Glamdeva reveals expansion plans for 2022 & welcomes new CEO

Glamdeva, which was founded by Gurinder Randeva in 2019, is set for major expansion as the UK’s leading online booking platform for mobile hair and makeup appoints a top finance expert as CEO. 

The former Head of Private Banking and Lending at Lloyds, Louise Santaana, has been welcomed as Glamdeva’s new CEO, with major plans to double the startup’s operations over the next twelve months and create a host of new jobs at its Cardiff headquarters.

Santaana will use her skills and experience working with high-growth businesses to explore strategic partnerships, new advertising and marketing campaigns and, longer-term, the potential of attracting external finance. 

She also aims to leverage the firm’s exceptional customer experience journey to expand the Glamdeva community and increase the number of artists and stylists on its platform to more than 1,000. With the world of aesthetics increasing in popularity, Glamdeva also plans to include other services such as aesthetics, eyebrows and nails.

“This is such an exciting time for Glamdeva, with the technology firmly established and a growing number of users and stylists/artists wanting to join our community. 2022 is going to be the year we scale. In a fast-paced world where people don’t have time to go into salons or the city centre for an appointment, we can bring beauty and hair services to your door using our easy-to-use online marketplace,” explained Louise.

Using Glamdeva.com is quite easy. Clients can compare the real-time prices of over 400 approved makeup artists and hairstylists within seconds just by entering their booking details. It shows details of local and national professionals, their prices, distance from your location. Customers can instantly filter whether they are looking for the nearest, cheapest, or the most experienced professional for their booking. Payments are made using a secure gateway after users are satisfied with the price and the artist, and clients are also able to communicate with the artist directly. The process is similar and just as simple for hair and makeup specialists interested in getting involved.

A Glamdeva onboarding team member verifies the professionals’ expertise and experience before they can gain access to the cloud-based booking system. This is where they can control everything about their business such as their services, prices, availability, and operating days & times. Professionals can also set their coverage and the maximum miles they will cover.

“The feedback from people who use us is superb and one of my key roles will be to raise the profile of the brand and our services, not to mention looking at strategic partnerships where we can offer a solution. This could be TV production companies, entertainment venues or wedding planners for example,” Louise, the former lawyer who has also worked in commercial banking and corporate finance added.

About her role at Glamdeva, she said: “As a society, we are increasingly turning to online marketplaces to access services – my job is to work with Gurinder and the team to ensure that when people look for beauty and hair services they choose Glamdeva. This opportunity is a bit of a guilty pleasure. I’ve always wanted to own my own beauty salon…this role gives me the chance to support and grow hundreds of mobile salons.”

Glamdeva’s Gurinder Randeva expressed her excitement with Santaana’s appointment: “This is a fantastic coup for our business at exactly the right time as we look to scale quickly. Louise has a wealth of finance and business experience that she can bring to the company, not to mention a network of contacts that we can use to explore new partnerships and opportunities.”

Outside of work, Louise is a trustee and treasurer for a national charity and an active member of her local church.

Randeva added: “Whilst there is fierce competition in our sector, none of our rivals can match our nationwide coverage or the simplicity of the customer journey. We have also launched a new makeup tools brand and it’s called GLAMX, something we started during the pandemic and is really growing in popularity.”