Life and Work with Amaya Spencer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amaya Spencer.

Hi Amaya, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I distinctly remember my excitement walking to school in 4th grade with glitter all over my eyelids and my lips, my bangs perfectly curled, a brand new outfit I bought myself from Limited Too with my own birthday money, which consisted of bell-bottom jeans and platform shoe’s just like the Spice Girls. I felt so fabulous! Only to get to my classroom and have my 4th-grade teacher Mr. Grady tell me to go wash it all off. He made me wash off all of my confidence, haha.

Prior to that day, I had grown up the middle child of 5 female sisters, my youngest sister being born with potential fatal physical disabilities. Needless to say, money was tight for my parents, and getting us all from one day to the next was challenging for my parents. So I spent a lot of my time in my room or outside by myself, daydreaming about the ways I could make myself stand out and feel beautiful. I loved playing with barbies and coloring on their faces and playing with their hair. I begged my oldest sister Stephanie to do my hair pretty all the time. When my Mom wasn’t paying attention I would sneak in her room and spray her perfume on myself and put on her lipstick, and spend hours in my room doing as many hairstyles on myself as I could…..So. Much. Hairspray! Which on top of me being an avid runner, hairspray and sweat caused me to have a forehead and back full of acne by the time I was in 5th grade.

I even remember having a big clown collection. Some were dolls with glass faces, and others were glass masks that I could hang on my walls. I was so fascinated by their uniqueness. Each having a different clown design to their faces, and each so beautiful to me. I tried to draw them and recreate their designs all the time.

As I got a little older and moved into middle school, I took every chance I could to spend the night at my friend’s houses. One reason being that my house drain me emotionally and another reason being that my Mom never wore makeup, and with my acne being as bad as it was she definitely wasn’t going to let me put anything unnecessary on my face. So at my friend’s houses, I knew I could mess around with their makeup and hair products, not only on myself, but I knew they would let me do their hair and makeup too! I can’t think of a single sleepover I had as a kid where I didn’t ask to do someone’s hair and makeup but never having any of my own.

By the time I got to high school, good hair was my thing and so was being athletic. So the acne continued. The acne was always there and always something I wanted to cover up but I was never allowed to. For some reason though, my Mom did allow me to start coloring my hair. I was blonde by 10th grade. Finally, my Mom was letting me express myself.

High school was HARD for me. Not scholastically but emotionally. My childhood was no walk in the park either, but high school was where things took a turn from being bad to worse. My parents were in the thick of an awful separation that had been going on for years, but now each of them were kind of off in their own world coping with the stresses life had thrown their way in their own ways. I guess I did the same, I started skipping school and doing so many things I shouldn’t have been doing. I also had a lot of responsibility on my plate for such a young age. By the time I got to the beginning of my senior year in high school, I was pregnant. I had so much catching up to do in order to graduate on time before having my baby. I went to day school, night school, home school, and I also worked a part-time job at Target. From this, I learned that when times get tough, I get tougher. I graduated high school on time, eight months pregnant. That was not easy.

After high school, my daughter’s Dad and I moved in together and this is when I realized I loved working on eyebrows. I would make him sit there for hours and let me pluck his eyebrows to the perfect manly shape. It was so satisfying! That progressed into doing family and friend’s eyebrows. Each time more satisfying.

Not long after having my daughter at 18, I was pregnant and had my son by the time I was 19. Being a teen Mom I needed to make money to provide for my kids, so I worked many low-paying jobs with awful hours for a really long time, my favorite one being a cake decorator at Walmart. With the stress of being a teen mom to two kids under two, working unreasonable hours, and a rocky relationship, my acne was literally never going to go away.

Not long after my son was born, my kid’s Dad and I separated. Eventually, I had to move back in with my parents, who were back together at that point. I was at a place where I wanted to be a young adult and be carefree, and also be a good Mom. With the help of my Mom, I did a lot of both. I balanced nights with friends, days doing new and fun things with my babies, going to the gym, and being in college full-time. I had no idea what I wanted to do professionally though, but I felt like college would help me figure it out. It was during this time that I finally started wearing makeup. Looking back, it didn’t look good, haha. I was young, single, and wanting to look my best. Once I started wearing makeup in my 20’s, I was obsessed with it.

A couple of years went by, and my kids Dad and I eventually got back together and moved in together too, even planning our wedding. It was during this time that I vividly remember saying that I wanted to one day figure out how to become an esthetician, learn how to clear my own skin up, and do permanent makeup. During the planning of our wedding our relationship took a turn for the worst and we ended up separating. Our kids were young, only 6 and 7 at the time. I was consumed with severe depression and anxiety from an on again off again relationship of 12 years, finally coming to its end. I remember coming out of it feeling like I had no idea who I was, I was so lost, so heartbroken, and feeling so empty. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to find strength to get to know myself. I started to enjoy zumba, going to the gym, and personal training. I discovered healthy eating, good skin care routines, vitamins, water, going to church several days a week and helping my kids and their cousins build a relationship with God, and I was getting really good at doing makeup. I was even asked to do the makeup of two different wedding bridal parties, as well as makeup for several other special events. I also found joy in discovering new activities to do with my kids, and I loved cleaning. This lifestyle went on for about 4 to 5 years. I never knew how to balance the new life I made for myself where I was finally healthy and happy, with the future I had been dreaming of. I so badly wanted to get licensed as an esthetician, but I had no idea how to make time for the in-person schooling required.

As the years went on, I worked as a trainer for a well-known health insurance company. I hated every day of the 9 years I worked in this industry. I was treated so unethical, but I tolerated the unfair treatment, as my family of 3 depended on the stability and income the job provided for the most part. During this time I so badly wanted to enroll in an esthetics program, but I couldn’t figure out how to work full time, be a single parent, and go to these classes in person. So instead, I completed a bachelor’s of science through college online, thinking it would push me up the corporate ladder with the company I had been working with for years.

During the last three years of my career with this company, I found myself timid to enter into a new relationship. I had been single for several years, but at the time I felt like I finally found my soulmate, we even had a child together in 2020. As we all know, 2020 was a tough year for the entire world, just as it was on us, our blended family, and our relationship. Our relationship ended in 2021, and during this time I was also laid off from my job with the health insurance company I had worked nine years for. I felt like I hit rock bottom. Thankfully I didn’t feel the depression and anxiety the same way I did when my first relationship ended, but that’s not to say it didn’t exist or try to hold me back from ever accomplishing anything because it absolutely did, and I almost have no words to describe how hard it was for me to put the pieces of myself back together and try to move on. I felt like I lost everything I worked so hard for, the happy and healthy life I previously created for my kids and I was long gone. I used this hurt to motivate me. I had no choice but to do everything I could to rebuild a life for myself and my kids the way we once did before because the loss of the relationship and our new normal not only took a toll on me but it affected my kids and I was determined more than ever to pull us out of this.

I ended up moving into my aunt’s basement with my now three children, sharing one big bedroom amoungst the four of us. I had no income, living off my savings and receiving only the help from my aunt and uncle by letting me live with them, I don’t know how we survived financially honestly. I enrolled into the esthetics program I had been eyeing for years and attended that full-time. The entire time I attended this program, I focused on and practiced doing eyelash extensions every single day. Literally, every single day, and I haven’t stopped since. The school I attended gave me majority of the eyelash extension clients during the day, and at night I practiced on everyone who would let me. The amount of free eyelash extensions I gave out during that time hurts to think about haha.

I invested every dollar I had been saving for years towards this goal and all my free time. As soon as I graduated my esthetics program, I went straight into starting my own business and renting my own suite to work from just two weeks after my graduation. Little by little my business evolved, and I built a clientele in just a couple of months, many who followed me from school, and supported my business from there. 6 months after owning and operating my own business, called Wink and Ink, I FINALLY enrolled into a state-accredited program for permanent makeup. As soon as I finished the permanent makeup certification course, my business was doing well enough that my kids and I were able to move out of my aunt’s basement and into a house where we each have our own rooms, and we got a puppy that brings us all so much joy.

I’ve since incorporated permanent makeup into my growing business of eyelash extensions, where I also perform waxing, brow lamination and tinting, and more. This is literally just the beginning, it doesn’t stop here. My goals almost feel endless, and I know if I can do all of this, I can and will do so much more.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the owner of a small business known as Wink and Ink in Colorado Springs, CO. Here, I am licensed and certified to perform a variety of esthetic services, specializing in eyelash extensions and permanent makeup. My business is growing more and more each day and is something that I feel so grateful for, and I’m so excited to see all that I can accomplish in the years to come.

One thing that sets me apart from others is my ability to empathize for their desires and their comfort. Also, the fact that I have OCD and the need for perfection fits in perfectly here, where it doesn’t anywhere else in my life. My clients love my attention to detail, and how informative I am, and aside from my artistic skills, these characteristics are something I’m most proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://winkandink.glossgenius.com/
• Instagram: @winkandink_cos
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WinkandinkLLC 

Image Credits
Family photos by Melissa Wuertele Photography Other photos by my 16 year old daughter Teya Duran