Today we’d like to introduce you to Katarzyna Tansey.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I came to the United States as an immigrant more than 20 years ago with almost nothing—no money, no connections, and English as a brand-new language. What I did bring with me was a deep passion for beauty, skincare, and the kind of confidence that comes from feeling at home in your own skin.
Before opening OM SPA in Chicago, I worked for years as a licensed esthetician in Europe and then here in the U.S., slowly rebuilding my career from the ground up. I started in tiny rental rooms, working long hours, taking every advanced training I could afford, and reinvesting everything back into my education. Over time, I expanded into what became my true calling: permanent makeup, paramedical tattooing, and advanced cosmetic skincare.
Today, I’m proud to be the founder of OM SPA, a boutique beauty and cosmetic tattoo studio located in Chicago, with a 1,500 sq ft space designed to help clients look natural, confident, and timeless. We specialize in brows, lip blushing, scar blending, areola restoration, and scalp micropigmentation, along with advanced acne scar and skin rejuvenation treatments.
Along the way, I also became an educator and began training new professionals from Chicago, the Midwest, and throughout the country. OM SPA Academy now offers permanent makeup training, microblading training, lip blushing courses, and scalp micropigmentation training for artists who want to build a high-end clientele and change lives through this work.
What makes this journey meaningful to me is that it’s proof that you can start from zero and build something real—even if you’re in a new country, starting over in a new language. My mission now is two-fold:
To give clients natural results that help them feel confident every day, with or without makeup.
To train beauty professionals so they can build successful careers and transform their own futures.
It hasn’t been easy. It took sacrifice, discipline, and thousands of hours of learning and perfecting my craft. But I believe beauty done well can change a life—and I’m grateful every day that I get to do this work in Chicago, a city that became my home long before the business did.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not — it has not been a smooth road. And honestly, I wouldn’t want it to be. Growth rarely happens in comfort.
As an immigrant building a business in Chicago from zero, I faced almost every obstacle you can imagine: a new language, no financial safety net, and no network to rely on. I worked multiple jobs while studying advanced esthetics and cosmetic tattooing, and every dollar I earned went back into education, supplies, certifications, and saving for a space of my own.
There were moments when I struggled to pay rent for my treatment room. There were months with almost no clients. I dealt with self-doubt, industry gatekeeping, and the pressure to prove that permanent makeup, scalp micropigmentation, and advanced cosmetic skincare were not just “beauty services,” but life-changing work.
One of the hardest challenges was navigating the business side — learning marketing, laws and regulations, licensing requirements, booking systems, online attacks, fake reviews, and the emotional exhaustion that comes with being a founder. But every challenge forced me to become stronger and more strategic.
Today, when I walk into my 1,500 sq ft OM SPA studio, I remember all of it. The setbacks, the pivots, and the days when the dream felt impossible are exactly what built the discipline, skill, and resilience behind this brand.
So no — it hasn’t been easy. But it has been absolutely worth it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What excites me most about my career today is not just the transformation I create for clients, but the transformation I get to witness in the professionals I train. My work has evolved from simply performing services to shaping a new standard for natural, ethical, long-lasting beauty in Chicago and the Midwest.
As an artist, my philosophy is simple: beauty should enhance someone’s identity, not replace it. Brows shouldn’t enter the room before the person does. Lips shouldn’t look stamped on. Scalp micropigmentation should be undetectable, even up close. I focus on tones, undertones, texture, and aging of pigment so that results age gracefully and respect the client’s ethnicity and facial structure.
As an educator, my role is to make sure my students understand that technique alone is not enough. I teach not only microblading, powder brows, lip blushing, or SMP — but also skin science, color theory, ethics, client psychology, and business foundations, so they can build careers that are sustainable, not just trendy.
Some of my proudest moments are when former students message me to say they left a job they hated, opened their own studio, or helped a client cry happy tears after seeing themselves with new brows, lips, or restored confidence after hair loss or scars. That ripple effect is the real work.
My career now is about impact and legacy — elevating our industry, protecting clients, and supporting artists so they have more than a skill: they have a profession, a voice, and a future.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
No one builds something meaningful alone, and I am grateful for the people who have stood with me throughout this journey.
First, my husband deserves a great deal of credit. He has been one of my strongest supporters—encouraging me, challenging me, and standing by my side while I brought my vision for OM SPA to life. When you are building a business, especially in a new country, having someone who believes in you makes a real difference.
I am also deeply thankful for the clients who trusted me in the early days, long before I had a beautiful studio or a recognizable brand. Their trust allowed me to grow, refine my craft, and invest in advanced education so I could later teach others.
And finally, I am grateful for my students and industry colleagues. Teaching has shown me that success multiplies when knowledge is shared, and I am proud to see artists I trained building careers, opening studios, and changing lives through this work.
This has always been a combination of personal determination and the support of people who believed in what I was building. I carry that with me every day.
Pricing:
- We offer highly customized treatment plans and training programs, so pricing varies based on each client’s or student’s needs. Readers are welcome to explore our current menu and availability at: www.omspachicago.com or to request details directly through our booking concierge.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.omspachicago.com
- Instagram: #omspachicago
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KatarzynaTanseyOMSPA
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/om-spa-cosmetic-tattoo-make-up-and-skin-care-clinic-chicago?osq=om+spa+chicago
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/omspachicago/
