Before the Kardashians: How Yris Palmer Built Her Lash Empire with $500

When Yris Palmer was working dead-end retail jobs and living in her parents’ cramped two-bedroom apartment with eight family members, building a beauty empire probably seemed impossible. But Palmer—who has never been one to accept limitations—is proving the skeptics wrong.  

As the founder of Star Lash Extensions, Palmer has created her own beauty empire, offering eyelash services and lash technician classes with impressive success. What started as a side hustle in 2014 with a $500 investment has evolved into several brick-and-mortar locations and a client list that includes Kylie Jenner, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and other A-listers.

“When something is in my head, I don’t care what you tell me—I am going to do it just to prove to you that I was right. I know myself,” Palmer says on Khloé in Wonderland.

The hustler mentality that started it all

Palmer’s parents came to the U.S. from El Salvador after fleeing a war, and while she didn’t grow up with much, she did develop what she calls a hustler mentality. “I love being around people smarter than me because I am still learning. I love to be around people who inspire me,” she says.

After countless dead-end, low-paying retail jobs, Palmer saw an opportunity. She realized people were charging $250 to $300 for eyelashes and knew she wanted to try to create her own eyelash business. She wasn’t particularly  business savvy and didn’t have many resources, but she did have Google. With a few online videos and several weeks of practice, she quickly taught herself how to do lashes.

almer started posting pictures of her work on social media and soon, singer Christina Milian, started liking her posts. Palmer reached out to the “Dip It Low” singer and asked if she could do her  eyelashes. Milian agreed and eventually posted a photo of Palmer’s work. Next, Selena Gomez’s team requested eyelashes for a movie premiere, paying her $500 for the set—and Palmer’s business took off from there.

Building an empire through strategic partnerships

Palmer knew that being an entrepreneur was her path despite the naysayers. “I’m a bull. I’m a Taurus. I knew that this was for me. It was just a ripple effect. It took off, and luckily for me, they all stuck with me, and I became their main lash person,” she states.

For a while, Palmer was working out of her dad’s home in Van Nuys, in an area she refers to as “the ghetto.” She connected with Sevana Petrosian, owner of SEV Laser, who offered Palmer space to work out of her Melrose Avenue location—as long as she brought in her celebrity clients. Both their businesses grew so much that Palmer invested in Petrosian’s laser hair removal business, and the two opened a joint eyelash-laser location together.

Since then, Palmer has invested in numerous women-owned and minority-owned businesses. “ I cannot stress it enough the importance of diversifying your income…The lash hustle wasn’t my passion or forever thing, but it was the start of my journey into being an entrepreneur,” she says.

Empowering the next generation of female entrepreneurs

Palmer says the Latino community is full of “born hustlers,” but they often lack the education needed to be successful in the business world. Now, as a part-owner of Star Lash Extensions, she shares her techniques and business knowledge with women to help them become lash technicians and self-made entrepreneurs.

Palmer says she is always thinking about uplifting the next woman, saying, “There are a lot of people in the industry who are not looking out for others. But I want to be thinking, ‘How can I help them?’ I started teaching my classes for people who wanted to start their own businesses. Whatever you put out, you get it back.”