Lauren Willis of Bronzed by Lauren
Lauren Willis loves a tan. Nothing makes her feel more confident than a sun-kissed glow, she says. “I have incredibly pale skin. I feel like an ugly mashed potato without a tan.”
For years, she slathered on baby oil and spent hours in the sun, chasing the bronzed look she saw in magazines like YM and Seventeen. As she got older, she turned to tanning beds. With a salon located conveniently near the dental office where she worked, she tanned four days a week. “I was just frying my skin,” she says now.
At age 28, Willis became pregnant with her first son. At a routine OB-GYN appointment when she was about 30 weeks along, her doctor noticed a suspicious mole. Willis quickly followed up with a dermatologist, who verified her worst fear. “I heard ‘precancer,’ and everything went black,” she recalls. “I actually had to call back later to understand what they said.”
The doctor told her she was just months away from stage-one melanoma and needed immediate surgery. But because she was pregnant, she could not undergo general anesthesia and would have to stay awake during the procedure.
“I was shaken to the core,” Willis says, her voice still catching more than a decade later. “As a new mother, you don’t want anything to happen to you. I swore then I would never go back to a tanning bed.”
After her son was born, Willis turned to spray tans, boosting her confidence with a healthier glow. When the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shut down professional spray-tanning services, Willis decided to give it a try at home. She ordered the equipment and solutions and began experimenting, first on herself, then on friends and family.
One of her friends, a wedding coordinator, suggested Willis start an Instagram account and helped her tap into the bridal market. By February 2022, Willis had launched her own business, Bronzed by Lauren, operating out of her home near Regency mall.
The following year, her revenue doubled, and the next year, it doubled again. In 2025, Willis left her dental office job to focus on her company full time.
Her pivot paid off. What began as a safer alternative to tanning has grown into a thriving six-figure business. Bronzed by Lauren is part of a booming industry. The U.S. spray-tanning market was valued at $1.4 billion last year and is expected to grow 50% by 2032, according to Precision Business Insights, a leading market research and business consulting firm.
“It’s a blessing to help others feel beautiful and confident in a healthy way while providing for my family and having flexibility for my kids,” Willis says.
Willis serves clients of all skin types, sometimes working on up to 30 people a day during the busy spring season. “Every body looks good with a polished, even skin tone,” she says. “A spray tan gives you a glow that’s also nourishing and hydrating.”
Willis has never lost sight of the “why” behind her business. All she has to do is look down at the thick 2-inch scar across her chest. “People think they’re invincible — I know I did,” she says. “Don’t ignore the red flags. Protect your body’s largest organ.”
She’s encouraged to see younger clients — especially high school and college students — choosing spray tans over tanning beds. But she worries that many are still skipping sunscreen to bask in the sun. Willis encourages them to get a spray tan before going on vacation. “You eliminate that pressure to lay out all day,” she says. “You look flawless for photos and feel confident in that bikini, but you’re protecting your skin.”
May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, a time the Skin Cancer Foundation ramps up its education on prevention and early detection of the world’s most common cancer. The organization continues to combat widespread misinformation, especially on social media.
According to a 2023 report by the American Academy of Dermatology, around 6 in 10 adults ages 18-25 believe tanning myths they read online and are unaware of many of the risks associated with sun exposure. In the same report, 1 in 5 said getting a tan was more important than preventing skin cancer, and 30% said it’s worth looking great now even if it means looking worse later in life.
“You don’t want your skin to look like my son’s baseball glove,” Willis says. “Educate yourself. Go on your computer and Google ‘sun damage,’ and see the images that pop up. Believe me, you won’t skip the sunscreen.”
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