River HomeLink grad starts traveling esthiology business

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Sophie Dilly-Mason has been interested in esthiology for most of her life. 

At the age of 12, she began to use makeup as a way to express herself. As she got older and tried new makeup and skincare routines, Dilly-Mason became more intrigued with the field of esthiology as a career. After graduating from River HomeLink in Battle Ground, she began to look into options in the beauty industry. 

“I was originally going to do cosmetology (the field of skin, hair and more),” Dilly-Mason said. “But as I thought more about it before I went to school for it, I got more into the esthiology part. It really intrigued me — skin and how it works — and I just wanted to make people feel as good about themselves as they could and I figured that was the best way to do it.”

After she graduated from River HomeLink, in June of 2020, Dilly-Mason enrolled at the Vancouver campus of the Aveda Institute Portland to focus on esthiology. The Aveda program consists of a 750 hour course that’s broken into multiple categories like facials, makeup and business tactics. 

The beauty portion of the classes teach everything from skin types and treatments to waxing techniques, while the business classes teach career guidance and client-building tactics. Dilly-Mason said she chose to attend Aveda after talking with other people in the esthiology business and researching the different schools she could go to. 

“Everybody I talked to recommended Aveda and it got good reviews,” she said. 

Dilly-Mason started her esthiology classes in September of 2020. For the first couple of months, a majority of her classes took place online as in-person instruction only happened once a week on Thursdays. As the pandemic moved on, Dilly-Mason was able to attend limited-size in-person classes Tuesday through Saturday to finish out her education. 

To graduate, students complete their hours in the course and take a certification test to receive their licence in the field. After she graduated in March, Dilly-Mason started her own website and made business cards to promote her business, Beauty by Sophie. 



“I always knew that I wanted to work for myself,” she said. “I want to own my own (business) someday so I figured that going to other people’s houses would work for now.” 

Dilly-Mason travels around the county offering facials, waxing, eyelash extensions and more using her car. Once a customer makes an appointment, she packs up all of the equipment needed for the treatment and brings a massage table to work on. 

In the future, Dilly-Mason said she hopes to use Aveda products in her own business. 

For now, she uses products by the company Go Pure. According to Dilly-Mason, who uses the products herself, Go Pure makes their items in the USA from globally sourced materials that are 100-percent cruelty free and do not contain harmful chemicals. 

“They’re a natural brand. I didn’t want to be putting a bunch of different chemicals and stuff on people’s faces,” she said. 

To book an appointment or learn more about the business, go online to bit.ly/3vr8cMN or check out her Facebook

page at facebook.com/Beauty-by-Sophie-102291931978275.