Pacific Grooming isn’t just another mobile grooming salon. Its special, not only because it is beautiful and specializes in Luxury Service for pets, but because of who owns and operates it. Sandra Perez is not only an amazing Pet Stylist but she is also an American Grooming Academy Alumni. These are…. Alumni stories!

Sandy was interested in pet grooming. So she looked around and did tons of research. Visited every single school in southern California. She wanted the best, No, she needed the best. Her search brought her to AGA and the instructors there, Angela Clark and Kat Marchant. “We had many conversations about the industry, the education and the potential for someone to have a career for a lifetime”, instructor Kat remembered about the early conversations with Sandy.

Sandy decided to accompany Kat and Angela and the rest of the AGA crew to the Pasadena Groom Expo. She did this even before signing up! She took some seminars, spent the day manning the booth and learning about pet products…. All BEFORE she enrolled.

After that fateful weekend, Sandy enrolled with AGA. She was excited, nervous and thrilled to begin her new career.

“Sandy was very in tune with lectures, her homework and classwork were always spot on, she always had many questions and wanted to understand the industry as a whole, not just the hands-on grooming part, it’s one of the things I believe that has made her so successful.” Kat Marchant

Sandy’s hands-on approach was different. Early on we could tell that the book work and homework would be a breeze but she struggled with the hands-on training! It wasn’t that Sandy had trouble with the pets or even understanding what she was trying to accomplish, but physically working on the pet, knowing and understanding what the animal is trying to tell her in any situation is one of the hardest things for new students to learn. Sandy’s approach to learning about what pets were trying to “say” to her, resulted in her learning everything she could about many of the most common breeds.

Sandy, by her own admission is a very careful and meticulous groomer. Since opening Pacific Pet Grooming she has a ZERO injury record, which she is very proud of!

“The biggest lesson I have learned from becoming a mobile grooming business owner has been that what I perceived as my weaknesses, are actually my strengths, I am not the fastest groomer, nor am I the very best groomer, I still have much to learn, but I am a very careful groomer, I am slow and methodical, and therefore I have a ZERO injury record, that is something that is very important to me and it’s even more important to my pet parents!”

We are so very proud and thrilled that Sandy is successful, but she didn’t always believe that she could actually make it in this field. Like all people making a career change or a life change, things can be scary at first. Sandy recalls those first few naysayers.

“This may sound negative but when I started grooming school I came into this curriculum against all odds. I was told by people close to me that I was not going to succeed, I was told I was crazy for jumping into a new career this late in life, I was told that this was not going to be a sustainable business and that I was wasting my time. These very same people who told me those things have now had to take back their words, because not only did I do well in school, I was able to successfully open my own business before I even finished grooming school, and I am earning an incredible living, much more than I ever did even with a law degree.”

We are so very proud of our alumni, especially one who is against all the odds! If you would like to see more about our alumni visit our brand new website at www.americangroomingacademy.com and sign up for our newsletter!