This story appears in the September issue of Utah Business. Subscribe.
Education partnerships for businesses just might be the wave of the future. In the case of Utah-based lash company Borboleta, joining forces with beauty education company Milady is a lesson in how two companies with similar missions can empower future artists while encouraging sustainable company growth.
Since its launch in 2013, Borboleta has propelled its way into beauty schools and onto the eyes of those seeking longer, lusher lashes around the globe. The company was founded by Kimber Jaynes, a lash artist building a career in what she sensed was on track to become a booming profession.
From the beginning, Jaynes wanted to use a product she trusted completely — one that put the health of the lash first. But the lash industry was in its infancy, having made its way onto the beauty scene in 2010 with many artists being self-taught. In Jaynes’s opinion, a product to stand by did not exist. So, she set out to create it.
“Our founder started to produce … a safe lash extension product. But where we really grew is [when] we built the first education platform where we created a curriculum,” says Mike Alexander, CEO of Borboleta. “We had 70 educators — and we were certifying 400 students a month across the country as lash artists.”
For many years, beauty schools did not offer lash application training. Borboleta built a strong reputation among budding lash artists by filling the gap with a curated curriculum that paired with its trustworthy lash kits.
The Renaissance of lash education
As Jaynes had predicted, the lash extension industry boomed — and so did interest in pursuing it as a profession. Legislators began to notice. As a result, states around the nation began to require cosmetology and aesthetician schools to teach lash extension application as part of their programs. By around 2018, Borboleta found that, as a result of these mandates, they were training less. Artists were now getting their licenses in school.
“In 2020, we started to pivot,” Alexander says, explaining that Borboleta’s new strategy was to pitch its combined program and products to schools. “We started to see that model become successful but, … we felt [there had] to be a faster way — and the biggest name in professional beauty schools is Milady. Milady is recognized as a leading curriculum provider for cosmetology and aesthetic schools in the United States. Therefore, it’s highly likely that students pursuing a cosmetology or esthetics license will find themselves using Milady’s curriculum throughout their educational journey.”
Founded by Italian immigrant Nick Cimaglia, who launched a one-man barber supply company in 1927, Milady is a provider of beauty and wellness solutions for schools around the world. The company has historically remained product agnostic, meaning that it provides education, but students choose the products they learn with.
No stranger to designing state-approved beauty curricula, Milady saw an opportunity to add lash training to its beauty school programs.
In 2022, Milady debuted its lash extension curriculum, but schools wanted a product to go with it. Alexander says that Milady’s initial survey research indicated a strong desire from schools to pair Milady’s program with lash extension kits tailored to follow their curriculum. That’s where Borboleta came in. Not only did Borboleta offer high-quality lash kits and products, but they also brought years of training expertise, developed since the company’s founding. What once seemed like a distant goal for Borboleta now had real potential: becoming an official product partner with Milady.
A perfect pair
Alexander reached out to Milady, and he got a response.
“It was surreal,” he says. “Both of us were looking at the strategy and trends of the market, and both of us kind of identified each other at the exact same time, which was just really cool.”
Discussions began, and in May, Borboleta and Milady announced a partnership fueled by their shared desire to equip future lash artists with the skills — and supplies — needed to pursue a flourishing career.
“We knew there was going to be demand [from] schools who had never taught lashes before. … Milady has been able to come out and say, ‘We have the solution for you. We have the very best brand with our curriculum lined up together, and we have a team of educators that can come in and support you,’” Alexander says.
This proved to be an added bonus for the schools because, according to Alexander, they “didn’t have to put the resources in to start over.”
Two months into their partnership, Milady’s lash curriculum is now being taught in schools by their in-house education teams, using Milady X Borboleta lash kits. Borboleta offers private trainings to schools utilizing these kits, allowing them to train their education teams in the lash techniques of their choice, using Borboleta’s methods with one of Borboleta’s educators. This approach helps ensure schools, educators, and students are set up for success, with in-house lash experts leading their programs. As students earn their licensure, they are likely to take Borboleta products with them into their careers.
“For our business, it’s sustainable growth. We get the opportunity to teach the lash artist, let them use our products and then support them in their studios,” Alexander says. For the students, bringing “the very best brands together is going to set the lash artist[s] up for success and strong careers for a very long time — that’s what we’re excited about.”