The beauty industry is booming! A quick scroll on social media or a stroll down the street will bring to mind dozens of salons, from hair to skin. Estheticians are in high demand. The skin is a multi-billion dollar business, from makeup to facials to waxing. Local esthetician and industry veteran Montia Shardea has taken the past two years to pivot into a role she feels was the most logical step: school owner. Located at 2620 Bragg Blvd, Suite W, The Montia Shardea School of Esthetics is not only the first private esthetics school in Fayetteville but also the first black-owned, a title she doesn’t hold lightly.
There are flexible schedule options for students, offering day and night school. Instructors prepare students not just for real-world application, but graduates are state board-ready. Shardea also prepares students for entrepreneurship, offering branding and marketing classes as part of the curriculum. Currently, the school has a 99% pass rate for the state boards, an accomplishment in its own right. Shardea and her instructors pride themselves on the comprehensive curriculum they offer. There is a three-step process for those who wish to apply, the first being taking a tour of the beautiful and bright facility. Although the school doesn’t accept financial aid there are options for paying tuition.
Shardea, who started her career in Fayetteville, is a licensed cosmetologist and licensed instructor who has been in the industry for almost 17 years. She attended Paul Mitchell The School Fayetteville in its very early years and was one of the first round of graduates from the prestigious school. After moving to Los Angeles, she received her master’s degree in Makeup and decided to get her instructor license. She taught at 5 schools before deciding to open up her own.
“[This is ] the first privately owned esthetic school here in Fayetteville North Carolina, which was one of the hardest things I ever had to do in my life. I definitely wouldn’t change it because it wasn’t a me thing, it was a God thing and so I did it because it was an assignment given to me. We can definitely tell that the fruit is here. The proof is in the pudding, we have more than 30 licensed estheticians that are now thriving, doing their thing A to Z, whether they have their own spas or they are partnered with other people. All of that comes from the same fruit, right here, the Montia Shardea School of Esthetics. I am the only private school for esthetics. Some people think, ‘well I have an esthetic program,’ but that's not the same. This is not a cosmetology school and esthetic added, this is an esthetic school … God gave me the esthetic route and I’m so proud,” Shardae said. “During the process, I just couldn’t believe that it was never done before. Why hasn’t anybody looked up, there’s really no playbook, but why hasn’t anybody tried? There are definitely not a lot of African Americans doing what we do every day and we have skin issues too. I knew when I opened it, there would be two sides to it. With success, it’s not always pretty. It’s not always, yeah you’re going to make money, you drive this and you have that, it’s the other side, where people hate you just for breathing. This was not overnight. I was already teaching for a school, I already had my academy before the school. The school is just the bigger side of things. However the academy was already there, I was already a licensed instructor.
"To women who may see or hear this, you have to go through the process, the growing pains, being broke, and knowing what that feels like. I know how to manage money now. I opened all of this with my money. I didn’t go to a bank and say hey I need $20,000 dollars. It’s cool if you do go that route, but I didn’t. This school still took 2 years to open. Longevity is where I thrive. This is forever. Even when I’m not here. Montia Shardea is built for legacy, it’s not for me, it’s for my instructors, and my students, you know who we are, we are building pillars and putting up flags everywhere, not just North Carolina. Fayetteville needed this. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a thing.”
For more information about the Montia Shardae School of Esthetics visit the website https://montiashardaeesthetics.com/.

(Photo courtesy of Montia Shardae)