By Alesha Capone
Heidi Kelaart hopes to inspire people who are facing hardship to achieve their dreams.
Ms Kelaart, 21, has been selected as one of four recipients of a L’Oreal Australia scholarship, which supports people facing hardship to pursue a career in the beauty industry.
The young Hoppers Crossing resident said she was “speechless” and “in complete shock” after hearing she had been selected for the scholarship program.
Ms Kelaart began studying a diploma of beauty therapy this year, following a period of helping her family to care for her grandmother.
When Ms Kelaart was aged 16, her grandmother experienced a fall and moved in with the family.
Ms Kelaart, who began working at a swim school that same year, has also helped support her family financially.
She said working at the swim school helped her decide that she wanted to one day run her own business – a beauty salon.
“That experience, working as part of a team, I really enjoyed that,” she said.
Ms Kelaart said her interest in the beauty industry began while she was in primary school, after seeing her sister – who is six years older – experimenting with make-up.
“I love the way beauty therapy uses aesthetic principals to bolster an individual’s self-esteem,” Ms Kelaart said.
“I just want to inspire people who might be experiencing hardships, or trouble that might be holding them back from achieving their dreams, that they will be able to do it they keep persevering – their time will come.”
