Latest news with #StudioGrace
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Living with OCD: "For so long I was afraid"
Grace Cahill, founder of Studio Grace, tells Dearbhail how Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has affected her life. Event designer Grace Cahill has a personal motto: "courage, not comfort". Grace, who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, spoke to Dearbhail McDonald – sitting in for Brendan on RTÉ Radio 1 – and explained what her motto means: "For so long I was afraid, you know, I lived in sort of fear, and that was my comfort. The fear felt like comfort because, if I don't do it, I'm in my comfort zone." Then she took the huge step of leaving her job and striking out on her own: "I feel like you know, having the courage to do that has brought me here. Because I got my diagnosis after that, and I feel a million times better, I feel way more confident, I feel I can take on really anything." For Grace Cahill, OCD didn't just mean having intrusive thoughts and craving structure, it also came, she told Dearbhail, with physical compulsions: "I did – and I still do – skin pick a lot. And I think my face really suffers because it's right here [...] I've a big head of hair, I've real kinky hair, so I would like pick from here a lot and then pick from here like you couldn't see it, so that would like, you know, give me a bit of comfort." There is, Dearbhail suggests, a paradox at the heart of some of the compulsions to seek comfort because it can end up being destructive. Grace agrees: "It's like cause and effect, really. In that moment, it's giving you comfort, and then afterwards, you're annoyed at yourself. But I think now I have that sort of brainpower, and I have the tools to kind of help me. But like, throughout my twenties, you know, I never knew that I was struggling with this, it was part of my life." In college, Grace was hyper-aware of the fact that she would do things that she had no control over, but at the time, she thought that everybody else did the same thing: "I knew that they were there, I just didn't know that everyone else didn't do them. You know, it was part of my brain. Now I have the capacity to go, 'I can't, I shouldn't do that because I'll feel worse afterwards.' I have the tools, I have the medication, I have the knowledge. But I didn't then." Dearbhail wonders how her OCD affects Grace in her everyday life, and Grace has an evocative description of what it's like when the disruptive thoughts come calling: "They are like, I would say, like twenty tabs open as soon as you wake up. Like, do you open your laptop and look at those twenty tabs and give them headspace, or do you close them down? And now I understand what's happening when this happens to me." Before she got her diagnosis in 2023, Grace just thought that hardship and struggle were part of everyday life. And Dearbhail wondered how she felt, having got her diagnosis in adulthood, about her struggles as a young person who had no idea that she was neurodivergent: "I think you feel a sense of sadness because you were dealing with so much, and you never knew that. Like I said, you don't have that education. But yeah, there is a sense of relief." Grace's daughter Sophia was born in 2020 and was a toddler when Grace decided to leave her job as a fashion editor and start her own business in 2023. She had gone back to work after Sophia's birth, and she realised that she wasn't coping and that she needed to pivot professionally and also that she needed help personally. So she turned to her GP: "I was in that chair, and she just took one look at me, and I was... I could have just melted into the floor, like, I was just, there was nothing left of me. I needed help, and that, she didn't even flinch. She was just like, 'This is what we're going to do and this is what you're going to take now.' And I had so many people professionally believing in me, but I just had literally zero belief in myself." Was there, Dearbhail asks, a validation when Grace finally got her diagnosis after so long, especially as a lot of women's experiences involve having their symptoms ignored or minimised for a prolonged period. Grace believes that there is some validation for her, and it's changed the way she sees her treatments: "I think now I look at, you know, what I take every day as, you know, it's not a crutch, it's chemistry, and I know that I need to take them." Since her diagnosis, Grace lives and functions with OCD, rather than trying to struggle against it all the time, and the key to her successfully doing that, she feels, is her understanding of her condition: "I function with it, but it's really because I understand it, you know? I know what's happening. Before, I never did. I would just go down the hole of, you know, I would let it overtake me. It's like it's not in the front seat anymore, it's in the back." You can hear Dearbhail's full conversation with Grace by tapping or clicking above.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Young Aussie's shock $5,000 a week earnings in 'constantly growing' industry: 'Doesn't feel like work'
An Australian beautician has revealed her earnings after just two years of starting her own business. Imogen Grace worked for six years before launching Studio Grace back in 2023. The Gold Coast woman told jobs app GetAhead that she has pulled in $3,000 to $5,000 a week from her five days at her salon, which works out to be around $260,000 over a year. But the 23-year-old told Yahoo Finance her early days were a struggle. "[It was] very challenging at first - going from guaranteed income each week, to some weeks making only $20," she said. Woolworths worker with three jobs shares bank balance as average Aussie savings revealed Banks reveal impact after Aussies try to drain ATMs in cashless protest Centrelink payment warning over looming deadline: 'Don't miss out' "I was very fortunate to have savings up my sleeve that I was able to use during those times where I wasn't making much money. "And I kept reminding myself that everybody has to start somewhere."She left high school in Year 10 and went to beauty school before learning the tricks of the trade for more than half a decade. It wasn't long before the Queenslander realised she wanted to go out on her own and plunged her savings into getting Studio Grace off the ground when she was just 21. Her salary revelation left some shocked, with one person saying: "Ain't no way a beautician is taking home $260,000 a year." But Grace explained that that money is her revenue and her take-home pay is what is left over once she pays her tax, rent, utilities, and the products that go into her services. The 23-year-old told Yahoo Finance that her decision to launch Studio Grace came with some peaks and troughs. "There's so much competition in the Gold Coast," she said. "Beauty and appearance are everything to everyone. "The hardest part of my job is not having anyone to take my clients if I'm sick or unexpectedly need a day off. Even though she said competition in her industry has been fierce, particularly on the Gold Coast, she told GetAhead that it still wasn't saturated and believed it's "constantly growing". While running your own business means she has very little wiggle room for time off, she said picking her own hours has been great, compared to when she was working under someone. She now averages around six clients a day and offers eyelash, eyebrow and skin services. "The best part is that I never have to work a day in my life. I truely believe if you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work," she told Yahoo Finance. You have to undergo formal training to be a licensed beautician. While there are some qualifications that cover a wide range of treatments, others can be far more specific. An aspiring beautician can complete qualifications at TAFE like a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy (SHB40115) and a Certificate III in Beauty Services (SHB30115). You can also complete a Diploma of Beauty Therapy (SHB50115) if you want to explore other options within the beauty industry. In some states or territories, you have to get a specific license to be able to offer certain beauty treatments, like ones involving lasers and intense pulsed light (IPL) therapies. The AABT5022 Advanced Laser IPL and Dermal treatments is highly recommended as many salons look for proficiencies in this sector. Completing this will allow you to do IPL skin resurfacing, laser hair removal, skin needling, dermal peeling and cool lifting. After that, you'll have to get hands-on experience, which comes during the practical part of the TAFE course, or can be gained by reaching out to salons for work experience. According to SEEK, a beautician's average salary in Australia is between $70,000 to $75,000, while Indeed says the average hourly rate is around $ in to access your portfolio
