From bootstrapping S+B for nine years to opening 50+ stores, founder Courtney Claghorn shares the lessons, challenges, and mindset behind building SUGARED + BRONZED.
What does it take to turn an idea into a beauty brand with 50 stores and 650 employees?
For Courtney Claghorn, founder of SUGARED + BRONZED, the answer involves a lot of action, a willingness to learn as you go, and—as Britney would say—a little Work B!*%# energy.
What started as an opportunity to make sugaring and sunless tanning more approachable has grown into a beauty brand with stores across the country. But even as S+B continues to grow, Courtney's goal has remained the same: create an experience clients love without losing what made the brand special in the first place.
Courtney sat down for a fireside chat about entrepreneurship, motherhood, scaling S+B, and the advice she'd give anyone with a business idea waiting in their Notes app.
Why Did You Start SUGARED + BRONZED?
Courtney: SUGARED + BRONZED was built around making sugaring and sunless tanning feel like an actual part of your beauty routine—not something intimidating, overly complicated, or reserved for special occasions.
From the beginning, I cared a lot about the entire experience. Of course, the service has to be great, but so does everything surrounding it: the store environment, the way our team makes you feel, the convenience of booking, and the consistency from one location to the next.
We've always tried to take services that can feel pretty vulnerable and make them approachable, comfortable, and even fun.
That combination of a strong service, a distinct brand, and a hospitality-driven experience is a huge part of what makes S+B different.
What Makes SUGARED + BRONZED Different?
For Courtney, S+B has never been just about providing a sugaring appointment or spray tan.
It's about the entire experience.
Creating stores where clients feel comfortable, building a team that makes people feel welcome, simplifying the booking experience, and providing consistency from one S+B store to another have all been central to the brand from the beginning.
The goal? Make sugaring and sunless tanning feel less like something you only do before a big event and more like a regular part of your beauty routine.
What Has Been Your Biggest Success?
Courtney: Our biggest success to date is proving that we could scale S+B without diluting what made it special in the first place.
We just opened our 50th store, with 10 more currently in the pipeline, and we've achieved that growth while maintaining the quality, consistency, and client experience we set out to create more than a decade ago.
Reaching 50 stores is an exciting milestone, but doing it without compromising the brand has been the real accomplishment.
What's the Hardest Part About Scaling a Beauty Brand?
Growth sounds exciting—and it is—but going from a small business to a company with hundreds of employees requires an entirely different way of operating.
Courtney: Scaling is exciting, but it also forces you to rethink almost everything that worked when the company was smaller.
Early on, you can solve a lot of problems by being physically present and making decisions yourself. That obviously doesn't work forever.
As S+B has grown, one of my biggest lessons has been learning how to take the things that once felt intuitive and turn them into repeatable systems without making the company feel overly corporate.
That means investing in the right people, getting clearer about roles and expectations, listening closely to what's happening at the store level, and continually improving our processes.
I've also had to become much more intentional about where I personally spend my time. Being involved in everything isn't the same thing as being useful everywhere.
How Did SUGARED + BRONZED Fund Its Growth?
S+B's growth story wasn't built around raising outside capital from day one.
Courtney: Initially, we bootstrapped for nine years and only fueled growth with our own profits and SBA loans. In 2019, we took on our one and only investment from private equity.
That meant building the business through personal savings, loans, and—most importantly—reinvesting the company's own profits into its growth.
Has Becoming a Mom Changed the Way You Run S+B?
Yes—but not Courtney's ambition.
After becoming a mom, Courtney took three months of maternity leave. Before that, she'd never taken more than two weeks away from the business.
Courtney: I try to keep my personal life and business decisions separate as much as possible. That said, becoming a mom has changed how I structure my workday.
For many years, 5–8 p.m. was just another work block; now, I protect that time for my family.
It hasn't changed my ambition or commitment to S+B, but it has made me much more intentional about how and when I work.
Who Inspires You as an Entrepreneur?
Courtney's answer is an easy one: Sara Blakely.
As the founder of Spanx and one of the most recognizable female entrepreneurs in the country, Blakely's journey from an idea to a globally recognized brand has made her a longtime source of inspiration for Courtney.
What's Your Biggest Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs?
Forget waiting for the perfect business plan.
Courtney's philosophy is much simpler:
Courtney: You should have one mode: "GO."
Too much planning can become its own form of procrastination—spreadsheets and decks are not entrepreneurship.
The most valuable information comes from putting something real into the market, listening to the feedback, and adjusting quickly.
In other words: your idea doesn't have to be perfect before you start. You just have to start.
How Do You Stay Motivated on the Hard Days?
Not every day of entrepreneurship comes with a motivational quote and an iced coffee.
On the difficult ones, Courtney doesn't wait around for inspiration.
Courtney: On my darkest days, I don't wait to feel inspired—I focus on the next thing I can do.
Action creates momentum, and momentum usually brings perspective.
I also remind myself how far S+B has come, the team we've built, and the clients who continue to choose us. That's usually enough to keep moving forward.
And if the day needs a soundtrack?
"Work Bitch" by Britney Spears.
Naturally.
What's Next for SUGARED + BRONZED?
More growth—but not growth simply for the sake of getting bigger.
Courtney: My goal is to continue growing S+B thoughtfully without losing the things that made people connect with the brand in the first place.
Growth is obviously important, but I don't think more stores alone define success.
I want us to keep raising the bar for the customer experience, create meaningful opportunities for our employees, and build a company that becomes stronger and more sustainable as it gets bigger.
Ultimately, I want SUGARED + BRONZED to be the brand people immediately think of when they think about sugaring and sunless tanning—and for the experience to live up to that recognition every single time.
From One Idea to 50 Stores—and Counting
Courtney's story is a reminder that building a brand isn't about having every answer before you begin.
It's about identifying an opportunity, creating something people genuinely want, listening to them, and continuing to make it better.
More than a decade, 50 stores, and 650 employees later, SUGARED + BRONZED is still growing—but the idea behind it remains refreshingly simple:
Make sugaring and sunless tanning approachable. Make the experience great. And when in doubt?
GO.
