Paving a new path in beauty

Amantha Hood ’17 is making entrepreneurism look good.

In the year after graduating from Linfield, the mass communication alumnus earned her esthetician’s license and launched a beauty business, Lash Lab PDX, in her living room. She moved into a 150-square-foot studio in October 2020, but soon outgrew that space as well. By June 2022, she was cutting the ribbon to a 1,500-square-foot brick-and-mortar location – the first Black-owned lash salon in Portland.

Hood attributes much of the rapid growth of her business to the pandemic.

“A lot of people were on screen during COVID because they went virtual for school and work, and people wanted a cute face,” she said. “I got booked to the point where I had to hire two more girls to work with me. I also used my stimulus check to invest in my product line and began to re-invest and build off that.”

Lash Lab PDX also includes beauty education classes and professional development for prospective entrepreneurs.

“My company provides the service of lash extensions, but I think the bigger impact on the community is that I’m teaching people how to start a business and be their own boss,” she said.

But she’s not stopping there. Hood is creating an esthetics program focused on diverse skin care.

“There are not a lot of educational opportunities on Black and ethnic skin care in the industry. It’s a big deal that less than 5% of academic journals and textbooks cover Black skin care, but melanated people make up more than 50% of the world’s population,” she said. “I want to teach students how to service and counsel the different demographics of skin care. It will pave a new path for the industry.”