Sofia Ignacio, daughter of Arnell Ignacio, is making a name for herself. Just like her father, she constantly aims for excellence by working diligently to improve her craft.
In high school, she wanted to be a makeup artist, now at 22, she is a OSHA-certified microblading artist who manages her own clinic, Creative Hair Systems.
The clinic, which has been in the family since 2005 and started by her father, offers custom toupees and semi-permanent makeup (SPMU) services for brows, lips, eyes, face and lash perming.
“I saw how it made so many women (and even men) genuinely confident and happy. I realized then that it was the perfect blend of three things I love: beauty, business and smiles,” Sofia told Manila Standard.
She was in college taking up Business Administration at the University of Asia and the Pacific when she started learning more about Semi-Permanent Makeup (SPMU) and took trainings for both Basic and Masteral SPMU at the Andy Pasion Asia Training Institute.
“She received her SPMU training certificates before she even walked down to PICC to receive her diploma!” the proud father said.
Sofia is also OSHA-certified which means she practices the U.S. standard of work safety and health protection and this ensures the neither her staff nor her clients will get an injury, infection or disease in her clinic.
Looking back, Sofia narrated her first ever customer, “a male gym buff who had kalat brows.”
“The goal was to give him a more macho shape. Since he was my first paying client, I really took my time on him and made him feel really special even if we went past clinic hours. He was in awe of my work but I was really exhausted. The great thing is that he loved the experience so much he referred me to his friends and family,” Sofia recalled.
Sofia is undoubtedly very talented in her craft– she has won an Excellence Award in Eyebrow Embroidery (Manual Stranding) at the Beauty Professional Philippines Semi-Permanent Makeup (SPMU) Competition among a host of other awards early on in her career—but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get to have ornery clients.
Luckily, she had her father, the clinic staff and her close friends to help her move past the situation.
“When I had that one mean client, I cried for three days, like I was laying in my bed in the dark. I didn’t know how to handle it but thankfully, my papa, my staff and close friends knocked some sense into me,” she narrated.
“I told her that she shouldn’t measure her worth on what other people say, and remember that she is loved and that she has the pleasure of calling her job her passion,” Arnell recalled.
Her father is also behind her all the way frequently linking and/or tagging her to trainings and always makes it a point to give her feedback, both negative and positive about her work.
Arnell also taught her about “excellence, commitment and creativity,” three values that go hand-in-hand.
“When you’re committed to something, you think about constantly improving not just your product or service but you and the people you work with. It’s going to take a lot of guts and ideas,” Arnell recalled telling Sofia.
Creative Hair Systems currently has only one branch at the Swire Elan Suites in San Juan City but not for long as Arnell revealed that they will be opening more branches soon.
“Creative Hair Systems has only 1 branch, located in Greenhills San Juan City. It’s been with the family since 2005 and having only one branch has helped us with quality control. Now that Sofia working for the family business, we have plans of opening more branches,” Arnel said.
Within five years, the goal for the clinic is to be known as a multi-awarded SPMU service provider as well as help those who will stand to benefit from their wigs and SPMU services: those with alopecia and cancer.
“So within five-years, I’ll need to win awards from local and international SPMU competitions,” Sofia said.