BY KRISTIN ACCORSI
T H E L I F E I M A G I N E D
"When I was in my 20's, my father told me
something that I thought was just a line at the
time," shares Shane Smith. "It turned out to
be so true. He said, 'the life you can clearly
imagine is already within reach, you just
haven't found the courage to live it yet.'"
Noting that he "didn't have any faith" in
himself at the time and was lacking clear
direction, Shane found himself working on
Wall Street in financial tech, a field he held no
passion for. Once again, his father delivered
the wake-up call Shane needed to start
bringing his dreams into reality. "My father
gave me a speech about how short life is and
highly recommended getting into the salon
business, seeing as my hobby growing up
was cutting my friends' hair," Shane says.
Heeding his father's advice, Shane enrolled in
cosmetology school
and soon after, was
running salons. Two
years aer that, Shane
was in charge of the
second largest salon and
spa company in the world.
Currently, the self-proclaimed
"haircut kid growing up" is
now CEO of three companies,
UPKEEP Med Spa, Upkeep
Ventures, and Alchemy 43. With
seven UPKEEP Med Spa locations between
Texas and NYC and nine Alchemy 43 Med
Spas dispersed across Southern California,
NYC, Dallas, and Houston, Shane has a
proven track record of successfully leading
multi-location businesses. As CEO of Upkeep
MED
SPA
EMPIRE
INSIDE
VUE ON | LIFESTYLE
40 V U E H A M P TO N S . C O M
