Esthetics Alumni | Adriana Torres | Bellus Academy in Chula Vista

The Dream Behind Ady Esthetics LLC: A Bellus Academy Esthetics Success Story

Adriana Torres graduated from the Esthetics program at Bellus Academy in Chula Vista in December 2022. Today, she’s the owner of Ady Esthetics LLC in San Diego, offering skincare treatments, lash services, body wellness, and virtual skincare consultations. Her business started as a dream: a career she loved, built around being present for her three children.

Adriana Torres’s Dream Rooted in Caring for Others

Torres has always been drawn to taking care of people. What pulled her toward skincare specifically was the personal, one-on-one nature of the work. Every client’s skin is different, and figuring out exactly what someone needs takes time and attention. For Torres, a facial isn’t just a service. It’s a relationship.

“You’re doing a service, but you’re also building a relationship with the person,” she says. “It doesn’t even feel like work.”

Choosing the Dream Over the Grind

Before esthetics, Torres worked overnight shifts at an Amazon warehouse, training new hires while raising three children as a single mother. She’d clock out at 5 a.m., get her kids ready for school by 7, then head to Bellus Academy classes at 9. It didn’t last long. Within a few weeks of trying to balance full-time training with overnight work, Torres left her job to focus entirely on school. It was a leap of faith, and one she says paid off many times over.

Building the Dream, One Season at a Time

In the Student Salon and Spa, Torres practiced hands-on techniques like effleurage, the light, flowing massage movements she still uses in her services today. She credits two Educators with shaping how she approaches her work: Ms. Cheryl, who modeled genuine passion for skincare, and Elizabeth, who pushed her out of her comfort zone by teaching the class how to build an online presence, something that felt uncomfortable for someone who describes herself as naturally shy.

That online presence became the foundation of her business. Torres built Ady Esthetics LLC step by step: first in her parents’ living room, then her own bedroom, then the garage, then a rented booth for about a year before she opened her own studio space. A fellow Bellus Academy graduate, now a close friend, runs her own esthetics business in the same building, and the two cross-promote and support each other’s work.

A Dream Built Around Her Kids

For Torres, the drive behind Ady Esthetics LLC has always been her three children. Leaving her overnight warehouse job wasn’t only about school, it was about being able to show up for them.

“I saw how hard it was in the past, working late hours,” she says. “I was falling asleep while they were having breakfast… I just felt like I wasn’t really functioning, fully there.” Owning her business changed that. “I work around their schedule,” she says. “They don’t work around me… Mom’s working, but I’m still here.”

She rarely misses a drop-off or pickup, and she takes time off in the summer to be with her kids.

Her children have watched every step of the journey, from practicing services in her bedroom to opening her own studio.

“They see each step, and I always motivate them, and they see the motivation,” she says. “Whatever you guys put your heart in… it’s possible. And look where we started.”

That example has become its own kind of lesson for them, one Torres sums up in her own words:

“We can do anything you want. Really can.”

Ady Esthetics LLC Today

Ady Esthetics LLC offers skincare treatments, lash services, body wellness, and virtual skincare consultations. The virtual option grew out of client requests, especially from clients who live farther away, including a group Torres still visits in person every two to three months near Bakersfield. Most of her clientele has come through organic content on Instagram and TikTok, cross-posted to Facebook, built without paid promotion or outside collaborators.

Torres has also learned to balance her pricing so it works for her clients while respecting her own time and training, something she says every esthetician has to figure out for themselves. A first-time client special helps her connect with someone new; from there, she builds toward the specific care each person needs.

The Dream Ahead

Right now, Torres runs Ady Esthetics LLC on her own, handling every service alongside the marketing, ordering, and bookkeeping that come with owning a business. Her goal is to get busy enough that she needs to bring on and train additional estheticians, so she can help others build the same kind of career she has. She also faced a difficult personal season during her time at Bellus Academy, one that required her to step back, heal, and return to her training. Her advice for anyone considering the Esthetics program: stay motivated, and keep your eyes on your goal, no matter what comes up along the way.

Torres is also looking forward to getting married next year, one more milestone in a story she describes as having flowed together beautifully.

Start Your Own Dream Career in Skincare

Torres’s path from her parents’ living room to owning Ady Esthetics LLC started with hands-on training in the Esthetics program at Bellus Academy. The Esthetics program is offered at Bellus Academy campuses in Chula Vista, El Cajon, and Poway, California, and Manhattan, Kansas. Request information to explore the program and see where your own dream in skincare could take you.