KMaxTanning

Our Story

PRE-GLOW

My name is Kara Maculaitis, now known as the Kara Mac. I began doing spray tans in my dorm room during my first year of college in New York City. Initially I began spraying friends and people living in my dorm building. While doing this, I learned about a mobile app called PRIV. They were looking for mobile spray tan techs so I decided to apply. Part of the interview required me to spray the Chief Business Officer of the company. She loved the tan and offered me the position. As luck would have it my very first mobile client was Paris Hilton. From that point on my business blossomed. I quickly built a clientele and gained many other celebrity and influential clients such as Lindsay Lohan, Alison Brod and Jen Selter. While building my business, I continued attending college, worked a retail job, obtained my spray tan certifications all while continuing to do mobile tans. Word spread through social media that I was doing Spray Tans in New York City and people from my hometown started messaging me for a tan. So on the weekends I would travel home to Connecticut to do spray tans. I quickly became incredibly busy, often spray tanning 40-60 people every weekend.

I was working out of my family home during the weekends. There were people coming and going from our home between the hours of 6am and midnight. As you can imagine, this started to become an issue with my parents. I knew it was time to make my next move. I needed to rent my own place. I considered renting from an existing salon but I knew that wasn’t really what I wanted. I decided that I really did need a place of my own; A PLACE TO GLOW.

I did some research on the area I wanted to target for my first place. I wanted somewhere convenient to my existing clientele, somewhere desirable for new clientele and somewhere that I felt comfortable. My target area would be the iconic town center of Branford, Connecticut. Initially, I found myself very disappointed in the size, location and condition of the spaces that were available. I needed a modern space that I could grow into. I decided to go with a bigger place and would find a few talented entrepreneurs to rent from me and help build, A PLACE TO GLOW..

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