Keiana Stewart has created a business empire that has led her brand to become an industry leader in the Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland area. With over 10 years of industry experience as a stylist, coloring expert, and provider of educational literature, she is expanding her empire. Smart Girl Brand (SGB) sat down with Keiana for a very authentic and transparent conversation.
SGB: Why did you start a Hydrafacial spa?
Keiana Stewart: A couple of years ago, I was like when I retire, I am going to open a Medspa on the water and I am not going to do hair anymore. My preliminary step to that was I started buying all types of skincare products and putting them in my salon. I was like the first actual salon that had Murad inside the salon, which was crazy at the time because Murad was only sold at Sephora.
Also at that time, I had just launched Metro PCS with my previous fiancé. It was like a big thing for me. I was just getting really into it and the he passed away. When he passed away, I had completely stopped doing the whole skincare project. I had launched all the products in December 2014 and had a major event and literally April 29, 2015 he passed away.
Long story short, God will use any mechanism to bless you. I did not want to do Metro PCS. It was his thing but I still had to fulfill the contract. My Metro PCS stores were the same thing that funded me and I took a year off of doing any outside business other than just hair.
Then I was like, I need to do skincare. I went through some old books I had in my house and I found this book called MedSpa. A couple weeks later I was getting my laser hair removal done and I was like yeah, I am going to do this for us.
SGB: How did you deal with your fiancé passing away and push forward?
Keiana Stewart: I went through so many phases. It was so shocking. I just became literally a workaholic. When I didn’t work, I travelled. I wasn’t myself but I didn’t realize that I wasn’t myself. I allowed myself to be so full in everything but my feelings.
My first year, I went into overdrive. I took one week off and my passion really healed me. One of the biggest things was that I had a lot of love around me and I didn’t realize how much people loved me because I had never been through anything. When you don’t go through anything you just think that people like you. But when I went through that, people really loved me.
My friends really made it their business to make sure that I was ok. I just allowed myself to go through every phase that I needed to go through. I was talking to a really close friend of mine and she was like when you don’t want to grieve anymore you don’t have to. Really, a couple of months after that, I was like, yeah I don’t want to grieve anymore. I allowed that to be my truth. I had done it all, soul searching, yoga, quiet time, and traveling the world.
My advice is take what ever journey you have to see your way through. Time really heals all wounds. Be forgiving of yourself and know that is okay.
SGB: What is your vision?
Keiana Stewart: My vision is that I am a full-blown Medspa and training facility. We are full staff and service the entire Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. Really educating black people to know that this is for us too.
Just like getting your breast done is common, that’s how I want people to feel about their face. Take care of yourself, your body and move beyond the outside. Skin is our largest organ and it’s the one we least care about. We are taught that skin takes care of itself but skin needs help too.
For more information about Keiana, follow her instagram profile @iamkstewart or website kstewart.com