Meet Carrie-Joy Neal | Entrepreneur & Esthetician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carrie-Joy Neal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carrie-Joy, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m a local girl, born and raised in Tempe, AZ. I love Arizona and the truly believe that the mashup of rich culture and history of the southwest gives us one of the most diverse and beautiful landscapes in the country. I grew up in the 5th st neighborhood near the ASU campus in the 90s, before the big explosion of industry that you see now. As a kid I remember just feeling free. We rode bikes until dark, roamed the neighborhood, created chalk art on the sidewalks, made up dances in eachother’s front yards….it really was a quaint childhood. A time of pure exploration and creativity. I think in some ways I’ve always been chasing that feeling. My Mother was an ER Nurse, super organized, no nonsense, a real “get shit done” type of woman. My Father was an artist, an entrepreneur, a teacher and an absolute dreamer. I think I’ve inherited the best of each of them. In business I’m tough, tenacious and regimented, but I am also always reaching for what’s next. I want the presentation of my business to feel uniquely me. To do that, I have to be true to my vision of staying creative, lifting others, and engaging the community around me. Those things are paramount to who I am as an individual and what Counter Culture has come to represent over the last five years.

What should our readers know about your business?
What started as a solo venture, a skin studio born out of a desire to combine a business degree with a love of skincare and self sufficiency, has transformed into something much larger. Entrepreneurship certainly hasn’t been easy. I’ve had to learn a lot of things on the fly. My business was only 2 years old when covid hit, and I simply did not have a contingency plan or any idea how I would survive. The bounce back from that time period what tough as well. How do I reach a wider audience? How do I scale up? How to I divide my profits intelligently so that I have emergency savings AND make my money work for me? There were so many questions and not enough answers. I learned to rely on industry experts for advice and mentorship. I started to realize that a lot of the soloprenuers in my industry were in the same boat. It was at that point in my journey that my focus in the business split. In addition to offering high quality, holistic skincare I began to get really interested in doing my part to help elevate my beauty professional friends and colleagues. We started a once a month event called “Free Game Fridays”, a free meeting where we could come together and share business information. There were sessions about branding, taxes, retail, and even sessions about community outreach. It was a place for solo, small business owners to come together and network and grow.

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’d head to Grand Ave. The Gyptian hotel, Elements of Spirit, Lunch at Earth, Hair and Nails at Organic Hair Salon, Vintage shopping, massages, and tattoos at the shops on Grand, then tea of course from Cha Cha’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Malcom Alcala – 4sight Gallery Brittany Phillips – Beat By Britt Makeup Artistry
Vic Wilburn – Braids By Vic

Website: CounterCultureEsthetics.com

Instagram: @CounterCultureEsthetics

Facebook: @CounterCultureEsthetics