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When did you start to care about youreyebrows?
Alec Kugler
By care, I dont mean plucking them to oblivion when you were in high school.
I meanreallycare about your eyebrows.
Most people can trace their obsession to the past decade.
Val, Sania, Suzy, and cousin Bona at the Sania’s Brow Bar location in Manhattan
But forSania Vucetaj, founder ofSanias Brow Bar, eyebrows have been at the center of her 25-year career.
Before her success, Vucetajs brow journey started at a young age.
Suddenly she became very aware of how important eyebrows are to a persons face.
Val, Sania, Suzy, and cousin Bona at the Sania’s Brow Bar location in Manhattan
The accident shattered her self-confidence.
I hated my brows, I hated pictures.
I knew it changed my whole face.
When my sisters would get mad at me, theyd call me a three-browed bitch.
It wasnt until Vucetaj turned 21 that she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Tired of letting her scars define her, she picked up her sisterseyeliner penciland filled in the patches.
I figured out how to camouflage on my own, she says.
Once I sat in the mirror, I was like, Which way do I do it?
I tried every which way.
The trend was never thin.
Thats where people misunderstand.
There was no reason or rhyme behind brows.
They would just get them waxed.
From then on Vucetaj fell in love with brows and started to build clientele among family and friends.
She did this for 12 years while raising a young family.
We had just moved to the city, she says.
My kids were in school.
My husband was the only one working, and he goes, Youre never going to get a job.
I always loved brows, so I said, Yes, I will.
I was like, Wait, this is a thing?
I didnt even realize it was a thing.
I called them up and said, Where do I get my license?
Vucetaj attended 10 months of aesthetics school while balancing work and being a mother.
She shared her dream of one day owning her own brow salon, and her teachers were incredulous.
They told me for the whole 10 months, Youll never make it just tweezing.
Theres no such thing as brow salons, she says.
It didnt take long for Vucetaj to prove her teachers wrong.
Shortly after graduation she came across another job listing inThe New York Timesthis time for a brow specialisttweezing only.
Unaware of its elite status, she got the job.
During her time at Bergdorf in the early 00s, she encountered New Yorks upper echelon.
People would ask, Why fuller?
But the trend was never thin.
Thats where people misunderstand.
There was no reason or rhyme behind brows.
They would just get them waxed.
Instead, Vucetaj pointed to international beauty pageants and the brows of Eastern European and South American women.
Beauty pageants were big then, she says.
The American women had these skinny brows and they wouldnt stand out.
Since Vucetaj was the stores first brow specialist, she had no space to work with clients.
Instead she was instructed to walk around the floor and offer her services to people getting manicures and pedicures.
Sometimes Id get a bite, she says.
I had Michael Bloomberg walking by.
Kathie Lee Gifford would walk by.
They would say, Wait, what is this?
And theyd watch the results out in the open.
Soon magazines started calling Vucetaj for interviews.
Two and a half years into the job at Bergdorf, Vucetaj was thriving.
Brands were pushing products at her in hopes she would use them on clients.
Despite her success, she constantly found herself in a Goldilocks situation when it came to products.
Were such a small business, and copycats are waiting.
Its easier to follow our lead.
I would try everything they had, and I didnt like anything, she says.
Pencils would outline the brows, but you couldnt fill the inside.
I would have to use a powder, but it wouldnt outline.
Most people at the peak of success would prefer to sit tight and reap the benefits.
But Vucetaj was a founder at heart.
She knew she had to leave to create the product she needed.
When I left Bergdorf, everyone said, What are you doing?
You have a safety net.
You are in a good place, she says.
They kept saying, But what if?
My safety net was that Im in New York City.
There are a million salons, and I could always go work somewhere else.
After passing a For Rent sign on 56th Street, Vucetaj decided it was time to bet on herself.
In 2005 she opened her first brow salon, offering her specialized tweezing services.
After moving to the Chelsea location in 2011, she set out to create the perfect brow pencil.
With years of testing different products, Vucetaj knew exactly what she wanted.
The formula is exclusive to Sanias Brow Bar, but other brands have since copied her angled pencil tip.
Were such a small business, and copycats are waiting, she says.
Its easier to follow our lead.
Since our brow pencil launched, 35 companies and counting have created the angled tip.
But they still cant get the texture or the colors right.
But with the rise of social media, its become increasingly difficult to get shelf space.
Vucetaj hasnt even been able to sell her brow pencil at Bergdorf Goodman, where she started her career.
Neiman Marcus bought it out, social media started, and it was dog-eat-dog.
Nobody would carry our pencil.
All the publicity Ive gotten from day one has been organic, she says.
Ive never paid for anything.
Shes never at a point where shes like, Okay, thats close enough.
Shes always thinking, What next?
But it also comes from passion.
She really genuinely loves brows.
Sanias Brow Bar will start fundraising this spring to expand locations and create brand awareness.
She doesnt care what people say, what people think.
She knows what she wants and she goes for it.
Shes never taken no for an answer.
Im like, Mom, youre the OG.
You know what youre doing!
Shes confident in the work, but you have to own it sometimes.
Shes always been like that.
But I think thats where were a good balance to herwe bring that out in different ways.
Thats not to say Sania Vucetaj doesnt give herself credit.
She recognizes the legacy shes builtand the women who have lifted her up along the way.
I really came from nothing, she says.
My kids grew up with very little, but we tried to give them a good life.
I was so lucky that I was in a female-dominated industry.
If I was in a male industry, I dont know if it wouldve been the same thing.
Im so grateful to all the women who believed in me.
