Husband and wife team Roshan Mahanama and Subhaga Amarasekara co-founded Flayr, an online, at-home beauty marketplace that connects Australian women with professional make-up and hair artists, four years ago.
We find out more from Subhaga.
What is Flayr?
“Flayr makes booking a hair and makeup artist as easy as booking a hotel.”
Tell us how Flayr came about?
“I created the platform in Dec 2016 with my husband, Roshan, with the simple aim of helping his mum, who is a trained makeup artist, drum up more business. We initially started with four stylists in Sydney and now we are all around Australia.”
How has the business grown since inception?
“Three years later, Flayr is now the largest and most trusted marketplace for makeup and hair stylists in Australia, with more than 7,000, five-star reviews from customers. We empower stylists to make the most of their skills by giving them free leads, the power to be self-employed, have an individual profile and to set their own prices and travel range. This means our users have a highly personalised experience of getting to choose from hundreds of stylists that either travel to them or go to a home studio.”
What have been some challenges you have overcome?
“Makeup artists in the industry are generally sceptical of platforms as most platforms don’t give makeup artists a choice and force set prices, and it has taken makeup artists some time to understand how we work, as they get free leads and they can set their own prices and showcase their own portfolios. The customer chooses the makeup artist, which leads to a better experience for both the stylist and the customer.”
If a makeup / hair artist was interested in joining Flayr, what do they need to consider?
“The main thing to consider is what pricing you would like to charge for your studio or mobile service, then fill out our application on https://www.flayr.com.au/providers/join-us. Our onboarding team will review the application and get back to you with any questions.”
Plans for the future?
“We’ll keep you posted!”