Lifestylist. Inner Beauty Bestie. Brow “Eyecon”. LaGena “LaLa” Cain was born into the world of beauty.
After working for a major cosmetics brand for more than a decade, LaLa struck out on her own and opened a beauty bar called TreLa Brows before conceiving the idea for her Poise Beauty Life brand and concept. According to Cain:
“Poised Life s a posture that one embodies during the toughest times. It is a graceful and controlled way of being. We are a lifestyle brand! Our focus is to encourage women to embody beauty from within. To heal and become the Goddess that they are meant to be. Beauty is about loving and healing oneself. BePoised… it’s a lifestyle.”
N’Digo recently caught up with budding beauty maven to discuss being born in the beauty world, her numerous businesses, and her recently released book, Living A Poised Life.
In your own words, who is LaLa Cain?
She’s a survivor. She’s someone who beats the odds. She’s a single mom. She’s a hustler. She’s an inner-beauty bestie. She’s an author. She’s a brow “eye”con. She’s someone that makes it happen.
How did you get your start in the beauty industry and onto the path that you’re onto now?
I was literally born in the beauty industry. My playpen as a baby was in the middle of my Aunt’s hair salon on the west side of Chicago. She actually named the salon after me. It was called “LaGena’s Hair Salon” so I was kind of destined to be in this business. It’s all I know. I grew up wanting to do hair but at a certain point around the time I graduated high school I went through a phase where I wanted nothing to do with hair and that’s when I went to Columbia College Chicago and studied Fashion Business. For years after college, I made a living as a fashion stylist. It wasn’t until some years later when I began to start a family that I decided I wanted to get back to my roots and back into the beauty industry. Styling is very political and I was pregnant at the time and it just was not cohesive with my life and just overall not good for me. So I decided to go to my family’s beauty school, Your School of Beauty Culture, which has been located in Bronzeville for more than 30 years. I decided to get my cosmetology license because I wanted a career that had flexibility because I was a wife and new mom. And that’s how I found my way back into beauty.
So after coming back to the beauty industry, what was your next move?
After I got my cosmetology license, I started working for a corporate beauty brand, Benefits Cosmetics, in Lincoln Park. I opened their boutique in 2006 and I was there for almost 15 years.
And that’s when you started TreLa Brows?
Yes, it wasn’t until 2019 when I opened my own beauty bar in Lincoln Park called TreLa Brows, with my business partner. As a trained aesthetician, that’s where I do waxing, and the bulk of my work.
Please tell us about your brand, Poise Beauty?
My mother passed in 2018 and I started the brand in 2019. Poise Beauty Life is all about healing and living your best life and becoming your best self. My mom was a jazzy woman and always told me to never leave home without wearing lip gloss and lipstick so I developed a lipstick line that was inspired by her. The brand itself is again about women living their best life possible and it all comes from a very personal part of my life.
I also went through a divorce and became a single mom so it was a very hard time in my life. It propelled me to where I am at this moment. I had to do my work to heal and forgive and do my self-work and go to therapy and so the brand is really about that: coming out on top after such trauma.
Even before starting your businesses, you had an ongoing popular event you produced, right?
Absolutely. Before I started TreLa Brows and Poise Beauty one of my first endeavors was Brows by LaLa Presents “The Tastemakers Brunch” which I did for almost 5 years. Doing that brunch kind of helped me become my best self because I was going through a very, very hard time in life and while I was going through this rough period I saw a number of my friends doing very well. Instead of brooding and hating on them, I used their successes to motivate me. One day God spoke to me after watching Beverly Bond’s Black Girl Magic to do my own version of that and that’s how Tastemakers Brunch began.
The idea was to shine a light on black women that were doing well in their respective industries. In a way, the brunch was a kind of genesis for the brand and the idea of living your best life. Each brunch I did, I donated 10% of the ticket sales to various organizations that I believe have worthy causes.
Can you give me a little insight on your recently released book, Living A Poised Life?
The book really just goes into my journey of healing and I hope it helps inspire women to really do their work to heal and face the demons and do their inner work. It’s not a biography but it goes into a bit of detail about a part of my life that was very dramatic and traumatic and how I got through that. And getting through that entailed going to therapy and prayer and taking the mask off and getting real with myself and loving on myself.
There are also journaling pages so readers can write down their improvement ideas as they go along. Each chapter of the book is named after my popular liquid matte lipsticks which are all empowering adjectives like Evolve, Fearless, Fierce, Goddess, Majestic, and Poised. Growing up in the beauty industry, I always saw women take care of their outer beauty and not focus on what’s really important, which is what’s inside and that’s what Living A Poised Life and the Poised Beauty lifestyle brand is all about.
Between work and family and having a life of your own, how do you balance it all?
It is a challenge, but personally, for me, it’s not as challenging as one would think. I make time first thing in the morning to pray and meditate and then go work out. I make sure to give myself an hour to just be with me and God and get my mindset ready for the day. And then after that, I really just go with the flow of the day. I definitely make sure to get my sleep. I don’t hang out as much although people think I have this amazing social life. I know a lot of people and I support the people that support me and that I love but I’m not out just to be out. I protect my energy and my space.
What’s something about you most people would be surprised to know?
People will be shocked to know that as social as I appear to be, I’m actually shy and can be a loner at times. Also that I’m really intuitive. It’s truly like a sixth sense for me.
Best advice to aspiring beauty professionals?
Stay in your own lane. Create and bloom in your lane and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. Just focus on your craft. Be the best that you can be. Take classes because you can always learn something new.
Favorite quote or affirmation?
My mantra is “I know it. I desire it. It’s on its way and there is nothing for me to be upset about. The universe is rigged in my favor and abundance is my birthright.”
What’s next for LaLa Cain and Poise Beauty?
Well since the book just dropped, that’s definitely a big focus at the moment. In addition to that, I’d also like to do some life styling and life coaching and maybe down the line look into organizing different types of retreats.
For more information on LaLa Cain and Poise Beauty, please visit www.linktr.ee/poisebeautylife and connect with her on Instagram.
