Sydney Pepin, a Class of 2020 Graduate of Leominster High School, a 23 year-old business owner, and an award-winning esthetician, returned to LHS recently to speak to a group of students in Mrs. Beaulac’s gym class.
Born and raised in Leominster, Pepin decided to pursuit a career in cosmetics while watching her mother’s work in her own barber shop. This exposure was a guiding light in her, she said, and she started with makeup, doing creative make-up looks on herself in her bedroom starting her sophomore year through the end of her high school career.
She started with all different niches for esthetics, like wax and lash lifts, but now she only focuses on acne.
Her favorite service to offer is her signature glow, Sydney Pepin’s Signature Glow, her signature facial, customized per client.
About 3 weeks ago, she visited the gym class at LHS to speak about acne. She wants to bring awareness to the young girls, that it’s okay to show yourself and normalize acne.
She knows of what she speaks, having recently won the Rookie Acne Expert of the Year Award at the 2025 Face Reality Conference in Texas.
Outside her esthetician life, she enjoys her Mexican culture. She loves having Tex-Mex, a regional cuisine originating from Texas, blending Mexican and Texan culinary traditions. She loves to go on beach vacations. She loves her two cats, Maples and Mango, and often brings them to the studio.
We sat down with Sydney Pepin on zoom (We both showed up make-up free in hoodies and sweats) to talk about her journey as a young business owner breaking into the industry and her path to achieving clear skin, and now helping clients find their same confidence.
“Acne is very personal. It’s a very personal thing. It’s very emotional, so I think it’s just helping people feel confident,” Pepin told us. “Having their confidence come back and having them be able to be make-up free and seeing my clients tag me in their mentions in a story when they have a clear skin selfie, that’s like the best feeling.”
What inspired you to focus on the Acne Bootcamp, and what is your overall philosophy for helping clients achieve “Clear Skin Confidence”?
“What really got me into acne is I started getting acne when I was like 20,”she said. “So it wasn’t my teenage years, but it was shortly after. I was already an esthetician, but I was focusing more on waxing and lash lifts, and I was like well I have the tools, I have the resources and knowledge, so I just signed up with Face Reality. They have a very extensive training program. So that gave me the confidence to start my acne boot camp.
“It’s called the clear skin method. It’s patented by Face Reality, and it’s basically three different things. We take in your lifestyle factors, we’ll do some lifestyle adjustments, home care, and having the acne expert helps by having 24-hour access and like friendship with your acne expert.”
How do you customize the Acne Bootcamp and other treatments to address each client’s unique skin needs?
I have a basic signature facial, but each signature facial is customized for each client. So if someone comes in with oily skin instead of using our really drying cleanser on them, I’ll sometimes look for something more hydrating to get their skin the extra hydration they need. Or if they have dry skin, I’ll either go for a more exfoliating tool or more hydrating tools…I see what their skin concerns are at that time because they change throughout the year too.”
How do you stay updated with the latest trends and advancements in esthetics’?
Instagram, definitely Instagram. I follow a lot of friends on there and just estheticians I look up to. She also subscribes to newsletters and 2 industry magazines…But I would say mostly Instagram and seeing what other people are using, any new devices.
She also enjoys reading two magazines to stay up to date on industry advancements: Skin Deep and Dermascope.
What does winning the Face Reality Rookie Award mean to you?
“It feels really special to be recognized, especially being so young in the industry, and it’s very rewarding. It feels very rewarding,” she said, then added the competition was her first time in Texas and she said “I had fun, it’s definitely different from here.”
