Page 51 - 01-Jan-Feb-2025

Sina
Zere
SinaZere ZereRetail Maverick
After arriving in Edmonton 11 years ago, Sina Zere
set about finding the services she needed for her
new life — like a new dentist, gas station and grocery
store. But after searching online and asking around, she
could not, for the life of her, find a wax bar.
“In all major cities in Canada, there are wax bars —
and this is a pretty big city,” says Zere, who hails from
Toronto. Instead of wax bars — beauty salons exclusively
focused on hair-removal via waxing — Edmonton offered
waxing services as add-ons to other esthetics businesses,
like hair and nail salons. “Everybody offers it,” she says.
“But just because you offer waxing doesn’t mean you’re
great at waxing.”
After trying out a couple of these establish-
ments, she was sorely disappointed. She continued
to look around, but a year later, she still had not
found an establishment offering excellent services,
good pricing, and a consistently positive experi-
ence — what she calls the “holy trinity” of waxing.
“I don’t know why it bothered me so much, but
it did,” says Zere, who saw a business opportunity.
Although a recent MBA graduate, entrepreneur-
ship had never been her goal. Post graduation,
she started working in pharmaceutical sales, but
actually starting a business had not been the plan.
Reluctant as she was to become an entrepre-
neur, Zere couldn’t resist the urge to create a better
body waxing experience. In 2017, she opened
Edmonton’s first wax bar — Buff Wax Spot — and
set out to offer a good experience for everyone
who crossed the threshold. “As a BIPOC business
owner, it was very important that Buff Wax Spot
includes and welcomes all people, and all bodies.”
A few years ago, Zere’s chain of wax bars (she
has two locations in Edmonton and one in Sher-
wood Park) became the first in Canada to offer
gender-neutral pricing after learning about the
experiences of transgender clients in transition.
“We sat down as a team and said, ‘What are we
waxing? Are we waxing a guy or are we waxing
a back?”
Transgender and nonbinary clients make up a
very small portion of the business’ clientele, but
Zere wants everyone to feel safe and welcome
in her establishments. “If part of their journey
includes a stop at Buff Wax Spot, I want that
experience to be as safe and non-judgemental as
possible,” she says.
In addition to creating Buff Wax Spot, Zere
created a skincare product company called Buff
Experts. She launched her line of retail products a
year after she opened her first wax bar, as she felt
existing aftercare products — those designed to
prevent ingrown hairs, treat hyperpigmentation
and access hard-to-reach acne — weren’t up to
snuff. With a background in science — Zere also
has degrees in genetics and biotechnology — she
had fun formulating recipes for her products,
which now address a wide range of skin concerns.
Seven years after launching her businesses, Zere
is grateful that she took the leap and for the clients
who’ve shared important parts of their lives with
her and her staff — like weddings, pregnancies,
and gender transitions. “I’m trying my very best
to leave a positive impact on this community, my
staff, and our clients,” she says. “I take that really
seriously, that my business needs to make a posi-
tive contribution to this city.”
by Caitlin Crawshaw
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