur, esthetics educator, permanent makeup artist, author, and founder of Denver Dream Medspa and Elite Aesthetics Academy.
Today, I own businesses, educate future estheticians, mentor professionals, write about the aesthetics industry, and help other women see what might be possible for their own careers.
But I didn't start with a roadmap for any of this.
There was no perfectly planned progression from college to esthetics to entrepreneurship.
My career was built one decision at a time—through education, motherhood, risk, persistence, mistakes, reinvention, and a willingness to keep learning things I didn't yet know how to do.
And that's the part of my story I want to share.
Before Esthetics
My Career Didn't Begin in the Beauty Industry
From my first-grade career day presentation, I knew I wanted to be a beautician when I grew up. My earliest memories were playing with my Barbie dolls and wishing and thinking about how I could change their makeup. I took my schoolwork very seriously and got a perfect GPA. I went to university and put myself through school, and I double-degreed. My educational background is in Biomedical Sciences and History.
Before building a career in aesthetics, I worked in laboratory environments, and that scientific background shaped the way I would eventually approach the esthetics industry.
I learned to respect evidence.
I learned to ask why.
I learned that small details matter.
And I learned that understanding the science behind something is very different from simply memorizing how to do it.
Years later, those lessons would become incredibly important when I began working with skin, cosmetic tattooing, lasers, energy-based devices, treatment protocols, and eventually student education.
But science wasn't the only part of me.
I've always had a creative side and an entrepreneurial one.
For a long time, I wasn't sure where all of those pieces belonged together. I travelled in Asia and Europe and saw modern permanent makeup and medspa professionals at work, and a lightbulb moment occurred.
I found esthetics. And I have never looked back.
Finding My Place in Esthetics
Esthetics gave me something I hadn't found in a traditional career path.
It combined science, artistry, human connection, and entrepreneurship.
I could understand the skin and the science behind a treatment while also appreciating facial balance, aesthetics, color, and artistry.
More importantly, I could build something of my own.
I became deeply interested in advanced aesthetics and permanent makeup, eventually training in techniques including NanoBrows, powder brows, permanent eyeliner, lip blush, and other cosmetic tattoo applications.
But becoming technically proficient was only the beginning.
I also had to learn how to turn a skill into an actual career.
That meant learning things no treatment manual could teach me.
How do you find your first clients?
How do you convince someone to trust you when you're still building a portfolio?
How do you price your work?
How do you handle an unhappy client?
How do you market yourself?
When do you invest in more education?
When are you actually ready to hire?
And how do you know whether you're building a career—or simply creating another job for yourself?
I didn't know all of those answers when I started.
I learned them by doing.
Becoming a Mother Changed Everything
Motherhood Changed My Definition of Success
Of all the titles I've accumulated throughout my career, Mom will always be the most important one.
Becoming a mother changed the way I looked at work, money, time, ambition, and what I wanted my future to look like.
It also made entrepreneurship more complicated.
There is a version of entrepreneurship that looks very glamorous from the outside.
You see the opening.
The beautiful space.
The growing team.
The successful month.
The expansion.
You don't necessarily see the late nights, financial pressure, uncertainty, missed opportunities, childcare logistics, difficult decisions, or the moments when your business and your child both need you at exactly the same time.
I've never discovered a magical formula for perfectly balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship.
I'm not sure one exists.
Instead, I've learned to make choices.
Sometimes the business needs more of me.
Sometimes my son does.
Sometimes I get it right.
Sometimes I don't.
Motherhood has made me more ambitious in some ways and far less impressed by traditional definitions of success in others.
I want my son to see that you can create opportunities for yourself.
I want him to understand the value of work, persistence, education, and independence.
But I also don't want him to grow up remembering that his mom was always too busy building something to actually be there.
That tension is real.
And I think more women should be able to talk about it without pretending they've solved it.
Staying Connected to the Work
I Never Wanted to Become an "Expert" Who Stopped Doing
One of the reasons hands-on experience matters so much to me is that this industry changes quickly.
Techniques evolve.
Technology changes.
Consumer expectations change.
Marketing changes.
Education changes.
What worked five years ago may not be what I would recommend today.
My experience in permanent makeup, skin treatments, lasers, and advanced aesthetic technology has influenced the way I evaluate this industry.
I don't believe expertise comes from repeating what everyone else is saying online.
It comes from education, application, observation, results, mistakes, continued learning, and being willing to change your opinion when experience teaches you something new.
That philosophy eventually became even more important when I moved into education.
Becoming an Esthetics Educator
Teaching Changed the Way I Understood My Own Industry
There is an enormous difference between knowing how to do something and being able to explain why you're doing it.
Teaching forced me to examine my own knowledge more deeply.
Why does this technique work?
Why did that result heal differently?
Why is this contraindicated?
Why would I choose one treatment instead of another?
Why does one student understand something immediately while another needs it explained differently?
Education made me a better professional because it required me to understand more than the steps.
It required me to understand the reasoning behind them.
And the more students I worked with, the more I began noticing another problem.
Students weren't only asking me how to perform treatments.
They were asking:
How do I actually make money doing this?
How do I get hired?
How do I get clients?
What should my portfolio look like?
How do I know whether a med spa is a good place to work?
When should I go out on my own?
Those questions helped shape the next chapter of my career.
Building Elite Aesthetics Academy
I Wanted Students to Leave With More Than a Certificate
I founded Elite Aesthetics Academy because I believe professional education should prepare students for the industry they're actually going to enter.
Technical education matters enormously.
Students need to understand sanitation, safety, skin, treatment protocols, contraindications, technology, technique, and professional standards.
But becoming employable and building a successful career requires more.
It requires confidence.
Communication.
Professionalism.
Problem solving.
Portfolio development.
Interview skills.
Client experience.
Business awareness.
And the ability to continue learning long after school ends.
My goal as an educator isn't simply to help someone complete a program.
I want students to understand what's possible after they do.
For some, success means working for an incredible med spa and becoming the provider clients request by name.
For another student, it might mean specializing.
Another may eventually become an educator.
Another may build a six-figure clientele.
And another may open a business that becomes larger than anything she imagined when she first walked into school.
I don't want to create copies of my career.
I want to help people build careers of their own.
Why Mentorship Matters to Me
There Are Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Earlier
The further I've gone in business, the more I've realized how valuable it is to learn from someone who has already made some of the mistakes you're about to make.
Not because their path should become yours.
But because information gives you choices.
There are lessons I learned through experience that I wish someone had explained to me sooner.
Things about money.
Hiring.
Marketing.
Boundaries.
Equipment.
Leadership.
Clients.
Growth.
Failure.
And confidence.
That's why mentorship has become increasingly important to me.
I want new estheticians to understand that getting licensed is the beginning—not the finish line.
I want experienced estheticians to recognize that they can build careers with significantly more earning potential than they may realize.
I want aspiring business owners to understand both the opportunities and the risks before they open.
And I want women building businesses to know that struggling with something doesn't necessarily mean they're failing.
Sometimes you're simply learning a lesson every entrepreneur eventually has to learn.
The 6-Figure Esthetician
One subject I'm particularly passionate about is helping estheticians understand their earning potential.
Can an esthetician make six figures?
Yes.
Does becoming licensed automatically create a six-figure career?
Absolutely not.
High-earning estheticians typically develop a combination of:
Technical expertise.
Specialization.
Client retention.
Professional reputation.
Communication skills.
Business awareness.
Marketing ability.
Personal branding.
And strategic career decisions.
I've had the unusual opportunity to see this from multiple sides of the industry—as a provider, educator, employer, and business owner.
That perspective is why I created my guide to How to Become a 6-Figure Esthetician.
It's not a promise that everyone who enters this industry will make $100,000.
It's a roadmap for understanding the decisions that can dramatically change your earning potential.
Supporting Other Women in Business
Success Is More Interesting When You Can Help Someone Else Build It
My interest in mentorship has expanded beyond esthetics.
Building businesses has forced me to learn about subjects I never expected to become passionate about:
SEO.
Digital marketing.
Branding.
Commercial real estate.
Financing.
Hiring.
Operations.
Website strategy.
Customer acquisition.
Leadership.
Business systems.
And growth.
I'm not interested in presenting myself as someone who has never made a bad business decision.
The opposite is true.
Some of the most valuable things I know came from decisions I wouldn't make again.
That's the business content I want to share.
Not:
"Here are five secrets to becoming successful."
But:
"Here's what I tried. Here's what happened. Here's what it cost. Here's what worked. And here's what I would do differently now."
I believe there is enormous value in that kind of honesty.
Especially for women trying to build something while simultaneously managing the rest of their lives.
Becoming an Author
Education Shouldn't End When Class Does
My work as an educator eventually expanded into writing.
I am the author of The Modern Permanent Makeup Bible and The Cosmetic Laser Training Bible.
Writing educational resources gave me another way to organize what I had learned and make technical information more accessible to professionals entering or advancing within aesthetics.
It also reinforced something I already believed:
Knowledge becomes more valuable when you share it.
Teaching one student matters.
Creating something that can continue teaching after you've left the classroom matters too.
[EXPLORE MY BOOKS + EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES →]
My Work in Permanent Makeup
Artistry Was an Important Part of My Journey
Permanent makeup played a major role in the development of my career.
Over the years, my work has included:
NanoBrows
Powder + Ombré Brows
Lip Blush
Lip Neutralization
Lash Enhancement
Classic Permanent Eyeliner
Shaded Eyeliner
Designer Eyeliner
Permanent makeup taught me patience, precision, facial balance, color theory, and perhaps most importantly—restraint.
My philosophy has always been that permanent makeup should enhance someone's features rather than become the first thing you notice about them.
The work also gave me a perspective I carry into education today:
You cannot shortcut experience.
Watching someone perform a technique isn't the same as developing the judgment required to perform it consistently yourself.
[VIEW MY PERMANENT MAKEUP PORTFOLIO →]
What Entrepreneurship Has Actually Taught Me
If I had to summarize everything I've learned so far, it wouldn't be a list of marketing tactics or business strategies.
It would be something simpler.
You are capable of learning things you don't currently know how to do.
There was a time when I didn't know how to run a med spa.
So I learned.
I didn't know how to build a school.
I learned.
I didn't know how to manage employees.
I'm still learning.
I didn't know SEO.
I learned.
I didn't know commercial real estate.
I learned.
I didn't know how to navigate many of the challenges that eventually came with growing businesses.
I figured them out one at a time.
That's something I want other women—and especially my students—to understand.
You don't have to know everything before you begin.
You need enough humility to learn, enough resilience to survive being bad at something before you become good at it, and enough persistence to keep going when the outcome isn't immediate.
What Entrepreneurship Has Actually Taught Me
If I had to summarize everything I've learned so far, it wouldn't be a list of marketing tactics or business strategies.
It would be something simpler.
You are capable of learning things you don't currently know how to do.
There was a time when I didn't know how to run a med spa.
So I learned.
I didn't know how to build a school.
I learned.
I didn't know how to manage employees.
I'm still learning.
I didn't know SEO.
I learned.
I didn't know commercial real estate.
I learned.
I didn't know how to navigate many of the challenges that eventually came with growing businesses.
I figured them out one at a time.
That's something I want other women—and especially my students—to understand.
You don't have to know everything before you begin.
You need enough humility to learn, enough resilience to survive being bad at something before you become good at it, and enough persistence to keep going when the outcome isn't immediate.
Motherhood Keeps All of It in Perspective
Business can consume you if you let it.
There's always another goal.
Another revenue target.
Another location.
Another employee.
Another marketing campaign.
Another problem.
Another opportunity.
Motherhood constantly reminds me that more isn't automatically better.
My son doesn't care about revenue.
He doesn't care about website traffic.
He doesn't care where something ranks on Google.
He cares whether Mom is there.
That perspective has become increasingly important as my businesses have grown.
I want to build something significant.
I want to create financial independence.
I want to help students change their lives.
I want to build businesses I'm proud of.
But I also want to build a life I'm proud of.
And those aren't always exactly the same thing.
If My Story Sounds Anything Like Yours
Maybe you're considering esthetics and wondering whether you can actually build a career from it.
Maybe you're newly licensed and terrified that you don't know enough.
Maybe you're an experienced esthetician who knows you're capable of more.
Maybe you're thinking about opening your first business.
Maybe you already own one and discovered that entrepreneurship is much harder than everyone made it look.
Maybe you're a mother trying to reconcile enormous ambition with wanting to actually be present for your children.
Or maybe you're simply building something and could use the perspective of someone building too.
You're who I'm writing for.
What I'm Building Now
The next chapter of my career isn't simply about building bigger businesses.
It's about impact.
I want to continue growing Denver Dream Medspa.
I want Elite Aesthetics Academy to create exceptional professionals.
I want to mentor more estheticians.
I want to support more women building businesses.
I want to share the lessons that took me years—and sometimes a lot of money—to learn.
I want to keep writing.
Keep teaching.
Keep learning.
And most importantly, I want my son to grow up understanding that where you start doesn't have to determine where you finish.
I don't know exactly where all of that will lead.
And for once, I think I'm okay with that.
Because if my career has taught me anything, it's this:
You don't need to see the entire road before you start building the life you want.
Sometimes you just need to take the next step.
— Erica
About Erica Roybal
Erica Roybal is a Colorado-based entrepreneur, esthetics educator, permanent makeup artist, author, and founder of Denver Dream Medspa and Colorado Aesthetics Academy. With an educational background in Biomedical Sciences and History and professional experience spanning aesthetics, permanent makeup, education, med spa operations, and entrepreneurship, Erica mentors aspiring and established estheticians while sharing experience-based insights into building careers and businesses in the aesthetics industry. She is also the author of The Modern Permanent Makeup Bible and The Cosmetic Laser Training Bible.