👧🏻 ABOUT THIS EPISODE She was sick in bed, scrolling her inbox, and almost deleted the email as spam. It was Cengage (Milady’s parent company) asking her to be a contributing author on the next aesthetics edition because they’d found her teaching skin of color on TikTok. Six months later, she was on a set in LA shooting facial demos for twelve hours straight. Armenthia Carr, ASCP’s 2026 Esthetician of the Year, joins Laura and Brandy from just over the bridge in North Little Rock. This one is for anyone who’s ever felt boxed in by their license. Armenthia has built a thousand-student teaching career, an online CE company, a textbook credit, and a corrective skin practice, all inside the scope of an esthetics license. Along the way, she gets honest about what schools still aren’t teaching about melanin-rich skin, why following a brand protocol without reading the skin in front of you is malpractice-adjacent, and why “AI won’t take your job, but somebody using AI will.” 🧠 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN How many careers actually live inside an esthetics license (teaching, CE sponsorship, textbook authorship, brand education, social media), and why the treatment table alone won’t hold up your back for thirty years Why a brand protocol is a starting point, not a prescription, and what happens when you put salicylic acid on dry, acneic skin because the sheet said to How to learn ingredients instead of product lines, so you can still serve a client when you run out of your favorite brand What the education gap around skin of color actually looks like from inside a classroom, and how to close it for yourself The “loud and right” rule: how to research a position (medical journals, dermatologists, podcasts) before you advocate for it, and how to own it publicly when you’re wrong How an AI dermoscope changes the client conversation from “trust me” to “look at this” ⏱️ CHAPTERS (00:00) Meet Armenthia Carr, Esthetician of the Year(04:48) Chicago Beauty School to Arkansas Homecoming(08:38) Becoming a Milady Textbook Author(13:17) Building IAMA Artistry Online(17:17) The Skin of Color Education Gap(20:09) Protocols Versus Reading the Skin(25:13) Mentorship: My Ceiling, Your Floor(32:27) Inside the SmartSKN AI Dermoscope(40:47) Using AI Without Losing Soul(43:26) Becoming the Woman You Needed(46:23) Wrap & Farewell 💡 TIP OF THE WEEK Before your next facial, pull the ingredient deck for every product on your shelf and learn what’s actually doing the work, not what the brand’s protocol card tells you to reach for. The day you run out of your go-to serum mid-week, ingredient knowledge is the only thing that lets you finish the appointment without wrecking someone’s barrier. 🛍️ PRODUCT OF THE WEEK SmartSKN AI Dermoscope, a handheld device that images skin at 60x, reads moisture levels, and merges it all with a client questionnaire to return skin type, hydration, wrinkle depth, sensitivity, redness, and oil production. Armenthia has run 100+ scans and says it hasn’t missed yet. Head to the For Professionals tab, and you get a one-on-one onboarding with her when you buy. 🔗 RESOURCES & MENTIONS Armenthia Carr, esthetician, educator, mentor, and advocate for skin of color; ASCP’s 2026 Esthetician of the Year IAMA Artistry, iamaartistry.com, Armenthia’s education company and the best way to reach her or book a class. Approved CE sponsor in Illinois for hair, skin, nails, hair braiding, and instructors. Classes in microneedling, dermaplaning, chemical peels, threading, sugaring, and more, one-on-one or group 📅 Book a facial with Armenthia at Ur Skin Therapist, 812 Reservoir Rd, Little Rock, AR. Corrective skin care: consultations, signature facials, chemical peels, microneedling, acne and teen treatments, waxing, threading, lashes, and brow lamination 📖 Booked, Paid & Unapologetic, available on Amazon, a step-by-step guide to the business side of a beauty career, for anyone tired of undercharging and overexplaining SmartSKN, smartskn.com, the AI dermoscope and custom Korean skincare line Armenthia serves as Director of Education for. Professional device info lives under the For Professionals tab Milady (Cengage), the standard aesthetics and cosmetology textbook. Armenthia is a contributing author on the upcoming aesthetics edition and shot the facial video content in LA; release expected late this year into next Associated Skin Care Professionals (ASCP), ascpskincare.com, where the Esthetician of the Year feature and full write-up are online in the magazine Talk about ingredients, not brands: salicylic acid vs. benzoyl peroxide for acne on dry skin; hydroquinone used correctly; balancing and repairing the barrier before treating pigment ✨ HIGHLIGHTS “If you’re not willing to put in the work, I’m not the esthetician for you. You’d waste your money and both of our time. I can refer you to somebody else.” “My ceiling is your floor. Everything I know, I’m going to teach you, and it’s your job to grow with it.” “In order to be loud about something, you have to be loud and right, not loud and wrong.” “A brand can give you a protocol. But if they’re not physically looking at the skin, you can have acne and dry skin at the same time.” Social media: “You can be the best in the business, but if nobody knows about it, it doesn’t matter.” “AI is not going to take your job, but somebody using AI will.” “AI can’t touch people. AI can’t have that emotional connection with the client. Only you can do that.” “This is a trillion-dollar industry. There’s plenty to go around.” When teaching: “I want you to feel like a towel that’s been wrung out at the end of the day. This is your education, so ask me everything.” “That license opened more doors for me than my four-year degree ever did.” 💥 CONNECT WITH US 🎥 YouTube: @PrettySmartTooPod 📸 Instagram: @PrettySmartTooPod 🎵 TikTok: @PrettySmartToo 👥 Facebook: Pretty Smart Too 🌐 Website: prettysmarttoo.com 🙌 LOVED THIS EPISODE? Follow Pretty Smart Too on Apple Podcasts & YouTube - and leave us a review! It helps more people find the show. We read every single one. 💗 Wishing you love, peace, & great skin! Laura & Brandy XOXO 💋 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit prettysmarttoo.substack.com
