Mary - Diploma of Beauty Therapy graduate and owner of Glow Retreat

As a student

"I started studying International Business for three years and hated it. I didn’t like university or what I was studying and I was talking to a friend who made me list my attributes. I found that I liked working with my hands and I loved socialising – so becoming a Beauty Therapist seemed like an ideal career choice for me.

"I absolutely loved the beauty therapy course at Southbank Institute. It was very hands on – I loved that it was practical – we did a lot of work in the clinic. It wasn’t boring at all.

"After graduating in 2000, I gained some solid industry experience working for five years at Sunnybank Skin and Body Care. I worked hard and learnt a lot about running a salon. I left there as a Senior Therapist.

"Ten years later, my teachers are memorable to me still. I found them really knowledgeable and I really looked up to them. They were all established in the industry, and they taught me so much. It was quite inspirational to look at my teachers who had their own successful businesses and were teaching us all the skills we needed to do well."

As an Employer

"I always knew that I wanted to open my own salon.

"But I do really think that you need to have a solid footing in the industry, and need to get plenty of work experience under your belt before you open your own business. Now as the successful owner of my beauty therapy business, Glow Retreat Day Spa and Salon, here at South Bank, I am living my dream.

"As an employer, I always call Southbank Institute first to see if there’s any graduates I can take for my own salon. At the moment we have been operating for four years, I have a team of seven therapists, and two of them are graduates from Southbank Institute."