DREAM JOB

After she completed matric, there was no money for studies. So Stephani Robinson, currently the proud owner of the Willa Krause salon in the Greenleaves estate, started her first job with the Foschini group stocking shelves and doing sales. However, she slowly worked her way up in the cosmetic department and a􀂂ended training courses in the cosmetic industry, where after she joined the Edgars group where she was appointed as an Esté Lauder consultant.

Within six months she turned it into a R1 – million-rand turnover and received a once-off grant for this achievement. “It was a lot of money in those days”, she smiles. Her success continued and she soon became the retail manager for Edcon and won the prize for the highest growth in that area. As a young divorced single mother who had to pay the bills, she had no other choice but to work in the mining industry. But this was not her passion. After she competed in the 2012 Mrs United Nations competition, in which she was the second runner-up, her life changed. “I became involved in my community and for the first _me I felt like I knew who Stephani was. I did not want to return to the mining industry. “My Mom then phoned me from Zambia and advised me to get out of my comfort zone and to make a living in the salon industry which was something I always wanted to do.

I told my mom that I could not afford to take the salary knock. A month later the mine closed and I was unemployed. “That same week I met the owners of Willa Krause and I started to use their products. Because I was used to a much more expensive range, I could hardly believe that this affordable product could work, but I nevertheless started using it. “I was so thrilled with the results that I phoned the Willa Krause company the next morning after which I started my own little salon.” Stephani thoroughly enjoyed working with people again, to pamper them and to make them feel good about themselves. It became much more than just a job to her but rather a calling. “There is a saying: ‘If you do something that you love, you will never work a day in your life.’ Because then your passion becomes your purpose”, she says.

If you do something
that you love, you
will never work a day
in your life.

But unfortunately, tragedy struck and Stephani suffered a setback as her sister lost her battle against breast cancer at the age of only 34. Stephani was devastated and fell into a deep pit of depression. Her younger sister was her rock and always supported her. Stephani subsequently battled to survive. She gained weight and became addicted to sleeping pills and anti-depressants until one day her husband told her that she could not carry on like this anymore.

She stopped taking the pills and slowly found healing through faith and prayer. This has taught her compassion and understanding for others and she now is able to help clients through their own battles. She now runs a fully equipped anti-aging clinic with Micro dermabrasion, laser therapy, micro needling, and state of art skin technology.

She also markets the popular “vampire” facial and sells regeneration and pigment therapy. This go-getter recently achieved the second place in the top ten marketing managers at the Willa Krause group. It makes her extremely happy when clients return and report that their husbands and friends can clearly see the difference in their skin.