Starting in beauty schools.

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The Reason They Stay: How Relationships Are Helping Beauty Schools Retain Students

Laura Ibarra, Megan Simonneau, Mimi Hawkins, Janae Goings and Jillian de la Rosa Tully

Student retention is one of the biggest conversations happening inside beauty schools today. Schools are constantly asking themselves how to help students stay engaged, push through difficult seasons, and continue showing up when life outside the classroom feels overwhelming.

But perhaps the answer is simpler than we think.

Students stay where they feel connected.

Not because life suddenly becomes easier, but because they know there is someone in the building who sees them, understands them, and notices when something feels off.

The relationship between an educator and a student has always been important in beauty education. But many schools are discovering that when intentional wellness practices are woven into that relationship through the Vitality Project, something shifts. Conversations become deeper. Trust grows stronger. And students who may have once quietly slipped away begin finding reasons to stay.

Beyond Hair, Skin, and Nails

Laura Ibarra, Esthetics Instructor at Bellus Academy's Chula Vista Campus, has experienced this firsthand.

She noticed that when wellness conversations happened in large groups, some students hesitated to participate. For students who were not comfortable sharing emotions or who had never been asked to explore them before, a larger setting did not always feel safe.

So she changed her approach. As she began creating more intimate opportunities for conversation, her relationships with students began to deepen.

“I've actually found out their ambitions, where it stems from, why they ended up choosing this industry, how their last job connected to what they're studying right now.”

The conversations moved beyond skincare products and practical skills. She began learning what truly motivated her students, what brought them joy before entering the industry, and what continued to inspire them today.

“I can connect with them on an emotional level. Obviously keeping it professional, but just finding out what interests them, what made them happy before they even chose this and how this industry or how this job continues to make them happy.”

That kind of connection matters because students who feel known are more likely to speak up when they are struggling. They are more likely to ask for help. And they are more likely to trust that someone will walk alongside them when life becomes difficult.

Creating a Safe Space to Pause

For Megan Simonneau, Cosmetology Instructor at Bellus Academy's Manhattan, Kansas campus, the Vitality Project has become something students genuinely look forward to.

“They need that hour. They look forward to that hour. They know that's an hour where they can solely shut off everything and be present in the classroom.”

The environment itself has become part of the experience. The lights are dimmed. Blankets are available. Students can sit on the floor if they choose. For a little while, they are simply invited to slow down.

Megan tells her students, “You get what you put into it. That's what you get out of it.” And students are responding. One shared with her that this is something truly helping them outside of life, because there are things happening in life they simply cannot control.

Megan has noticed another shift, too.

“When someone's down, we're picking them up. And we've done that before, but I feel like now it's even more so. And we're checking up on each other.”

That culture of support does not happen by accident. It happens when students consistently experience an environment where they feel safe enough to be themselves.

Catching Students Before They Walk Away

Mimi Hawkins, Education Support Manager at Ogle's Central Dallas Campus, believes many students reach a point where they simply need to know that someone is paying attention.

“I feel like a lot of times when students are at that breaking point, they just really need to feel loved, seen, and heard. That's it.”

That simple statement may be one of the most important lessons in student retention. Because often, students are not asking for someone to solve all of their problems. They are asking for someone to acknowledge that those problems exist.

Mimi recently sat down with a student who was struggling after losing a friend. Instead of trying to fix the situation, she helped the student find another perspective. She encouraged her to focus on memories that brought peace rather than continuing to replay painful images.

The student walked away feeling better, Mimi says, because she just needed a way to hear something different.

Then she adds something beautifully honest.

“I wasn't brilliant. I've just gone through it. So I just shared what I did.”

That honesty is powerful because students are not looking for perfection. They are looking for authenticity. They are looking for someone who is willing to sit beside them and say, “I've been there, too.”

Sometimes Students Simply Need Someone Close By

Janae Goings, Cosmetology Instructor at Ogle's North Dallas campus, has seen how impactful face-to-face support can be.

“I have coached a couple of our students that were just more comfortable with having somebody face to face on campus, just making sure that they know what tools and resources that they have as well.”

Sometimes support is not complicated. Sometimes it is simply being present. Knowing students well enough to recognize when they need extra encouragement can make all the difference.

Vulnerability Builds Trust

Jillian de la Rosa Tully, Phase One Cosmetology Instructor at Ogle's San Antonio campus, discovered something unexpected when she facilitated a conversation about aligning with core values.

She shared her own experiences with burnout, anxiety, and the work she has done with her therapist over the years.

The response from her students surprised her. Two students approached her afterward to say thank you.

“Their anxiety is so bad that they keep wanting to quit. But knowing that their teacher has that same anxiety and talks about realigning with their own values made them not quit. And that feels like such a win for me.”

That may be one of the most powerful examples of connection in action. Not because Jillian had all the answers, but because she gave students permission to realize they were not alone.

Sometimes the strongest thing an educator can say is, “I understand.”

The Reason They Stay

Beauty schools cannot eliminate every challenge their students will face. Life will still happen. Students will still experience grief, anxiety, stress, and difficult seasons. But schools can create environments where students know they do not have to navigate those seasons alone.

The Vitality Project is helping educators do exactly that. Not by asking them to become therapists, but by giving them tools to create meaningful relationships, ask better questions, and build trust with their students.

Because students rarely leave a school they feel deeply connected to. They stay because someone remembers their story, because someone notices when they are struggling, because someone took the time to know them beyond their technical skills. And perhaps most importantly, they stay because someone made them feel seen.

Sometimes that is all it takes to change the trajectory of a student's entire journey.

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Closer, Stronger, Better: How the Vitality Project Is Building Team Culture at Tricoci University

Rachel Graves · Educator, Tricoci University

There's a version of beauty education where teachers show up, teach their lessons, and go home. Where the faculty room is quiet, the relationships are surface level, and everyone is simply getting through the day.

And then there's what Rachel Graves describes at Tricoci University.

Rachel is an educator who has watched something remarkable happen since her school brought the Vitality Project into their culture. It didn't just impact students. It changed the way the entire team shows up for each other and for the people they teach.

“I think it has brought us closer as a team. It allowed for us to really be able to come together as a team to build each other up, as well as stand in for the students.”

That's not a small thing. In an industry where burnout is rampant and turnover is a constant challenge, a team that genuinely builds each other up is one of the most powerful assets a beauty school can have.

The reality is that beauty school educators pour a tremendous amount of themselves into their work. They are not only teaching technical skills. They are coaching confidence, navigating student struggles, celebrating milestones, and helping future professionals find their footing in an industry that can be both rewarding and demanding.

When educators feel isolated, that responsibility can become heavy. But when they feel connected to the people around them, the experience changes. Challenges become easier to navigate, wins become more meaningful to celebrate, and the culture students experience becomes more consistent because the team behind it is moving in the same direction.

That sense of connection is difficult to create through policies or staff meetings alone. It comes from shared experiences, shared language, and shared opportunities to grow together.

When Educators Become the Example

One of the most meaningful shifts the Vitality Project creates in a school environment is what happens when educators stop just teaching wellness and start living it together. When a faculty team goes through the Vitality Project alongside their students, something changes in the dynamic. The wall between teacher and learner softens. The shared experience creates real connection.

At Tricoci University, Rachel saw this play out in real time. The faculty team didn't just roll out the Vitality Project to their students and step back. They went through it themselves. They engaged with the material, internalized the concepts, and showed up to their classrooms ready to champion it from a place of genuine understanding.

There is something powerful about educators learning alongside one another. Not because they all have the same experiences, but because they are given space to reflect, connect, and engage with the same concepts they are asking students to explore.

That kind of participation creates credibility. Students can tell when a school initiative is something staff members genuinely believe in versus something they are simply expected to deliver. When educators engage with the work themselves, conversations become more authentic and the lessons become easier to bring to life in the classroom.

That shared experience meant that when it came time to introduce the Vitality Project to students, the conversation felt less like a program pitch and more like a personal invitation. Rachel and her colleagues could speak from the heart about why wellness matters in a beauty career, how the tools had impacted them, and how students could use the same resources to support not just themselves but each other.

Because one of the core messages of the Vitality Project is that wellness isn't just personal. It's communal. When you do this work, you don't just show up better for yourself. You become a source of motivation and encouragement for the people around you. And that's a powerful thing to model as an educator.

That's the difference between a teacher who delivers content and one who truly believes in what she's sharing. And students can feel that difference every single time.

Grace, Motivation, and the Small Wins

Perhaps the most quietly profound thing Rachel said is also the simplest: we never know what somebody is going through.

In a beauty school classroom, that truth is everywhere. Students are navigating financial stress, family challenges, self-doubt, grief, and a hundred other invisible battles while they're trying to learn how to color hair or perfect a facial technique. And honestly? So are the teachers.

The Vitality Project gives everyone in the building a shared language for that reality. A framework for extending grace. A reason to pause and acknowledge that the person sitting next to you might be carrying something heavy today.

“Let's give each other grace. Let's motivate each other. Let's pat each other on the back and support each other and celebrate the small wins.”

Small wins do not always get the attention they deserve in education. It is easy to focus on attendance numbers, completion rates, and performance metrics because those are the outcomes everyone is measuring. But behind every successful graduate is a collection of small victories that happened along the way. A student who showed up on a difficult day, an educator who took time to encourage someone who was struggling, a classmate who offered support instead of criticism, and a team member who chose grace over frustration.

These moments may seem small on their own, but together they shape the culture of a school. And culture is often the difference between an environment people simply attend and one they genuinely want to be part of.

The Ripple Effect of a Wellness-Centered Team

When a faculty team is genuinely connected and mutually supportive, students feel it in the room. They feel safer. They open up more. They stay longer. They push through the hard days because the environment around them is one of encouragement rather than pressure.

And that ripple effect from administrator to educator to student and back again is exactly what the Vitality Project was designed to create. Not a top-down wellness mandate, but a shared culture where every person in the building feels seen, supported, and celebrated.

Third-party citation, not a testimonial. In 2025, Tricoci University’s Chief Operating Officer, Larry Foster, was recognized by Career Education Review as one of the Top People Changing Career Education. According to Career Education Review’s announcement, Foster helped lead Tricoci University’s partnership with the Vitality Project to intentionally integrate student mental health and wellness into the classroom.

From leadership to educators to students, everyone has a role to play. Strong school cultures are not built through one event, one training, or one inspirational speech. They are built through repeated investments in people.

What This Means for Your School

If you're a beauty school leader wondering whether the Vitality Project is worth the investment, consider what Rachel is describing. This isn't just a student retention tool or a curriculum add-on. It's a team-building experience. A culture shift. A way of saying to every person who walks through your doors that you matter here and we're going to take care of each other.

In an industry that has historically asked so much of its people while offering so little in return when it comes to emotional and mental support, that message is revolutionary. And it's the kind of school culture that doesn't just retain students, but it creates loyal, passionate graduates who go on to represent your school with pride.

Because when you teach people to celebrate the small wins, give grace, and lift each other up, that's a lesson they carry with them for life.

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Why Beauty School Educators Need the Vitality Project Just as Much as Their Students Do

Mimi Hawkins

There is an unspoken expectation that exists inside many beauty schools. Students are allowed to have hard days. Educators are expected to push through theirs. They still have classes to teach, students to mentor, clients to support, and questions to answer. No matter what they may be carrying personally, they walk through the doors each morning and show up for everyone else. For a long time, that has simply been considered part of the job.

But what happens when the people who spend every day pouring into others start running on empty themselves?

That is the question several educators across Vitality Project schools have begun asking. In many cases, they are coming to the same realization: the Vitality Project is not just for students. It is for them, too.

Educators Are Human, Too

Mimi Hawkins, Education Support Manager at Ogle's Central Dallas Campus #54, recently found herself having a conversation with a student who was frustrated with an educator. With the educator's permission, Mimi shared a little bit of context about what that educator was personally navigating. The student's perspective shifted almost instantly.

He said that maybe he needed to give her some grace, Mimi recalls.

That moment revealed something bigger. Students do not always realize that the people standing in front of them every day are carrying things, too. Educators are navigating grief, stress, family responsibilities, and difficult seasons of life, all while continuing to pour into others.

“We're human, too.”

And perhaps that is one of the most important reminders schools can offer both students and staff. Educators are not immune to hard days. They are simply very practiced at putting on a brave face and continuing to show up.

“Educators try to pour while their cup is empty, while they're in pain, while they're grieving, while they're going through all the things, but they're still showing up.”

That sentence may resonate with every educator who reads this article. Because in beauty education, there is often an invisible expectation to be strong all the time. To be the encourager. The mentor. The steady presence in the room. But constantly giving without replenishing yourself is not sustainable.

Mimi says many educators fall into the category of what people often call “the strong friend.”

“A lot of us probably have people that think we're always okay, and they just don't know that we're not okay. And it's okay not to be okay.”

There is something powerful about hearing that from an educator because it gives everyone else permission to be honest, too. When school leaders create a culture where educators feel seen and supported, they are not lowering expectations. They are acknowledging reality. And that reality is simple: the people changing lives every day deserve care, too.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

Beauty school educators are doing far more than teaching technical skills. They are building confidence. They are helping students navigate difficult seasons. They are mentoring future professionals. They are often the first person a student turns to when life feels overwhelming. That kind of responsibility is beautiful. It is also incredibly demanding.

If schools want students to thrive, they cannot overlook the wellbeing of the people guiding them every day.

The Vitality Project creates space for that. Not by asking educators to become therapists or by adding one more thing to their already full plates, but by giving them tools they can use for themselves alongside their students.

When educators participate in the work, they are reminded of something they often forget. They deserve support, too. And sometimes the most meaningful thing a school can do is simply acknowledge that. To say, “We see you. We know this work is hard. We know you are carrying things, too. We appreciate you.”

Because when educators feel seen, they do not just become better instructors. They become healthier humans leading classrooms for the next generation.

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Beyond Technical Skills: Preparing Students for a Career That Lasts

Adele, Maddie (Taylor Andrews Academy), Alexandria, Dallas and Rosa Montez

For decades, beauty schools have focused on preparing students to pass state board exams, master technical skills, and build successful careers behind the chair. And those things matter. Students need to know how to perform a haircut, formulate color, deliver an incredible facial, and confidently work with clients. Technical education will always be a foundational part of beauty school.

But today's students need more than technical skills alone.

They are entering an industry that asks a tremendous amount of them emotionally, mentally, and physically. Every day, they will interact with people who are celebrating milestones, navigating heartbreak, grieving losses, managing stress, and carrying burdens that often show up in the salon or spa chair.

The truth is, many beauty professionals have spent years learning how to care for others without ever being taught how to care for themselves.

The students going through the Vitality Project are learning something different. They are learning skills that will help them sustain a lifelong career.

They're Learning That Wellness Impacts Their Work

Adele, a cosmetology student at Taylor Andrews Academy-St. George, realized something that many licensed professionals do not discover until years into their careers: wellness directly impacts the quality of your work.

“If your head is in another area, then maybe your cut isn't going to be as precise as it could be if you were grounded while you're with your client. If you're not well, then you're not doing your job well.”

That realization shifts everything.

Wellness is no longer a separate category sitting outside of technical education. It becomes part of being an excellent beauty professional. Students are beginning to understand that slowing down, regulating their emotions, and being fully present are not distractions from their careers. They are part of what makes someone exceptional at their craft.

They're also beginning to recognize that how they feel about themselves influences every interaction they have throughout the day. The way they communicate, respond to challenges, and show up for others all starts with how they care for themselves first.

They're Learning How to Care Without Carrying It Home

For many students, one of the most impactful lessons has been learning that they can deeply care for their clients without absorbing everything those clients are carrying.

Maddie, an esthetics student at Taylor Andrews Academy-St. George, discovered this early in her education.

“I don't want to miss out on life because of work and school. Learning to set boundaries has helped me realize I can still give my clients everything I have without taking their struggles home with me.”

That lesson matters because the goal is not to care less. The goal is to care in a sustainable way. Students are learning that empathy does not have to come at the expense of their own wellbeing. In fact, protecting their energy may be one of the most important skills they ever develop.

Maddie also shared that she recently found herself talking with another esthetician who was already experiencing burnout. Despite still being a student herself, she realized she had tools that many professionals were never taught.

That realization says a lot. The lessons students are learning are not simply helping them survive beauty school. They are preparing them to build careers that can last.

They're Learning How to Hold Space

Alexandria, a master esthetics student at Taylor Andrews Academy-St. George, described discovering the importance of grounding herself before trying to support anyone else.

Meditation, which she once thought was silly, has become a practice she now relies on regularly.

“I can't help somebody feel a certain way if I'm feeling overwhelmed and stressed out myself.”

Beauty professionals are often expected to be listeners, encouragers, and safe spaces for the people they serve. But students are learning that in order to hold space for others, they must first learn how to hold space for themselves.

That is not a lesson that has historically been taught in beauty education, and yet it may be one of the most valuable.

Alexandria also shared that she has become more aware of how easy it can be to absorb other people's emotions and experiences. Rather than taking on someone else's negativity, she is learning to pause, reflect, and respond differently. Those moments of awareness may seem small, but they can completely change how someone moves through their day.

They're Learning That It's Okay to Pause

Dallas, a student at Taylor Andrews Academy-St. George, who is also a full-time working mom, shared that one of the greatest reminders the Vitality Project has given her is that it's okay to take time for herself.

“The Vitality Project reminds me that it's okay to take time for myself, create boundaries, and recharge so I can come back and be my best the next day.”

In an industry that has long celebrated hustle culture, this mindset creates a healthier foundation for a career that lasts.

Longevity is not built by constantly running on empty. Longevity is built by learning when to pause. It is built by creating habits that allow beauty professionals to show up tomorrow, next year, and decades from now with the same passion that brought them into the industry in the first place.

Students are beginning to understand that taking care of themselves is not selfish. It is part of becoming a sustainable professional.

Giving Students Something Previous Generations Never Had

Perhaps one of the most powerful perspectives comes from Rosa Montez, Clinic Service Manager at Ogle School, San Antonio.

After decades in the industry, she reflected on what it would have meant to have these tools when she was a student herself.

“I've been in this industry for 37 years, and if I had access to something like the Vitality Project when I was in beauty school, I truly believe my career would have looked different. It would have given me tools to build healthier habits, create more balance, and sustain myself throughout my career.”

That perspective is profound because this is not about fixing students. It's about equipping them. It's about giving today's students access to skills that many previous generations simply were never taught.

More Than Preparing Students for State Boards

Today's students are stepping into a very different beauty industry than previous generations did. Technical excellence will always matter, but so will knowing how to navigate stress, communicate with intention, protect their energy, and build habits that support them for years to come.

The Vitality Project is helping schools do more than prepare students for graduation day. It's helping them prepare for the reality of a career built around serving others every single day.

Long after students pass their state boards, they may not remember every technical lesson they learned in school. They will, however, remember the skills that helped them stay grounded, navigate hard seasons, and continue showing up for themselves and the people they serve.

Those are the skills that will carry them throughout their careers, no matter where life takes them.

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The Part of the Job Nobody Talks About

Maddie (Taylor Andrews Academy), Adele, Rosa Montez and Michelle Dietrich

Ask almost any beauty professional who's been behind the chair long enough, and they'll tell you there is a part of the job no one really prepared them for.

It isn't the long hours, the physical demands, or even the pressure of keeping a full book.

It's what people tell you once they sit down.

Relationship struggles. Family problems. Heartbreak. Grief. Financial stress. Health scares. Sometimes the conversation is joyful. Sometimes it's incredibly heavy. Sometimes it touches a part of your own story.

Then the appointment ends. You clean your station, reset the room, and welcome the next client.

That emotional transition is part of the job too. We just haven't always treated it that way.

The Emotional Labor We Rarely Name

There is an intimacy created when someone sits in your chair or lies on your treatment table. Over time, clients may share things they haven't told many other people. Beauty professionals become trusted confidants, sounding boards, cheerleaders, and sometimes the person who happens to be there during a particularly difficult season of someone's life.

That human connection is one of the most meaningful parts of this industry. It also requires something from the professional on the other side of the conversation.

The emotional demand isn't always created by one particularly heavy appointment. Often, it's cumulative. In a single day, a stylist may celebrate an engagement, listen to someone process a divorce, hear about a parent's diagnosis, encourage a client through a career change, and sit quietly with someone who simply needs a safe place to land.

All while formulating color, watching the clock, staying on schedule, performing highly skilled work, and preparing emotionally for whoever sits down next.

The client experiences one appointment. The beauty professional may experience eight different emotional worlds before going home.

Caring Doesn't Have to Mean Carrying

Historically, there hasn't been much conversation in our industry about what professionals are supposed to do with all of that. You listen. You empathize. You care. Then what?

There is an important distinction between being present with someone and becoming responsible for what they're going through. Empathy and emotional absorption are not the same thing.

The Vitality Project introduces beauty professionals to the practice of holding space: creating room for another person's experience without feeling responsible for fixing it, changing it, or carrying it yourself.

For a stylist, that could mean listening to a client going through a divorce without spending the rest of the day worrying about them. An esthetician can have compassion for someone's grief without bringing that grief into the next treatment. A nail tech can recognize when something a client shares hits close to home and know how to ground themself before moving forward with the day.

The relationship doesn't become less meaningful. The professional learns where their responsibility ends.

What Many Pros Learned Through Experience, Students Are Learning in School

Many established beauty professionals entered the industry without ever being taught how to navigate the emotional side of client relationships. For many, those boundaries only became clear after they had taken client stories home, tried to fix what wasn't theirs to fix, and felt the accumulated weight of caring for people day after day.

Some of today's future professionals are getting the opportunity to enter the industry with that awareness already in place.

At schools using The Vitality Project, students are learning that the emotional side of working with people deserves preparation too. They're having conversations about boundaries, emotional regulation, holding space, and how to remain compassionate without taking responsibility for everything a client is experiencing.

Maddie, an esthetics student at Taylor Andrews Academy in St. George, Utah, began recognizing this reality once she started working with clients on her treatment table.

“I've had clients who get so much more personal when they're on your table. Learning to set boundaries has helped me realize I can still give my clients everything I have without taking their struggles home with me.”

She's learning before graduation what many professionals have spent years trying to figure out: you can be present without absorbing.

Fellow Taylor Andrews cosmetology student Adele has begun noticing another part of the equation: what she brings into an interaction matters too.

“If you're not well, then you're not doing your job well.”

Adele described noticing what happens when she carries her own stress into an interaction. A small comment can hit differently. Her tone can change. Her patience can become shorter. When she gives herself a moment to reset first, she can approach the conversation differently.

These students aren't being taught to avoid the emotional realities of the profession. They're learning how to meet them.

What Happens Between One Client and the Next

A client leaves after an emotionally heavy appointment. There are five minutes before the next client arrives. This is one of the moments no one sees.

There isn't always time for a long break or an opportunity to fully process what was just shared. The schedule keeps moving, which means beauty professionals need ways to create a transition when the work itself rarely provides one.

For some, that may be a few intentional breaths. For others, it may be noticing the tension in their body, putting their feet on the ground, and taking a moment to come back to themselves.

The Vitality Project teaches a visualization called the Golden Bubble, designed to help create an emotional boundary while still allowing someone to remain compassionate and present.

The practice reinforces a simple idea: I can care about what I just heard without carrying it into the next appointment.

These practices don't require a major interruption to the day. They create a moment of transition where one might not otherwise exist.

A Generation Entering the Industry With Different Tools

There is something especially powerful about hearing students talk about these skills when you consider how many experienced professionals were never given them.

Rosa Montez, a beauty professional who has spent 37 years in the industry, reflected on the wellness education students have access to today and what it might have meant for her own career had those resources been available earlier.

“If I could have had this back when I was in beauty school, I think my life would be in a totally different area now.”

That perspective says a lot.

One generation largely learned through experience. Another has an opportunity to begin with language, tools, and conversations that haven't historically been part of preparing someone for this profession.

Michelle Dietrich, Senior Director of Campus Operations with Ogle School, sees that preparation as part of equipping students for the reality of working with clients. Through Vitality, she has watched students and instructors develop tools that can help future professionals navigate the emotional side of those relationships and become, in her words, better equipped to handle that too and not take it home with them.

The Privilege of Being Trusted

There is a reason clients tell their beauty professionals things they don't tell everyone else.

The chair and treatment room can become places where people feel seen. The relationship is personal. The conversations are real. Being trusted in that way is one of the great privileges of working in this industry.

It is also possible to honor that trust without becoming responsible for everything someone places in your hands.

Beauty professionals can offer compassion and a listening ear while still recognizing the boundaries of their professional role. Holding space isn't about having the right advice or fixing the problem. It's about being present while recognizing what is, and isn't, yours to carry.

The emotional side of this work has always existed. What's changing is our willingness to acknowledge it and prepare beauty professionals for it.

For those who have spent years behind the chair, that may mean finally having language for something they've felt throughout their careers. For the next generation, it may mean entering the industry with tools many professionals wish they'd had from the beginning.

The stories will always be part of the work. Now, we're getting better at preparing for what it means to be the person trusted to hear them.

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More Than a Lesson: When Vitality Becomes Part of Everyday Life

Journei Bales · Advanced Esthetics Educator, Crave Beauty Academy

In many beauty and wellness schools, programs are introduced with a clear goal: improve student outcomes, increase engagement, and better prepare future professionals for the realities of the industry.

But sometimes, something deeper happens. The tools do not just stay in the classroom. They follow people home. That is what Journei Bales, an Advanced Esthetics Educator, experienced after teaching the Vitality Project at Crave Beauty Academy.

When It Becomes Personal

At first, the work looked like what most beauty and wellness school educators expect: guiding students through Mindful Moments, journaling exercises, and conversations designed to build awareness and resilience. But over time, something shifted. What Journei was teaching her students started showing up in her own life.

“I've used the concepts I was teaching in Vitality outside of school and work. My little sister is 13, and I had her do the tapping Mindful Moment with me.”

It started simply by just sharing a tool. But it did not stop there.

When It Moves Into Real Life

As Journei continued using the practices, they began to create moments that went beyond what typically happens in a classroom. Journei reflected on sharing a special moment with her mom.

“My mom and I sat down one day and did the journaling activity from one of the lessons together. We ended up having a really meaningful conversation, and she cried. It was good.”

These moments are not structured lessons, but are real conversations. Moments that do not come from being told what to say, but from having the tools to open the door.

Information Versus Integration

There is a difference between information and integration.

Every beauty and wellness school teaches information. Students learn techniques, procedures, product knowledge, and professional standards. Educators deliver lessons every day that are designed to help students succeed in their careers. But the lessons that create lasting change are the ones people continue using long after the class is over.

That is what stands out in Journei's experience. The tools she was introducing in the classroom did not stay there. They became part of conversations with her family. They became something she reached for in her personal life. They became practices she trusted enough to share with the people she cared about most.

For school leaders, that distinction matters. When students and educators voluntarily bring something into their everyday lives, it is often a sign that the learning has moved beyond participation and into genuine adoption.

Why Educators Need This Too

In beauty and wellness education, so much focus is placed on students' growth, their success, and their future in the industry. Beauty and wellness educators are at the center of all of it. They are the ones holding space, managing energy, guiding conversations, and mentoring students through some of the most formative moments of their lives. To do that well, they need support too.

How an educator feels directly impacts how they show up. How they show up shapes the experience their students have every single day.

There is a simple truth in human behavior: people mirror what they see. Students are constantly observing how their educators handle stress, communicate, regulate their emotions, and take care of themselves.

When educators prioritize their own wellbeing, when they use tools that help them feel more grounded, more present, and more supported, students notice. And more importantly, they begin to model it.

From Learning to Living

That is what makes this kind of work so impactful. It does not stay contained to a lesson plan and it becomes something that is lived.

“I even make my boyfriend do it with me sometimes, and I told my therapist about it.”

This is where the shift happens. It is no longer something you teach. It becomes something you trust. Trust is not something that can be mandated. It cannot be created through a policy, a presentation, or a checklist. It develops through experience.

The reason Journei continues to use these tools outside of school is not because someone asked her to. It is because she experienced their value firsthand. The practices became useful in moments that mattered to her, which transformed them from classroom exercises into personal resources.

That is often where the greatest impact happens. Not when someone completes a lesson, but when they remember it weeks or months later and choose to use it on their own.

A Different Kind of Impact

When educators begin to use these tools in their own lives, something important changes. They do not just teach the material, they understand it. That understanding creates more authenticity, more connection, and more trust with students. Students can feel the difference between something being taught and something being lived. When educators feel better, more supported, and more regulated, they are able to do what they came into this industry to do: guide, mentor, and change lives.

For school leaders, stories like Journei's offer an important reminder. The most meaningful educational experiences are not always reflected in a report or a metric. Sometimes their impact appears in places you never expected to see it: a conversation between a mother and daughter, a wellness practice shared with a sibling, or a tool that becomes part of someone's personal support system.

Those moments may happen outside the classroom, but they are evidence that something meaningful happened inside it.