California Beauty: StyleBee
Need a last-minute blowout? A massage at 11pm? StyleBee has it under control. The new mobile app, launched by CEO Anna Santeramo and co-founder Ana Nejad, began from a simple need to provide almost round-the-clock beauty offerings from updos to make-up application and blowouts at affordable prices starting from $50. With one simple click, a pro will be at the door within a two-hour window. “I was a lawyer in New York and Los Angeles, and I always found it challenging and frustrating to not be able to book an appointment around my busy schedule,” says Santeramo, who hails from Barletta, Italy. “Most of the time, I needed these services for professional reasons, and finding someone high-quality, reliable, and available early in the morning or late in the evening was basically impossible or extremely pricey.”
Santeramo took matters into her own hands and scoured the state for the most talented beauty pros around including hairstylists, masseuses, and make-up stylists in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She also saw it as a win-win for stylists as a way to gain a little extra income. “When most of these professionals have an average of fifty percent of their time unsold in various salons, this is clearly a sign of an inefficient market where clients need beauty services, beauty pros are available, and yet supply and demand don’t meet,” adds Santeramo. “We have a strict set of guidelines for stylists, and as of now, there’s nobody else offering this in San Francisco.”
By Jennie Nunn
Pictured: Hairstylist Alexandra Drew
Photo by Chantelle Hartshorne