Businesswoman Elaine has a new opportunity for local professionals

A Londonderry-based businesswoman is calling on health, wellness and beauty professionals in the city to sign up to her new uGlow app.
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Elaine Doherty has created the app, a booking platform for health, beauty and wellbeing services wherever, and whenever you want.

If it’s a facial, a blow dry, personal training, a massage, personal styling or a spray tan you’re after, you can book it through uGlow. In the first phase of the launch, uGlow are looking for professionals (GloPro’s) to sign up to the app. The services will be available to customers from April.

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Elaine said: “Right now, uGlow’s focus is to get professionals in the areas of wellness beauty and lifestyle signed up - the hair stylists, beauticians, nail technicians, massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga and pilates instructors, stylists, you name it. The benefits for professionals signing up to uGlow include having more control over your time and increasing your revenue potential. uGlow works very much off your location so as the platform grows, you can work from anywhere in the world.

The professionals, otherwise known as GlowPro’s, will also be given access to training and webinars on marketing their businesses, managing their finances and developing their brand and I’m delighted to say uGlow has partnered with iZest Marketing. iZest are renowned for their experience in this industry having worked with Pippa O’Connor and Aimee Connolly. Freelancing can be lonely so I’d like uGlow to become a community for the freelance hairdressers, lactation specialists and other service providers who sign up to the app.”

For the professional (GloPro), it gives them the freedom and flexibility to plan their working week around their availability and opens them up to new audiences around Ireland (and globally in the future).

For the customer (GloGetter), they can be pampered anywhere, anytime at whatever cost they can afford (you make an offer on the App and the professional can choose to accept/decline). 1% of every booking will go to charity.

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Elaine, from Portlaw, Co. Waterford, has been based in Australia for the last seven years, uGlow was developed in Melbourne during the strict lockdown in May 2020 and brought to life during Elaine’s maternity leave in 2021.

The idea came about after Elaine had heard many friends and family wishing how they’d love a service that allowed them to be pampered in their own homes. In the next few months, Elaine will return home to Ireland where she will settle with her husband and baby son to focus on uGlow.

Elaine continued: “The idea stemmed from close friends and family talking about how they’d love to be pampered in their own homes as they cared for elderly relatives and new-borns but they weren’t in a position to leave the house for the services they required.

“Also, a couple of years ago, I was a bridesmaid for a friend and tried to organise a hen party in Ireland from my home in Melbourne and found it difficult to find the services I was looking for.

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“Our plan was always to return home to Ireland at some point so I’m delighted to launch and grow uGlow in the Irish market before taking it further afield.”

The vision is for uGlow to be globally recognised as the expert platform for at health, beauty and wellbeing services by enabling and empowering both the customer and the pro to use a safe and convenient system.

Elaine is a long-term advocate of the need and importance of self-care for all no matter the age, gender or circumstances.

A native of Waterford, Elaine grew up with an entrepreneurial influence from her family’s successful business and has always felt a calling towards creating something herself. She qualified from college in 2010 with a Bachelor of Business and Supply Chain Management and has put that skill set to good use with roles in Ireland and Australia, with global companies across Manufacturing, Mining, Insurance and Health Service sectors.

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Her upbringing and subsequent professional experience has instilled in her a solid foundation in business principles and the drive and grit that it takes to succeed.

The inspiration for uGlow came from new mums who needed some TLC without relying on a sitter, and Elaine’s own mum who needed the convenience of reflexology at home while running a business and caring for an elderly parent, and from her friends who needed hair and beauty professionals on location for their big day. Elaine is passionate about empowering other women to balance their busy lives, and uGlow is a perfect opportunity for her to do that on a bigger scale. It means professionals can have true flexibility with where and when they work and busy women and men can focus on themselves at a time and place that’s convenient.

Elaine is excited to draw on the strong frameworks and positive cultures she’s worked within to create a company that’s recognised as a business to watch and learn from. uGlow will be a platform for action, inspiration, wellbeing, inclusion and empowerment.

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