Kristen Carroll operates a three-decade-old tanning center

Making it through 30 years of life as a successful business isn’t an easy thing to do in this world of trends and fads and personal tastes that come and go.

But when you do make it three decades, you celebrate the moment, and that’s what Kristen Carroll is doing at New Life Tanning Center in Columbus. Even if she did buy the business just three years ago, Carroll, 29, has had a much longer hand in its making it this far. She started at New Life at age 16 and worked her way from the ground up.

What attracted the Columbus native to the tanning outlet in the first place?

“Because it was the cool thing to do when you were young, was to work at the tanning salon. My friends already worked here,” she said. “But over time, it was the knowledge and the growth that I was able to achieve both personally and professionally. I felt like I was always learning something and growing.”

The Ledger-Enquirer visited with Carroll recently at New Life, 1701 Rollins Way, to discuss her job, how it evolved and why her clients sometimes forgo the rays of Mother Nature’s sunbeam for an indoor tanning experience. This interview is edited a bit for length and clarity. A:

Q: You bought the business from Carla Plazas in 2013. How did that come about?

A: I started working here when I was 16 and I literally moved all of the way up throughout the years. And then we had talked about it a few years before about purchasing it, and she kind of mentored me into that position.

Q: What did you start out doing?

A: A room attendant cleaning tanning beds. I still do it today. Then I became a sales trainer and then assistant manager and general manager. We used to have two locations, so once we consolidated and downsized there wasn’t a need for a lot of titles. So I was the manager for the majority of time.

Q: Are those who oversee the tanning beds called technicians?

A: No, they’re the front desk staff. We do have spray tan technicians and I’m one of them. There’s three of us that do that.

Q: Spray tanning takes training, I presume?

A: You go through a different education and different processes to learn the art of that because sunless tanning is an art, especially when you’re applying it by hand. It takes a lot more detail and focus, plus you have to be comfortable with the client. We took 12 hours or so of training. A lot of it is just practice and getting the skill and the art down, and then just repetitive practice.

Q: What does it take to do a great spray tan?

A: A lot of it is speed and the distance you are away (from the person’s skin). You want that to be the same at all times. And figuring out what the client wants and needs, what their goal is. We can do anything from just a very subtle color all the way to having it look like you just got back from Jamaica.

Q: Is there competition for you in Columbus?

A: There’s a couple of main competitors, but one of them is a chain that moved into town a few years ago. But a lot of people don’t like that. A lot of people like the more personable atmosphere here, and the one on one, and I think that’s something that we definitely have going for us. We take a lot of time with each individual client and determine their goals and the timeframe that they have and really personalize their package to them.

Q: It’s about customer service?

A: It’s number one.

Q: Do more people choose tanning beds versus spray tans?

A: A lot of people do both.

Q: Spraying is for special events?

A: A lot of times. There are weddings and we do a lot of pageants, or big birthdays. We do it for all kinds of reasons. And people just do it to make themselves look and feel better. That’s why a lot of people tan, because a little boost in confidence goes a long way.

Q: Are tanning beds safer than people think when compared to sun exposure?

A: Not necessarily safer. And that’s one thing that we do is we preach moderation. We don’t allow clients to tan excessively. We keep up with that. Our main thing is we don’t let people burn. We start them out very low, like six or seven minutes, and slowly move up.

Q: What’s the maximum amount of time to tan at a time?

A: The max, of course, is 20 minutes, and there has to be at least 12 to 24 hours in between (sessions).

Q: What kind of equipment do you use?

A: We have different types of equipment, but our newest and greatest thing is the Sun Angel up front. What it does is use a sensor to take an individual reading of your skin type and adjust the amount of UVA and UVB rays that you’re getting during that session to ensure that it doesn’t give you overexposure.

Q: Is equipment expensive?

A: That one up front ( the Sun Angel) is probably more than our cars. (about $50,000)

Q: Does it take a lot of maintenance?

A: Yes, it definitely takes a lot of maintenance. The biggest thing is the bulbs that you have to replace every so many hours.

Q: What type of people come to see you for tanning services?

A: We have a lot of people who have been coming for years and years. They come twice a week, three times a week, just because they say it makes them feel better, physically feel better. The heat itself makes older clientele, their backs and bones and things, feel a little better.

Q: Do you tan yourself?

A: I tan and I do the spray tan. I don’t get in there as often as I would like.

Q: What’s your day-to-day job like?

A: Paperwork some of the day. A lot of cleaning goes on around here. Our tagline used to be Columbus’ cleanest tan. We still uphold that. We’re constantly cleaning and deep cleaning the equipment, and sweeping, mopping and dusting.

Q: What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?

A: Not getting everything done in one day that I had hoped for. I’ll come in here in the mornings and say I want to get this and this done, this bed cleaned, this amount of paperwork done, and try to meet this particular goal. And a lot of times you run out of time and it has to be pushed to the next day.

Q: Is the business operation part easy for you since you’ve been here so long?

A: Not necessarily. Finding balance, I think, is my biggest problem, and I mean the personal part of it and trying to not bring work stuff home, and trying to leave it here for the next day.

Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?

A: The interaction with the clients and helping them look good and feel good about themselves. We have the best clients. We’re like a best friend. If they’re having a bad day, they come and vent. If they just had a grandchild, they want to show pictures. That’s what I really like the most.

Q: Have you ever wanted to do anything else?

A: I got a degree in business and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. So it kind of just fell in place.

Q: Do you receive continuing education now?

A: Yes, there’s certifications. There’s Smart Tan, which is an international certification. But my staff and I also take sunless certifications once a year just to keep up with the science and all of that, to see what’s going on, as well as there’s continuous product training. So we’re always learning.

Q: It’s an achievement. How do 30 years feel to you?

A: It makes me feel proud.

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 8:34 PM with the headline "Kristen Carroll operates a three-decade-old tanning center."