A renowned Massachusetts beauty brand is facing an ugly reality that is creating financial trouble for students, customers and staff.
Jaylean Sawyer always hoped to start her own beauty business.
“I want to be a boss lady, honestly, a boss woman. I want to be my own boss, make my own hours,” Sawyer said.
To take the first step towards this goal, she enrolled in the Elizabeth Grady School of Esthetics in Medford last spring.
“I was all for it,” Sawyer said. She was juggling classes with her full-time job.
Sirilak Prawanna also wanted to improve her beauty skills and decided to enroll at the school. She had already taken massage classes through Elizabeth Grady and was excited to expand her options.
However, both women say learning was difficult because of disorganization and lack of supplies at the school.
“It was a little bit difficult to learn how to do certain steps in a facial without these certain products,” Sawyer said.
Prawanna said she paid for make-up supplies in her tuition but they never received them.
And while both hoped the situation would improve, it didn’t.
The school was evicted from its Medford location in January because rent wasn’t paid. This caused classes to be moved online and teachers started leaving.
“Even the instructors were left hanging, so they couldn’t tell us anything and we also didn’t hear anything from the owner or the director of the school, so we were just waiting to see what was going on,” Prawanna said.
Weeks later the state shut down the school because of the eviction.
“I honestly had a full-blown panic attack. I’m paying out of pocket for school. I am on financial aid but I’m literally working every single day just so I can go to school,” Sawyer said.
Students are able to transfer their credit but many told 7 Investigates they struggled to find other part-time options or programs that were compatible.
“We were all blindsided by this. I feel like a lot of students wouldn’t apply if we knew…