My name is Rina Roberts. I’m originally from Thailand. I can’t believe I’ve come this far (literally) to America and built a successful business with more than 12,000 trusted customers in 13 years.

Growing up in a rural area with a younger brother, I embraced the importance of hard work. My parents worked as farmers, so they had to leave home very early in the morning. From the age of 6, I woke up at 5 a.m. every day to cook for my sibling and get myself ready for school. Being raised in a fortune-less family, I was really timid and shy but I’ve loved learning since I was young.

When I turned 18, I took my courage in both hands and moved to a big city in the northern part of Thailand to pursue a college degree in Economics. I worked and studied at the same time to pay for my own tuition. After I graduated, I moved to Bangkok. I had a good corporate job and earned good income but life wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

In Bangkok, people viewed me as a rustic poor uptown girl. They would mock me about my look, my skin color, my height etc. Eventually, it became an insecurity. Also, the family of my then boyfriend, whom I dated for 7 years, didn’t like how I looked or my background. We broke up and I was left devastated, not knowing what I should do with my life.

But once again, I took my courage and decided to continue my education in the U.S. I wanted to get out of the bad environment and prove to everybody that a scorned ugly duck like me could become a successful swan one day too.

In the states, I went to college and worked at 3 – 4 different jobs at the same time. I used to work part-time in a lab in a hospital for a while too. I later found that seeing blood and surrounding myself with sick people in a gloomy environment all day was not something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

My other part-time job was at a salon. I have always been passionate about beauty and self care. I really liked the environment of happy and jolly people coming in to take care of themselves. And because of this opportunity, I got the chance to learn different aspects of the business including sugaring. Interestingly, when I touched the sugar pot for the first time, I felt a really strong calling to do something bigger and more meaningful to me which can help others in the future as well. So I knew I had to go all in with this career.

I went to school and learned everything I could including Sugar wax, Cosmetology, Permanent makeup, Advanced permanent makeup, and scalp micro pigmentation. I’m a certified esthetician and massage therapist and also a Cosmetology instructor, and Beauty School instructor. In 2023, my business received an award for the best Sugaring in town for the 5th consecutive year.

Now, I’ve settled in Virginia with a loving husband (not the douchy one of course) and we were blessed with a son. I have two branches of my Beauty & Spa business in Vienna and Sterling. Also, I opened Sugaring House Beauty Academy to pass on my skills and give opportunities to women who want to build their career and success in this industry. I believe everybody can make their dreams come true if they put their mind into it. There’s nothing more fulfilling to me than seeing my students grow and succeed and I’m so proud that I get to be a part of their journey.