I’ve been a client service representativeat Vito Mazza for a little over a year now, and I think it’s time to take thenext step.  No, I’m not leaving the VMfamily! Bite your tongue! When I started at VM, I had the goal of becoming anesthetician, and now, after a few minor setbacks, I’m finally on my way toaccomplishing that goal!I’m not going to say that I’ve wanted tobecome an esthetician ever since I was a little girl. (Actually, on my firstgrade career day, I declared I wanted to be a babysitter. Obviously, my sixyear old self did not know how hard it is to take care of other children, but Ihad a baby doll and she seemed pretty easy, so how hard could it be?) Myinterest in skincare arose when, like many other teenagers have experienced andwill experience for years and years to come, I got my first pimple. Of course,everyone else around me was going through a similar experience, but atthirteen, everyone else’s skincare problems were not my concern when I woke upin the morning and Mount Vesuvius had erupted on my chin. Throughout the years,I scrambled to find products to help my skin and also tried to educate myselfthe best I could from the best resources I had at hand, Seventeen Magazine and TeenVogue, which if you didn’t know, are very well-respected publications atthe age of fourteen.  I always believedthat, since we take care of our bodies, carefully choosing what nutritionalfoods to eat, we take care of our hair, taking notice of what products we use,we should take just as much care of our largest organ, our skin.After I graduated high school, I stilldidn’t realize how much a career in skin care would benefit me. I graduated andenrolled in college, like many of my peers were doing. I had always lovedlearning so it seemed like the next reasonable thing to do, but after asemester, I realized something.  My heartjust wasn’t in it. If there’s anything you should know about me, it’s thateverything that I do, I have to put myself in it 100%, even the most trivialtasks. And if I didn’t feel like I was being productive in my currentsituation, and many major obstacles were in my path, then my gut was right whenit was telling me that this wasn’t the path for me. After that, I didn’t have aplan as to what education I was going to receive. I knew I wanted to studysomething, whether it was to receive a degree or study a trade. I was acrossroads, an almost-but-not really quarter-life crisis, and I didn’t like itone bit. (I’m a planner, so when I don’t have a plan, I feel anxious.) It tooka conversation between some friends and me for me to finally realize thatextracting blackheads could be a career. (Before I get some estheticians angry,let me be clear when saying, they do much more than just extract blackheads,but you understand what I’m saying!) I absolutely love working with people, andbeing an esthetician would give me the chance to help many people deal withtheir skincare problems but most importantly, understand their skin, something that would have been very helpfulto my fourteen year old self!I look forward to growing with the VMfamily in the next couple of years. (Figuratively, of course, because at 5’1”,I’ve come to terms with the fact that I won’t be growing much anymore, even ifI’m still a 5’11” Brazilian supermodel in my head.) I’m excited to experiencethe transition from client service representative to esthetician, and excitedto see what the New Year will bring once I graduate.  I hope to meet some of you soon, if wehaven’t met already, and maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll be able to call someof you my clients!Thanks for reading! ):Ashley