Kesha-Lena Weir is building a business with a lasting legacy – both for her family and her community in the heart of Pictou County.

Located in the small town of Thorburn on McLellans Brook Road, Beau Ideal is a beauty salon offering aesthetic services, including microblading, semi-permanent brows, lash lifts, manicures and professional makeup.

Kesha-Lena’s daughter, 20, has been a nail tech at the salon for the past year, painting intricate patterns, flowers, even faces – each nail a tiny canvas for her art. Meanwhile, her son, 16, worked the coat check at a recent event to celebrate the grand opening of The Bridal Suite, a new addition to the Beau Ideal business. In coming years, he may be running on-site accommodations.

Kesha-Lena’s husband helped her renovate her father’s old auto body shop for the past 2 years so they could launch The Bridal Suite – a unique wedding venue where the bridal party can get hair, makeup and nails done on site, then celebrate in a room with 14 custom chandeliers and an LED dance floor that you can program to light up with different colours and designs. It’s the only digital dance floor in the Maritimes.

Beau Ideal may be expanding now, but it was born from humble beginnings.

“The first year was rough,” Kesha-Lena says. “Back then, people didn’t really know what microblading was – they thought it was associated with tattooing – two blue lines on your face! I spent that first year hustling.”

Her father, an entrepreneur himself, suggested Kesha-Lena reach out to CBDC NOBL (Northern Opportunities for Business Limited) for support.

“I seriously could not have done it without them,” she states. “I had no clientele, I started with nothing.”

Today, clientele come in from Cape Breton, mainland Nova Scotia, even New Brunswick. One client drove 3.5 hours for the microblading services.

“I get a high off of doing eyebrows,” Kesha-Lena says. “I find I’ve cried with the girls who come in when they’re going through chemo, leading them to have no hair or eyebrows. They sometimes say “I look like an alien,” and my services help them get their confidence back. I never get sick of my job.”