Sonali Chaturvedi co-founded Glam Set Go, a recently launched Loudoun County-based beauty on-the-go service, with her sister Shikha.
What inspired the launch of Glam Set Go? Unabashedly, I would say that my sister and I never really focused on getting glammed up for our day-to-day lives. We always assumed that glam was meant for special occasions — much to our mother’s chagrin. Admittedly, while we find ourselves to be fairly intelligent women, we never really understood contouring and baking, and I can tell you that transforming my wavy and frizzy hair by myself to something close to a professional blowout has never occurred to this day. And it is not for a lack of trying. As we continued to grow in our careers, the time to focus on beauty for ourselves just did not and certainly still does not seem to be there. And when we do have time, we value things like sleep and spending it with our family versus sitting at a salon all day waiting in front of a mirror for some transformation to occur.
We have all watched celebrities — surrounded by a crew of people constantly attending to their every need with hair and makeup — maybe in admiration but for me and my sister it was more in jealousy. I have certainly stated more than a few times to my loved ones, “If I had the ability to bring someone to my home and do my hair and makeup then I would also look fabulous all the time.” So we decided to do just that: create a way for everyone to have access to get glammed up in the convenience of their own home or the GlamTruck without monopolizing precious time.
How has your experience as a business owner and IT consultant prepared you for this venture? IT consulting and the beauty services industry may seem worlds apart. However, at the end of the day when you really break it down, in both cases it is about identifying a gap in the current system and trying to fill that need for a particular client base. In the case of Glam Set Go, we realized that home services were quite ample in major cities; however, there was a glaring hole in that service to the suburbs. It may be because in suburbia it’s always assumed that people want to get in their car and drive to a salon. However, our research indicated that in the suburbs the busy mom or dad, working woman or working man, for whom time is precious, would gladly accept hair and makeup services at home. And that is particularly true in this new pandemic era.
There are certainly other lessons learned in my previous business that can be transferred over. For example, ensuring that not only is our front office (which is client facing) is up and running but also that our back office (or the heart of the company) is able to support that front office. Beyond these technical lessons learned which have proven useful, the most important lesson that I have taken away from my IT consulting company is to stop and enjoy every moment of the evolution of a company. At the end of the day, forming a venture like this is like birthing and watching a child grow up.
What is special about the Glam Set Go trucks? Beyond entering our clients’ homes to provide hair and makeup services, we wanted to make sure that we brought all the perks of a salon to our clients’ home. And that is where our GlamTrucks come in. We realize that not only are people busy and lacking the time to come to salons but sometimes it is difficult to get hair and makeup services in home — be it space or family activities, etc. So, we bring the salon to our clients, a GlamTruck that is parked in our clients’ driveways which provides our client with everything a salon has to offer in the privacy of our clients’ property. Additionally, we not only want to provide our clients with the convenience of the salon but also the luxury aspect of the salon. Our clients will be pampered, including offering complimentary glasses of bubbly, to really make the experience memorable
How many people staff each truck? Each truck comes with a hair stylist, a makeup artist and a driver. While we have two glam stations at the current time, in order to achieve social distancing measures in line with CDC recommendations, we will have one client and stylist/artist on the truck at a time.
Does “glam” mean something different to different people? However a person thinks about getting glammed up, we believe that the most important part of the glam process is how the person feels after it’s done. I know that for my sister and I, even though we have different ways of getting glammed up, we both find that we feel a sense of confidence when we feel beautiful. It may seem superficial on paper, but there really is such an amazing feeling that can manifest when you add a little glam to your life. In this work from home era, if it’s blowing out your hair or adding a little highlighter to your cheeks, the sense of confidence that develops is so important mentally when stress starts to mount.
You’re launching during a difficult time for events, even weddings. How do you ensure Glam Set Go’s success? We understand how difficult things have been for families in the area and across the country. We are undergoing those very same stressors and pressures at the moment and it certainly is not easy to start a business in the middle of the pandemic. To try and launch a new business under normal circumstances often feels like an uphill battle, but with the pandemic that hill has felt more like a mountain. There have been times this can prove to be discouraging but we try and concentrate on why we do this — to restore some normalcy for our clients.