Looking Back On 19 Years Of Gee

In celebration of these incredible 19 years, we're answering a few questions and getting our steps in on a walk down memory lane!

Miriam Gee:

1. How does it feel to be celebrating 19 years?

Since the day we opened our doors, I thank each client who walks through our doors (in-studio and virtually!). i thank them out-loud and then again in my head. I am so aware and grateful for each person’s support. I know its because of our incredible clients that we are able to celebrate this 19th anniversary.

2. With your growth into Miami, e-com and the product development, how do you get it all done?

Truly working with my daughters and our emphasis on communication - that's what allows us to get it all done. We divide and conquer, we support, and have an incredible team. We check in, we prioritize, we balance as much as we can.

3. What's your favorite part of the job?

I truly love every single thing about what I do but if I had to say one element that fuels me is my one-on-one sessions with our clients. I love spending uninterrupted time with a client in the studio, teaching and empowering them on how to do their makeup, or how to maximize their beauty routine. I feel most present in these moments. Our clients are so special, brilliant, kind and talented. I leave each session feeling so blessed and grateful.

4. What do you want the clients to know at 19 years?

That we could not be the Gee Beauty we are today without you!

Natalie Gee:

1. How does it feel to be celebrating 19 years?

It feels pretty damn good! I can confidently confirm that the journey from Year One to Year 19 has been full of everything you can possible imagine: good and bad, ups and downs, challenges and accomplishments, goal setting and goal hitting. Being surrounded by an incredible team, an incredible family and the most incredible has made 19 years so worthwhile.

I'll never forget each moment that's brought us to where we are and who is responsible. 19 years is an amazing accomplishment and I cannot wait to see how we will continue to thrive and flourish in the future of Gee Beauty. I'm filled with gratitude, filled with love and thankfullness for all the love and support we have received. I'm so proud of the hard work, dedication, passion and the never-give-up attitude and the keep-going that we tell ourselves, our team and our community every single day.

2. What's your earliest core memory of Gee Beauty?

Definitely what it felt like to walk into the studio before anyone arrived. I couldn't wait to get to the studio. I would get there around 7AM and we opened at 9AM. I wanted to be super organized and at that time I was not only answering the phones but I was doing brows which I still do today and I love when I do get to be on the desk. The way you embrace someone and introduce them into your home or your business truly sets the tone. It's so important to make someone feel so welcome and so loved and so included.

3. What was a major milestone that stands out for you?

A major milestone that I'm excited to celebrate is our 19th anniversary. It's really when I look back and see where I started and where I am now and I feel so personally proud of. It's a combination of myself and our incredible team. I feel so proud to celebrate 19 years in business - it's no small feat. It takes dedication, passion, smart work, hard work and I can't wait to keep doing it and taking the company to great places!

4. What's your biggest piece of advice for someone in business?

Something that I tell myself every single day: continue to do what you do that is working. There is no single magic trick out there that someone else is doing that you cannot do. You can do anything you want to do in terms of how you grow your business. Success is different for so many different people and my advice is to not stop doing something that you know is working and to learn how to change something quicker that isn't working. Being flexible and willing to grow, change, nourish and seek everything you are looking for.

5. With your growth into Miami, e-com and the product development, how do you get it all done?

I am forever grateful to Miami and growing our business outside of Canada. There was a time where, as Canadians, we've all looked at growing into the US as the bigger dream and where the magic happens. What I've realized is that the grass grows where you water it. No matter what country you're in, give your all wherever that is.

I really lean on and work with our team. The team is all encompasing when it comes to e-commerce, the studios, product development and more. It's never about getting it all done, it's about enjoying what you're doing in that moment and know that you can look forward to having done what you didn't get done today, tomorrow!

6. What's your favorite part of the job?

My favorite part of the job is the people and it's giving people something that gives them incredible amounts of confidence. I think we are selling a feeling more than just a product - we want them to exceptional when they wear Gee Beauty makeup. I want them to feel confidant, have an ease, and that they have an effortless opportunity to be able to put on their Gee beauty makeup, get their incredible services and wear their skincare easily, proudly and often.

7. What do you want the clients to know at 19 years?

We are incredibly grateful and it does not happen alone. Without every single person who has stepped through the Gee Beauty doors, shopped online, consumed our content, that we are a team. I really get overwhelmed with gratitude because i know what loyalty looks like at 19 years. It is no small feat and it does not happen overnight. From the bottom of our hearts - thank you, thank you, thank you!

Celene Gee:

1. What's your earliest core memory of Gee Beauty?

Pre-opening, Natalie and Miriam would sit at our kitchen table and talk about the business plan. Everything from what it entailed, everything from the beauty treatments we would offer, the design, philosophy, we really thought about each detail during the day, during dinner, at night - it was really built around the kitchen table as we like to say.

2. When did you know you were onto something? 

I remember clients always wanting to be in the studio - they didn't just come in and leave, it didn't feel transactional. Because we aren't a traditional spa, it feels social at the same time because clients would run into friends there and talk and then maybe shop and try a product. From the start people wanted to be there and hang out - it felt very neighbourhood and community building. It became a real hub of energy, womanhood and just a togetherness - people didn't want to leave.

3. What was a major milestone that stands out for you?

Something that really stands out for me is all the education I learned from the experts and team at my dad's ad agency. I had first hand access to the world's best creatives and Gee Beauty won design and branding awards in the first few years of opening so it was so special to have received the knowledge from my father's advertising days which really shaped the Gee brand into what it is today.

4. Can you share a few best-selling products from the early days?

SOme of the best selling products are still the best selling products today! CE Ferulic from Skinceuticals is still a must-have on your beauty shelf, it's a trusted staple. Our makeup and our lipsticks - the early iterations of Prime Skin were definitely best-sellers.

5. What's your biggest piece of advice for someone in business?

Try to find partners that compliment you. We're very lucky that we work together and we work together well. We don't force it - we happen to have a similar vision and goals but we different strengths and skillsets which is so important to know because whatever you may be lacking, it's crucial to find that in a like-minded counterpart to be on the same page and communicate what you need.

6. What's your favorite part of the job?

For me the fact that I get to be so creative and do so many different things - marketing, e-commerce, the creative, advertising, creating the content, merchandising the studios. My passion now is building the makeup brand with the product development and developing the packaging and putting our brand into different retailers.

I also love being creative on set and being on set and creating campaigns outside of the office and away from my laptop.

7. What do you want the clients to know at 19 years?

That we're just so grateful! We would not be here without our clients. We remember every client who walked in our first day and we talk about the clients all the time - how they helped shape Gee Beauty into what it is today. We're so fortunate and connected to the community that helped built us. We feel so grateful and we want to continue 19 years beyond beyond beyond! We love being the place of support, guidance, care, service and more!

Steph Gee:

1. How does it feel to be celebrating 19 years?

It feels incredible and so surreal! I got ready for my 19th birthday party at Gee Beauty and this feels no different. It's a celebration and definitely a special moment to reflect. it feels like day one and a lifetime. It's so fresh and so exciting and a great moment to pause and remember our birthday!

2. What's your earliest core memory of Gee Beauty?

It's the creation of Gee Beauty at our kitchen table. I'd come home from school and see my mum and my sisters brainstorming at the table. Little did I know what I'd soon be a part of!

Another one of my early memories is my first day on the front desk. Sweating, nervous and so green but it was the best day. I remember having the best nights sleep that night because it was such a fulfilling hard day's work.

3. When did you know you were onto something? 

My most iconic moment was educating a super chic woman on why she needed a vitamin c and i remember that day - I was wearing heels and a blazer and my wardrobe completely changed for the rest of my career and I put so much intention into it. Paired with my education, I felt so equipped.

4. What was a major milestone that stands out for you?

I would say a major milestone is when we started to really grow our Instagram following. When we started Gee Beauty, Instagram did not exist and so really creating this community online was so fulfilling and it really supported our growth by being able to reach more Gee Beauties all over the world. I remember hitting our first 10,000 followers felt so exciting and in combination with our in-person community, that was really a highlight for me.

5. Can you share a few best-selling products from the early days?

Pink is such a big part of the beginning of Gee Beauty. Whatever we had in pink was what flew off the shelves. The pink clarisonic, pink lipsticks, pink hairbands, we had jewelry before we opened 6 by gee beauty. For me, I remember selling my first clarisonic, an electronic facial cleanser and it was one of my go-to's!

6. What's your biggest piece of advice for someone in business?

Showing up is half the battle. When I started at Gee Beauty at 13 years old, I did not know this would be my strategy but I always used my two ears and one mouth and made sure to listen to everyone around me who were the experts and had more experience. Every morning I make the intentional choice of how I'm going to show up at our studio, at our office through what I wear, how I take care of myself through my energy. My advice is to keep showing up and you will be amazed at what you can absorb.

7. With your growth into Miami, e-com and the product development, how do you get it all done?

I definitely rely on my handwritten calendar notebook. That is very important for me. I start every week by writing out every obligation I have. Communication is so vital for keeping on top of everything. Communicating with my partners and our team and I have lots of conversations with myself to keep me accountable.

8. What do you want the clients to know at 19 years?

I want our clients to know that we could not even be one day old without the Gee beauty community and that we are so grateful. We feel so beyond blessed for you but it extends beyond what you see. We could not do what we do, share, educate and be Gee Beauty without any of you.

To everyone who has ever shopped, stepped inside our studios, or supported us in anyway, from the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU! We hope we have been able to communicate even a small amount the gratitude and honor we feel to bring Gee Beauty into your lives.

With so much love,

The Gees