The Pro Beauty Pod

Anouska Anastasia is a nail artist from London, known for her creative miniature nail art masterpieces. She's worked on many high-profile collaborations with brands like Nike, Gymshark, and Depop. She co-founded NUKA nails and shares her techniques on TikTok. Starting as a hobby, she turned her passion into a successful business. Her signature method involves painting a slip layer, floating a bead...

Fiona Brackenbury is a renowned skin expert and skincare brand consultant. Her career has spanned from hands-on treatments, educating, product development, and content creation. In this episode, recorded live on stage at Professional Beauty London, she tells us how to expand your career beyond the salon walls to make money from consultancy, social media and more. She also tackles the rise of skinc...

Dominic Skinner is one of the biggest names working in makeup today. As director of makeup artistry for MAC, a session MUA and a head judge for BBC's Glow Up series, he knows what it takes to make it in makeup. In this episode, recorded live on stage at Professional Beauty London, Dominic chats to successful MUA James Macinerney (aka James Mac) about how to make a name for yourself in the competit...

Trevor Steyn was a visionary chemist and entrepreneur at the pinnacle of probiotic and microbiome research, and through Esse, he was pioneering a new era of personalised skincare. Trevor sadly passed away on November 1st 2025, shortly after we recorded this episode, where we discussed the latest developments in microbiome research, how to rebalance the skin's microbiome and how aesthetic trea...

Nathalie Eleni is a celebrity makeup artist and facialist as well as a beauty editor and Abi Oleck is an advanced facialist, holistic aesthetician, and skin expert educator. In this episode, recorded live on stage at Professional Beauty London, the two share their advice on how to make a name for yourself as a facials, how to work with A-list clients and how to make it on social media. We are so e...

Jolene Rees runs the award-winning Innovations Advanced Skincare & Beauty in Stockton-on-Tees and Kelly Shaw is owner of K:Spa in Hampshire as well as being a business coach and mentor. In this episode, recorded live on stage at Professional Beauty London, the two share their advice on how to navigate challenging changes in the business landscape while remaining profitable and retaining a stro...

A pioneering figure in the beauty industry, Karen Betts is a driving force behind innovation and empowerment in brows and semi-permanent makeup artistry. Karen shares how she scaled her business and created a name synonymous with brows as well as opening up about the major challenges she faced along the way and how she came back stronger. We are so excited to bring you this podcast, available on S...

In this episode, we speak to Shea Osei - the British-Jamaican, Essex-based nail tech who went from a Stratford salon owner to the silver screen, creating some of the most talked about nails in history for Cynthia Erivo’s character Elphaba in the hit movie Wicked . We chat about what it was like working as a nail tech on a blockbuster movie - all while heavily pregnant, the importance of Black voic...

In this episode of The Pro Beauty Pod, Eve Oxberry speaks with skincare powerhouse Caroline Hirons. In this episode, sponsored by Vagaro , we discuss Caroline's journey into the beauty industry and how that evolved through skincare and brand consultancy into authoring best-selling skincare books and launching a brand. Caroline also talks about how to make a name for yourself online, including how...

In this episode of The Pro Beauty Pod, Ellen Cummings sits down with Dr Ahmed El Muntasar. We discuss Dr Ahmed's journey into medicine and his transition to aesthetics, as well as how he built up over one million followers on social media. Dr Ahmed also explains how he ethically promotes his business, as well as why he thinks regulation is so important in aesthetics. Don't miss Dr Ahmed's talk on...

Spas and salons are already starting to consider the  importance of scent  when it comes to setting the mood in the space, creating memorable multi-sensory experiences and even brand recognition and awareness. Freddie Moross believes that music in the wellness space should be approached with the same level of curation and professionalism which is exactly what he is doing with startup Myn...

In this episode of The Pro Beauty Pod, Lollie Hancock sits down with educator and make-up artist Astrid Kearney. We discuss ageism in the beauty industry, and how she's nurturing the next generation of make-up artists. The pair also discuss Kearney’s experiences on set, career highlights with Tom Cruise and Sienna Miller, and the power of a good lipstick. Follow Kearney on Instagram @astridkearney...

Beauty industry veteran Anna McCartney the founder and CEO of Élan Laser Clinics is all about sun safety and skin surveillance after suffering from skin cancer caused by sun damage herself. With Professional Beauty's deputy editor Kezia Parkins, Anna discusses the MASCED training the franchise uses to help their beauty therapists feel empowered to signpost possible cancers and the importance of sh...

In this episode of The Pro Beauty Pod, Amy Bates discusses leaving a successful career in the police to transition into beauty and explains why body positivity and inclusion are so important in the beauty industry. In this episode of The Pro Beauty Pod, Ellen Cummings sits down with hair and make-up artist Amy Bates, founder of The Beauty Rebellion. We discuss why she left a successful career in t...

We spoke to Cigdem about her fascinating journey to founding Skin Masterclass Pro and how the cult brand The Ordinary opened doors to making people more interested in learning about skincare and active ingredients.  We chatted about her experience being an expat in Malaysia and the pros and cons of setting up and running a business away from home. She also offers tips on getting going as an e...

PB's editor Eve catches up with Corinna Tolan, advanced skincare specialist and chief executive of Monica Tolan Skin and Beauty Clinics As well as being an absolute expert on all things skin health, Corinna is also super successful on social media and even has her own podcast too. We chat to Corinna about what it really takes for beauty professionals to make a name for themselves and grow their bu...

In this episode of The Pro Beauty Pod, content writer Ellen Cummings is joined by mobile spa therapist and PB Awards finalist Hayley Snishko. Hayley reveals how she knew she wanted to join the beauty industry from a young age, and details her journey from working in a spa to setting up her own award-winning business, Home Sanctuary. She also discusses the motivations behind her Massage4MentalHealt...

For the third instalment of The Pro Beauty Pod, content writer Lollie Hancock was lucky enough to sit down with MUA to the stars Letitia Sophia. In the episode, Letitia shares her career journey, from sales assistant at MAC to celebrity MUA, as well as giving insight into what life's like as Maya Jama's MUA of choice, a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into doing Maya's make-up for Love Island,...

Deputy editor Kezia Parkins sat down with Lucie Allen, New Forest-based beauty therapist and this year’s Therapist of the Year at the PB Awards. Lucie has some of the most varied education and experience as an avid learner. Her unquenchable thirst for knowledge has led her to qualifications in everything from nail technology and dermatology to nutrition and microbiology. In this episode, we discus...

Staff retention is one of the biggest challenges faced by salon owners today so we sat down with Elaine Beattie beauty industry veteran and award-winning salon owner to get some insights and top tips. We are so excited to bring you this podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get your podcasts - please like, rate and subscribe and follow us on  Instagram  and&n...

The Pro Beauty editorial team Eve, Kezia, Ellen and Lollie let me know what you are in for with our brand new podcast - The Pro Beauty Pod. Expect insights, insider tips, secrets and success stories from beauty leaders and entrepreneurs as well as the up-and-comers innovating and steering us towards the future. Enjoy! We are so excited to bring you this podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts...