From 'Batang Kikay' to beauty CEO: Aesthetic clinic owner launches beauty line
MANILA, Philippines — She may share the same last name as a brood of popular, pretty actresses, but the equally pretty Anne Barretto is not related to the famous Barretto siblings and she is not keen on joining showbiz.
Instead, she is building a beauty empire with 19 and counting branches of aesthetic clinics in the country.
Barretto knew she wanted to do business since she was a child. It was both a need and a want for the third in five siblings.
"Growing up, since alam ko sa sarili ko na hirap kami sa buhay, nasa akin ang responsibility na kailangan ko talaga makapag-aral," she said at the recent press launch of her newest product Hey Pretty Skin, a line of beauty products that she had been formulating since 2015. Since it has grown as a brand, it has tapped actress Beauty Gonzalez as its first celebrity endorser.
The beauty chief executive officer (CEO) was entrepreneurial since she was in high school and college. While studying, she sidelines as makeup artist for her classmates, and buys and sells beauty products and bags from Divisoria. Later on, she would go live-selling.
"Binansagan nga po nila akong 'Batang Kikay' kasi parang 'yun na talaga hilig ko."
Her earnings from her sidelines or "rakets" were used for her college education.
She did not stop her rakets even when she was employed. She dealt with customer service, and she was exposed to more people that helped her shape her social skills. It was also while being employed that she realized that she is not cut as an employee her whole life.
"Noong ako'y nakapag-trabaho na, na-realize ko na hindi ako pang-empleyado. Gusto ko talaga mag-business.
"Okay naman maging empleyado pero hindi niya kayang suportahan 'yung needs ng family ko. Lalo na 'yung papa ko po. Bata pa lang po kasi ako noong na-stroke siya.
"Since ako 'yung may makapal na mukha sa aming magkakapatid, naramdaman ko nasa akin talaga 'yung responsibility," Barretto shared.
She convinced her husband that she would put up her own aesthetics clinic and, in 2018, opened a 28-square-meter clinic she called Hey Pretty Aesthetic Clinic in Tomas Morato, Quezon City.
Barretto herself manned the clinic, even some of the procedures. After a month, she opened another clinic.
Two years later, the pandemic struck the world, and admittedly, she had doubts if she could continue operating her newly launched business with her mounting bills.
She has known difficulties all her life, and as persevering as she is, she found way to augment her business. She put up a mobile clinic during the pandemic that personally serviced their clients anywhere.
Today, Hey Pretty Skin has almost 19 aesthetic clinics and it has launched beauty products.
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