Johannesburg - Esteemed beauty veteran Sandy Fuhr was passionate about the beauty industry from childhood but during this time it was relatively reserved for the wealthy and elite.
After she matriculated, Fuhr enrolled at a beauty school for a “just for fun course for post-schooling”.
“In those days, this was an unknown industry and field of expertise which had almost 0% growth opportunities,” Fuhr explained to The Saturday Star.
Despite this, she became the only female in her college to get a job straight from college as a beauty therapist in the 1980s.
Fuhr would go on to revolutionise the beauty industry during her four decades.
“I have since grown with the industry in South Africa over the past years,” she said.
Now a somatologist, a professional individual who is responsible for assisting others in improving their general wellness and aesthetic appearance through information and practice of healthy lifestyle habits, product use and clinic treatments, Fuhr looks at her career with a sense of pride.
And much of her success lies in creating an inclusive environment where people, particularly women, from all backgrounds can benefit from the gains of the beauty industry, either through employment or by uplifting their confidence.
“The beauty industry is the type of sector which can service a predominantly female market place by offering opportunities to women to work and be at home with their children as well,” she said.
“To become mobile and working remotely, setting up their own salons and spas and working flexibly whilst still earning a viable income also gives them the ability to be entrepreneurial and explore their adventurous spirit whilst having a career which is now well-respected.”
Fuhr is also proud of the gains she was instrumental in growing when it comes to creating an all-encompassing beauty industry.
“The beauty industry was traditionally positioned as being a space for the wealthy and privileged to experience but this has changed markedly over the years which is a relief to many,” she said.
“There are salons positioned all around the country, on street corners, in five-star hotels, in shopping centres and also via mobile treatments which has opened the industry up to the majority of consumers to be able to experience and enjoy the various treatments on offer.”
Apart from Fuhr’s work as a somatologist, she is also an educator, mentor and successful businesswoman. In recent years, she founded the Sandy Roy Beauty Therapy Institute. This educational institution boasts over 20 campuses in Africa and Fuhr is also a regular judge, speaker, and contributor to beauty expos, conferences, and competitions.
Meanwhile, her interest in female empowerment led to her involvement in the Sorbet Empowering Women foundation, an initiative that creates socio-economic upliftment by providing skills, training and education for women and men, allowing them to enter the beauty and grooming industry.
In between launching and running her business, Fuhr has also found the time to serve as a board member at various organisations and to contribute to international beauty bodies. She was elected South African Association of Health and Skincare Professionals national president in 2005, was appointed a CIDESCO International Beauty Therapy, Spa and Aromatherapy examiner (CIDESCO is a Swiss based international standard for beauty and spa therapy) and also served on their board for over 11 years. In September 2019, Sandy was elected president of CIDESCO International but resigned 18 months later.
Fuhr’s hard work and dedication has been recognised far and wide: In 2006 she won the title of Nedbank Businesswoman of the Year in the Entrepreneurial category. The following year she was nominated for Shoprite Checkers SABC 2 Woman of the Year, in the Education category.
The beauty veteran has also judged advanced make-up competitions, as well as many destination spas and salons, on behalf of professional beauty and world spa and wellness around the world. What’s perhaps most impressive, is that she did it all while raising her two children as a single mother – no easy feat for any woman, let alone an entrepreneur.
“Being in education for the past 30 years, it is all about uplifting, developing and growing others to be able to achieve for themselves in their lifetimes,” Fuhr explained.
“For me, it is important to enable women to be self-sufficient and provide for themselves and their families.”
And it is precisely this that she would like her legacy to be.
“I passionately want to be remembered for giving previously disadvantaged women an opportunity to be educated.”
Fuhr believes that the unique system of beauty education that she was instrumental in creating enables particularly women to build a career for themselves which allows their children and loved ones to have a brighter future.
“I wish to leave a legacy of BTI (Beauty Therapy Institute) colleges which are well-established, driven by the important lifelong activities to uplift and educate others to become self-employable, employable and self-sufficient,” she said.
“I also want to be remembered for pioneering the industry in the 21st century, introducing distance and e-learning many years before the rest and enabling women, and men too, to be able to work and study at the same time.”