US-based Zimbabwean woman flies high

Growing up in the high density suburb of Glen View in Harare Mabel Machabvunga-Butler had a difficult childhood, following the death of her father. Living with her mum and siblings, she had to be content sharing the paltry basics that sustained the family, as her widowed mother struggled to put food on the table.

As she went about her daily chores, Mabel silently prayed for a solution that would better their lives. In the midst of despair and hopeless, Mabel got an opportunity to train and work in Spa ships in England. That opportunity was a turning point in Mabel and her siblings' lives.

Today, Mabel who is now domiciled in America is now a businesswoman of repute who owns a body-sugaring wellness Spa and also manufactures a wide range of beauty products in her hometown of North Carolina.

Sugaring wellness spas are beauty centres that works on one's health, beauty and relaxation through a wide range of personal care treatments.

"I am what I am today because of my late mother. She toiled for us and believed that one day, we would live our dreams," said Mabel.

Named Tapira Sugaring, the wide range of beauty products, which consists of hair removal paste, Hungarian mud mask and a wide range of facial products are currently available in America with plans are afoot to have them locally available in Zimbabwe.

"The products have been well-received in America to beauty therapists and cosmetologists and I am planning to launch them in Harare, so that they can be distributed locally.

"I have done my research and I would now want to bring the products home, so that local beauty enthusiasts can widen their selection," she said.

Mabel who will be in Zimbabwe this week to teach the art of sugaring said while she did not expect to get an instant positive response, she was eager to work with beauty therapy schools and other stakeholders on trending international beauty tips.

Using her knowledge acquired when she attended beauty therapy school in Harare coupled by her extensive experience and exposure she got while working in ships and several spas, across the globe, Mabel said her product range was of a good quality.

"I am passionate about wellness and beauty therapy, so I have ensured that my products are top of the range and highly competitive.

The need to ensure quality was highly inspired by her upbringing, where she had to work twice as hard, with precision while offering the best service, to save guard her ticket meal.

"From the day that I made it into the top four students selected as recruits to work as a beauty therapist from a competitive list of 17 equally good students, it dawned on me that quality, hard work and precision were crucial tenets that I could not do without.

"I learnt that the three were a gateway to a good life ahead," she affirmed.

She therefore was unfazed with long working hours and hard work, which became her lifestyle while working aboard these ships.

"It was really hard work and long hours, but that was nothing because the money was good. My brother-who had gone to the UK- and I were renovating my mother's house, so I really needed the money

"Seeing my happy was all that mattered to me. She drove her first car which we bought her at 48, so hard work was nothing, compared to her happiness."

Mabel made use of the long voyaging hours to read and learn a lot about international trends in beauty therapy. It while she was working on the ship that she met her husband, then a college lecture taking a summer off to work on a cruise as a musician.

"We dated for two hours and he proposed. I resigned as a cruise beauty therapist and moved to North Carolina in 2010 with my husband," she revealed.

However, she later realised that despite her academic qualifications and experience she could not get a job.

"I could not find a job. No one wanted to hire me. Everyone said I was either too experience or I would not stay," she recalled.

With two young kids to care for, she decided to buy her own equipment and start her own spa at her house. In no time, the business grew and she had to move from her house and rent some premises to cater for her growing clientele.

In 2015, she came up with a formula for sugaring products, which immediately attracted interests from beauty schools and wellness spas, and the rest is history.

From being a beauty therapist at Steiner Transoceanic Limited, where she worked for long hours, offering beauty therapy and service to passengers aboard ships, Mabel is living her dream.

Married with two young daughters, Mabel believes greatness is achieved once individuals are committed to work hard and push boundaries to attain their goals.

She has inspired great minded Zimbabwean young women among them Zelda Masango who has now taken up beauty therapy. Sadly her mother, who passed away soon after Mabel had settled with her husband in America, would not be there to see her "young angel" soaring high.

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