Staff Spotlight: Katie Schroer

The inspiring staff spotlight for this month is all about Katie Schroer, one of the esthetics instructors at Crave Beauty Academy at the Ballwin, Missouri campus. She enjoys working as both an instructor and a professional esthetician, so she brings a lot to the table for our school. Because she works as a professional esthetician, she’s always able to help our students know exactly what clients want and how to treat them best! Katie is also able to help students hone in on their professionalism and business skill set to prepare them for working with clients after they finish their esthetics program.

Path to Professional Beauty

From the time she was a teenager, Katie was always involved in the world of beauty. All throughout high school and college she worked in different beauty jobs. She worked as a salon receptionist, worked at Beauty First, and more. Katie graduated from college with a degree in communications, but ultimately decided that she didn’t want to follow that career path. She later underwent a divorce that gave her a newfound sense of freedom to change her life, and that’s when she decided to pursue a beauty career.

Katie grew up in Ballwin working in the beauty industry, so she was already familiar with Xenon International Academy (Crave Beauty Academy before Kim McIntosh acquired the school). She toured other schools and confirmed that Xenon had the best esthetics program for her. It also helped that the school is very close to her home!

Professional Esthetics Life

Even though Katie ended up in a completely different career, she’s still grateful that she completed her college education, which has helped her greatly since graduating beauty school. She worked at a couple spas right after graduation for the experience, and then opened her own business right away. She found that working as her own boss allowed her to grow and develop at her own pace, and she totally loved it!

A short time after starting her own practice, Katie was contacted by Crave Beauty Academy. One of her former educators had left a glowing review about her initiative as a student and recommended her to bring on as an instructor. Katie knew she liked teaching people and sharing her experience, so she decided to pursue her business part time and to take on teaching the other half of the time. At this point, she’s been at Crave for about a year and a half as an esthetics instructor! She also still works part time at her personal practice because it helps keep her skills sharp:

”I really enjoy doing both teaching and practice. I think I do a service for my students by continuing to practice and learn new treatments to bring to them.”

Katie has the unique opportunity and responsibility to model successful behavior for her esthetics students, and she does a fantastic job. By keeping her knowledge and skills sharp in her personal practice, she comes into the classroom as the best educator she can be!

What Katie Loves About Crave

When asked what she loves most about Crave Beauty Academy, Katie says she loves working in the team environment. The company has a great mix of of people to make it a fantastic working atmosphere. Everyone gets along and all the staff have each other’s backs. Katie explains that Crave is like a village raising a child in beauty:

”Even just in esthetics, I specialize in lash extensions, others specialize in spray tanning or waxing. If I can’t answer a question, then someone else at Crave can!”

Katie’s unique experience working in lash extensions is another part of why she’s such a valuable asset to the Crave team. She reports that she spends around 80% of her time as an esthetician performing lash extensions, and it’s where she makes the big bucks. Lash extensions aren’t a licensed service, so Katie strives to train the students in the correct way of using professional products because it can help set them apart from lash specialists who didn’t get the same education.

Advice For Future Students

Katie knows that beauty school can be challenging, and it’s certainly hard work, so she has the following advice for people considering beauty school:

”Stick with it, even if you’re frustrated. At the beginning it can be hard and daunting because you have 8 week in the classroom, but it does get better. If you don’t have confidence in your skills, keep practicing, you will get better at it and you really will enjoy this industry. We’ll work to help you succeed.”

Katie’s advice is superb! Everyone has a different experience with beauty school, and sometimes it’s not easy. That’s why we strive to fill our school with talent like Katie who strive to help their students be the best in the business!

Join The Crave Family

Crave Beauty Academy can be your new home if you have a passion for beauty! Our talented staff are here to support our students and help them be successful. If you have an interest in becoming a cosmetologist, nail tech, or esthetician, contact us to learn more about how you can change your life!