The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. Arthur C. Clarke
Meet Ginny Wiser, a woman easily compared to the Energizer Bunny. The effervescent Ginny was prodded for years by her mom and sister, who are in the beauty business, to join them and use her gifts.
Passionate about the world of beauty, donning her Icon Shears and doing her magic with trendy scissors for 7 years, Ginny went to school to learn more. Adding to her repertoire of skills, when licensing was offered for specialized areas, Ginny got her licenses in skincare, massage and nails. A self-proclaimed work-a-holic (and loving it!), Ginny purchased her own beauty school, Bonita Springs School. A prospering school that teaches 14 programs and runs with no government aid.
Fourteen programs with massage garnering the most interest. Barbering has taken a giant leap since the economy crash. People, many of them men who were construction workers, found themselves out of work and barbering was something they could learn and afford.
Quite a commendable feat!
Running a school with over 200 students, and the aid of hired teachers, while Ginny loves the world of beauty, she hates managing people. How does she do it? She forces herself to move beyond her less-than-strong points. An over-achiever, who works hard at work she loves, earned Ginny the coveted CIDESCO Diploma. The world's prestigious qualification for Aesthetics and BeautyTherapy which has set the standards since 1957.
I asked Ginny what advice would she have for young people who want to give up easily? Without hesitating she says, emphatically, “If I can do it, you can do it!” She tells of going to school -and she had 4 young kids at home. “So, NO excuses. Just do it!”
What are the biggest challenges with the students? “Social media”, she is quick to reply. “Social media had disrupted the classroom atmosphere. Their minds are always fixated on what is going on in their phones. If they only put their phones away. There has been such a major shift in teaching in the last 5 years. Our teaching is 50% computer and 50% books. What I used to teach in one day now takes two. They have no attention span.”
On asking her if she has anything else she would want to tell people, to get them to move beyond their limits and their fears, Ginny shared a story with the lesson.
Three years ago, her sister asked her to join her in applying for the Beauty Battle in Las Vegas. “No way. This was wa-a-ay out of my comfort zone. I HATE to teach make-up and hair to people!” A short laugh and then she continued, “We did a video of us doing hair and make-up and we got called to come to Vegas. A nightmare come true!
It was stressful and grueling. We were given a model, not knowing what we were going to be asked to do. One session was an Avant Garde look and they’d give us fabric, Velcro, bobby pins, hot glue. We worked on the model in two short hours; putting together a theme and then explaining to the judges why we picked that theme. And our phones? They were taken away from 7 in the morning to 10 at night, so we couldn’t Google anything.
And guess what? We WON one battle!”
Would you do it again? “NO! But it was interesting and it made me go out on a limb I didn’t want to climb. It was all out of my comfort zone.”
Our conversation was short but carried a lot of weight.
Driven, successful and a mother who has grown children involved in the school, either as estheticians or construction workers fixing things at the school, Ginny is a role model for everyone.
A woman who never allowed herself to give up. Who challenges others to venture where their comfort is challenged.
“You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Roy T. Bennett