Meet Akeia Washington | Lash Artist & Lash Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Akeia Washington and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Akeia, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Taking risks has been a major key in the success of my business thus far, as well in my personal life. Taking risks has elevated me and placed me in a position I’d never thought I’d be in. When I first began my  Lash Career in 2018  it was just a thought and I was working unhappily at a call center, I had already been contemplating pursuing my lash career. We were laid off with a  $2300 severance package  and I stepped out on faith and took a risk and invested that entire severance pay to my school to become licensed. I ain’t gone lie man it was hard like extremely hard especially with raising 3 kids. But hey success requires hard work and determination and CONSISTENCY!! Here I am now 3 years laters with MY established BUSINESS & BRAND. And I’m still reaching for greatness.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I consider myself to be a Lash Guru. I am the Owner of XquisitelyMinked & Cosmetics and I love lashes like I literally love lashes. What sets me apart from others is that I love what I do and I love my clients. Like I love my clients, especially the ones who’ve been riding the wave with me since I first started my lash journey. They’ve seen me through some hard times and they NEVER left my side. I’m proud to say that as a single mother of 3 that I surpassed so many statistics and my business is still going strong in a full blown pandemic. I’ve been blessed to stay booked from my clients to my lash trainings. It was not easy getting to where I am today and I’m still elevating. It took a lot of hard work and dedication and a lot of cries and screams. I overcame these challenges by praying and having my amazing family to support me cause it literally took a village. I’ve learned that in this life that no matter what obstacles come your way to keep pushing. Have faith and believe that everything happens for a reason whether good or bad. I want the world to know that everyone has a past and it’s up to you to dictate how your story will be written. I want the world to know that XquisitelyMinked & Cosmetics will be GLOBAL.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a big kid at heart and I’m a simple person as well but I do love a good twerking session. I enjoy science and I’m into aliens and the universe. So I would go to the Aquarium, the Arboretum, and the science and nature museum. I would drive South Padre and enjoy the beach. Now as far as food there are sooo many restaurants I haven’t tried. I would go to Perry’s Steakhouse, Nusr-Et Steakhouse Dallas, Xoxo Dining Room, Kitchen & Kocktails. There are a lot of things, people and places that I have yet to discover.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to first and foremost thank God for allowing me to be here to have this opportunity. Secondly to my beautiful client Shonquinta for recommending me for this opportunity cause man this was sooo unexpected. This may be small for some people but this is HUGE for me!! I want to dedicate this shout out to my 3 beautiful children and my mama because man without y’all it LITERALLY wouldn’t be no me!! I want to give credit to every single one of my clients for booking me, referring me, tagging me, encouraging me and just overall supporting me. I love every single one of y’all from the bottom of my heart.

Website: https://www.xquisitelyminkedcosmetics.com/

Instagram: XquisitelyMinked