Today we’d like to introduce you to KC Marie.
Hi KC, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I actually started my first business in high school. I used to sell lash strips in the hallways, and eventually I built my own website where I sold hair scarves, lip gloss, lash books, and other little girly things. I was shipping orders all over the country—I remember getting orders from California, New York, Florida, and different places I had never even been. Looking back, I think that was really my first introduction to entrepreneurship. I always had this mindset of, “Okay, what can I create? How can I make this work?”
Going into my senior year, my mom became unemployed, and I remember thinking, “Okay, how am I going to pay for my senior dues and everything I need?” Around that same time, lash extensions were becoming really popular, and I started noticing girls making good money doing them. I thought, “Let me try it.”
So I did. I started practicing on my family, posting my work online, and people actually started responding to it. I was still learning, but people liked my work and eventually started booking me.
I started on my mom’s living room couch. From there, I went to working in someone else’s shop, and eventually I was able to acquire my own space. I didn’t have some perfect business plan when I started. I was really just figuring things out as I went, learning, making mistakes, and reinvesting into myself and my business.
COVID happened during my senior year, so I didn’t even get the traditional high school graduation experience. While everyone else was experiencing that transition into adulthood, I was working and trying to build something for myself.
And now, eight years later, it honestly blows my mind. Just today, Facebook showed me a memory from eight years ago of me practicing lash extensions. Seeing that was such a full-circle moment because I can look at that younger version of myself and realize she had no idea what she was actually starting.
What started as a teenager selling lashes in the hallways eventually became a career, a business, and a life that I’ve continued to build for myself. I think I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spirit in me—I just kept finding new ways to use it. I’m really proud of how far I’ve come, and I’m even more excited about where I’m going next.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Honestly, no. I don’t think entrepreneurship is ever a completely smooth road. There’s always going to be a roadblock, whether it’s building your clientele, reaching financial goals, making decisions too quickly, moving too slowly, or even dealing with people close to you who don’t fully understand or support what you’re building.
One thing I’ve had to learn is that your family and friends aren’t necessarily your target audience. Sometimes you can be looking around expecting the people closest to you to support you, and when they don’t, it can make you question yourself. But I’ve learned not to let that determine the value of what I’m building.
There have also been times when I had certain goals in my head and things weren’t happening as quickly as I wanted them to. I’ve had moments where I genuinely wanted to quit. Looking back now, some of the things I thought were the end of the world are things I can laugh about because I realize they were just part of the process.
I don’t know anyone whose entrepreneurial journey has been perfect, because life itself isn’t perfect. My perspective is that you have to decide what you’re going to make out of whatever happens to you. Things can go wrong from one day to the next, but you have to keep going.
There were situations years ago where I could have allowed people or circumstances to deter me from what I felt was meant for me. I’m grateful I didn’t. I think that’s one of the biggest mindsets you have to have as an entrepreneur: you have to be willing to keep believing in yourself even when the results aren’t showing up yet. Sometimes you have to keep going long enough to see why you couldn’t quit.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about KCLASHEDME and KcTaughtMe ?
My businesses, KC Lashed Me and KC Taught Me, are really two sides of the same journey.
KC Lashed Me is my lash extension business, which has been such a huge part of my life for the past eight years. I’m a licensed beauty professional, and what started as me learning how to do lash extensions has grown into a career that has allowed me to build genuine relationships with my clients, travel, work in different cities, and create a life through my own skill.
One of my favorite parts of having a service-based business has always been my clients. Some of them have literally watched me grow from the beginning, and hearing them say things like, “We watched you start from the beginning—keep going,” means so much to me. Those relationships have kept me motivated through different seasons of my business.
I’ve also had the opportunity to take my business outside of Michigan. I moved to Texas for about two years, where I met amazing people and worked in beautiful salons. That experience taught me that what I built wasn’t limited to one location. I could take my skills, my brand, and my vision anywhere.
That journey is what eventually led me to KC Taught Me.
KC Taught Me is my newer venture, where I want to help other women build beyond just learning a skill. When I first started, I didn’t have someone I could call with all the questions that come after taking the class—How do I build my clientele? How do I market myself? How do I create a brand? How do I actually turn this skill into a business and a lifestyle?
I’ve experienced a lot of trial and error over the years, and now I want to use what I’ve learned to help other women avoid feeling stuck in that space.
What sets my brand apart is that I don’t just want women to learn how to do something. I want them to understand that they can create freedom for themselves through it. But I also believe that freedom doesn’t happen without the work. You have to be willing to put in the legwork, try new things, evolve, and never become too comfortable with where you are.
I’m most proud of the fact that my brand has continued to evolve with me. I started with lashes, but the bigger purpose has always been about creating possibilities for myself and showing other women that they can do the same.
KC Lashed Me represents what I’ve built, and KC Taught Me represents what I feel called to give back. I want women to know that whatever they envision for their lives is possible, but it starts from within. You have to believe in yourself enough to keep trying, keep learning, and keep going.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
To me, success is a feeling you have on the inside. I think a lot of people define success by the money they make, the followers they have, the clothes they wear, the car they drive, or how their life looks from the outside. And while those things can be nice, I don’t believe they automatically mean that you’re successful.
In my own journey, I’ve experienced different versions of what people would consider success, and I’ve realized that true success is having peace of mind and freedom. It’s waking up and knowing that you have the ability to create the life you actually want for yourself.
Success, to me, is being able to make choices from a place of freedom instead of feeling trapped by circumstances. It’s being proud of the person you’ve become, being able to enjoy what you’ve worked for, and having the freedom to pursue the things that genuinely make you happy.
Of course, I still have goals and things I want to accomplish. I’m ambitious, and I want more for myself. But I don’t want to achieve everything I’m chasing and still feel empty on the inside. I want the success I build externally to match the peace and fulfillment I have internally.
So for me, success isn’t just about what you have. It’s about how you feel when you have it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: KCLASHEDME
