Gympie’s favourite beautician 2023 ‘humbled and overwhelmed’

Aria Skin and Beauty founder Fiona Peterson has shared credit for her success with her daughter Paris after being voted Gympie’s best beautician of 2023. We also reveal who came a very close second in the voting:

Fiona and Paris Peterson of Aria Skin and Beauty, which has been voted Gympie's Best Beautician of 2023.

Aria Skin and Beauty founder Fiona Peterson and her daughter Paris have been voted Gympie’s best beautician of 2023 in a poll of almost 30 finalists.

Ms Peterson was shocked when told she had won and said she felt “humbled” and “overwhelmed” but that credit must also go to her daughter Paris.

“She’s responsible for this win as well I feel,” Ms Peterson said, while also thanking those who had voted for her.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. What else do you say?

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Fiona and Paris Peterson of Aria Skin and Beauty, which has been voted Gympie's Best Beautician of 2023.

“It means a lot because obviously they mean a lot to me and I mean a lot to them, so it’s a two way street.”

Ms Peterson won with 11 per cent of the total votes, with Bayside Beauty by Taleah coming a close second with 10 per cent of the vote.

Ms Peterson said the many other popular beauty therapists in The Gympie Times poll were equally worthy.

“I don’t believe that polls are a true depiction of how good a therapist is,” she said.

“There’s a lot of great therapists out there that are just as deserving.”

Ms Peterson has spent most of her life in the Gympie region, growing up here before leaving in the early 1990s and then returning in 1999.

Before starting her beauty career, she served in the Royal Australian Air Force as a flight attendant on VIP fleets for more than five years. It was during that time that she became inspired after receiving beauty treatments.

“After having treatments myself, I thought, I reckon this would be a really nice industry to be in.”

In 1996, 12 months after leaving the air force and needing a new career path, Ms Peterson started her beauty training in Perth.

Although she has had some time off from the industry since then to pursue other business ventures, she established Aria Skin and Beauty in 2017.

It is “a great but hard industry,” she said.

Gympie residents can also be happy to hear that Ms Peterson said she would be doing this for at least another 10 years.

Congratulations Fiona and Paris, and all our finalists.

Originally published as Gympie’s favourite beautician 2023 ‘humbled and overwhelmed’