Pearl Lorentzen
Lakeside Leader

Slave Lake business owner is enjoying working with women instead of children.

Kelly Omalin is trained in early childhood education, but has recently retrained to be a lash technician.

“I love working with women,” she says. “I want to impact the community by women empowerment.”

For Omalin, when she has eyelash extensions she feels more confident. This is something she wants to give to other women.

Asked why she went into the beauty industry, she says, “for me, when I was a kid, I always struggled to find the beauty in myself.”

She has since found the strength to love herself and wants to share that self-confidence with other women.

When Omalin was 16, she started getting eyelash extensions in the Philippines. In 2012, she moved to Slave Lake with her parents. She and her mom continued to get eyelash extension. Omalin started to take the training do them for her mom.

During the pandemic, she did her training online.

About a year ago, she started a home-based business Boom Eyelashes by Kelly.

“I was doing it part-time, like on weekends and after work,” she says.

Earlier this month, she moved to a salon in Potpourri Mall, which is between the Fix and Rex Theatre on Main St.

“I’ve always wanted to have my own salon,” she says. “I want it to be full-time, but I need to offer more services.”

At the moment, she offers eyelash extensions and brow lamination, which is a way to thicken your eyebrows. She is looking into training for nails and facials, but this takes about two years.

This type of work seems to be popular in Slave Lake as there around seven lash technicians in town.