A mother’s life-changing makeover

For mother Romalyn Nicolas, being able to provide for the needs of her three children is the best fulfillment in life.

But armed with only a high school diploma, she couldn’t find a stable job that could augment the meager income of her husband who runs a buy and sell business for used items.

Determined to support her family, Nicolas managed to earn from doing manicure and pedicure services in their community. But with a daily income of around PhP300, she knew that it would be impossible to attain that comfortable quality of life she yearned for her children.

Nicolas kept hoping for an opportunity to turn her life around, until she learned about the  L’Oreal Philippines Inc.’s Beauty for a Better Life (BFBL) program.  She immediately grabbed the chance to apply and after three months of training, she was able to improve her beauty business.

Now, Nicolas has her own home service salon and earns more for her family.

 

LIVING A BETTER LIFE

Nicolas is one of the 130 underprivileged men and women from Barangay Sto. Niño and Barangay Jesus dela Peña in Marikina City who were chosen to undergo the BFBL program. Implemented by L’Oreal Philippines Inc. in partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), BFBL is a community-based livelihood training program created in 2017 to help the poor and unemployed gain skills on haircare and makeup techniques that would enable them to become self-sufficient. The program also teaches them about personality development and financial literacy.

Through six batches of training, BFBL has helped around 70 percent of the trainees to be employed in salons or to put up their own small businesses.

For Nicolas though, the journey to becoming a hairstylist and makeup artist was not easy. During her three-month training, she juggled motherhood duties, work, and studies. She would do manicure and pedicure services in the morning and evening and then attend the training in the afternoon.

While in the training, some of Nicolas’ customers would request hair and make-up services. This gave her the opportunity to apply what she learned and earn money.. Her internship at a L’Oreal partner salon honed her skills ever further.

Nicolas also received a starter kit from L’Oreal which helped her put up a home service salon. From Php300, she now earns at least Php3,000 a day.

“If I were to compare our life before, my family is doing better now. We are financially stable. I could even save money while providing for the needs of our children. As a mother, it is very fulfilling to see that I could support my children,” she said.

Nicolas is also preparing to get a TESDA National Certificate to improve her work opportunities and plans to open her own salon in the future.

“Beauty for a Better Life really changed my life for the better. I was given the chance to be educated and provide a better life for my family. I hope that BFBL will be able to help more people like me,” said Nicolas.

L’Oreal and PBSP will continue to conduct the Beauty for a Better Life Project Year 3 training to benefit 225 men and women in Brgy. Sto. Rosario Kanluran in Pateros; Brgy. Western Bicutan in Taguig; and Brgy. Bagong Nayon in Antipolo, Rizal.