Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephani Sullivan.
Hi Stephani, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I feel like most transformations I hear about started during Covid, and mine is no different. In 2019, 6 months after my boyfriend moved to the Netherlands and 2 weeks before the pandemic, I joined my first yoga teacher training. For the first time in my life, I had the space to think and new questions to ask. In 2020, I quit my job as Manager of Account Management for an architectural fabrication company in Chicago in order to move to the Netherlands to join my boyfriend and the company he started there. The day I quit my job, I broke up with that boyfriend. That space to think and new questions to ask had lead to me asking some bigger questions; questions like, “Who am I, really?” and “Do I even like the path I’ve been blindly following?”. Turns out, I didn’t know who I was, and I didn’t like the the path I was following.
Questions turned into another yoga teacher training – this time 6 weeks in Quito, Ecuador in 2021 studying Tantra and Shamanism – which turned into teaching yoga back home while slowly trying to unravel the parts that were me from the parts that society expected me to be.
Months passed, my lease was up, and my soul was itching for a new challenge. I randomly decided to move to Austin; my sister randomly happened to live an hour away. I spent a few months living with my sister and her family, resigned to another corporate job to replenish my depleted savings after months of finding myself.
I spent the next 3 years in a cushy tech job with a great boss, great coworkers, great clients, and a dead heart. I pushed my yoga practice to new boundaries, but couldn’t find the peace I used to feel. As the summer of 2024 rolled around and I looked at turning 35, I realized I had been spending the last year wishing my working hours away. The lessons I learned in my trainings kept coming to me. It felt like the time to finally make a change.
During my integration and while putting my practice into action, I had come to realize the quiet peace that arose inside of me when I was in service for others. But it took a few years for me to finally unprogram the final bits of societal expectation and actually decide to live outside of the traditional 9-5 structure.
I worked full time and enrolled in school part time, planning on working + saving as much as I could before my transition. I had told my boss that he could expect me to stay on until I found a job in my new field, and that I expected the whole process to take about a year. Except as soon as I actually got in a treatment room and performed my first facial, I knew that was it. I emailed my boss later that night to let him know that I would actually be leaving in 6 weeks.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Esthetics and the world of beauty is in no way a smooth road. We are taught some basics, but the how and the why must be individually learned. It’s a very personality- and vibe-driven industry, so it’s absolutely important to find a place that fits for you. I’m so so grateful that I came into this industry with a ton of professional experience under my belt; I can’t imagine doing this job as the 19 year old version of me. The imposter syndrome is REAL though; one day I’m feeling so good about what I can do, the next I am SO aware that I know nothing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am a licensed esthetician specializing in skin rejuvenation treatments. My perspective on skin and aging is holistic – the care of our skin and our faces happens from the inside out.
The treatments I offer at Necessary Rituals are based on how I care for my skin in between more intense medspa treatments; tightening, brightening, and lifting treatments for the skin, and opening + releasing massages for the face. I love the concept of turning a daily task into a ritual – making every day a little vacation is just the magic everyone needs in their lives. Grounding scents, soothing sounds, and calm energy turns the mundane into the special.
I specialize in facial massage – lymphatic, sculpting, and buccal. My facial massages are intuitively woven together from different trainings as well as my yoga/meditation background to specifically target each client’s needs. I think my favorite reaction from a client after her massage was – “I’m not sure what you did to me but I feel like I’m on mushrooms” – which, heck yes girl!!
At the medspa I also work at (ATX Aesthetics), I specialize in Microneedling. Microneedling is an incredible treatment that corrects numerous skin conditions, from rebuilding collagen to smoothing fine lines, and softening pigmentation + acne scarring. It’s just the absolute must for your skin if you are looking to do just one thing.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up I was always the odd one out. I’m half Taiwanese and half white, and grew up in a pretty white suburb. I was always ‘the Asian’ to the white people, and ‘the half white girl’ to the Asian people .. no one really knew where to put me. As a result of this, I was incredibly quiet and shy growing up. Raised mostly by my Taiwanese mother, I still culturally identify as Taiwanese, but socially white. I played violin, studied all the time, went to Chinese school, was in honors classes, and (mostly) got straight A’s. I wasn’t allowed my own hobbies or interests, and barely allowed friends that weren’t part of my Buddhist temple.
Pricing:
- Facial (70m): $150
- Sculpting Massage (70m): $140
- Lymphatic Massage (45m): $110
- Buccal Massage (75m): $170
- Skin Perfecting Mini Ritual (60m): $150+
Contact Info:
