hair are a mess, the overall effect of the gown is ruined. She can have stunning makeup and hair, but if her gown is ill- fitting, out of style, or improperly accessorized...the effect is still ruined. It takes a total image for the effect to be positive: The right perfectly-tailored gown, beautiful shoes that she can actually walk in, tasteful accessories, a poised attitude, flattering hair style, and stunning makeup. It is only when all of the various components are working in perfect harmony that you have created an image of beauty.
I have noticed you do not put too much weight into your social media base, yet you are still highly successful and relevant. Do you feel the social media side of business takes too much time away from your artistry and has it affected your business at all?
I do feel that my business suffers from my lack of focus on social media sites. I realize the effectiveness and necessity of social media but updating them is too time consuming for me to attend to personally. I keep trying to hire someone to do it for me. I am not a huge fan of the impersonal nature of social media, text messages, or emails. I feel that so much is lost in the inter- pretation of the abbreviated communications. I would rather talk to or meet with people in person. There is an elegance and a beauty to having a personal interaction with another human being that is not experienced in a brief written message. The emotions, subtle nuances, and inflections in a voice are lost in tweets. And emoticons just are not the same as experiencing
tution is key. There are so many cosmetology schools that only provide a brief amount of makeup training as part of a hair cutting/styling curriculum. A true makeup artist needs to just study makeup from an institution that specializes in makeup instruction only. Knowing your strengths and weak- nesses is important. A makeup artist may be very talented at makeup, but lack the sculptural skills required for special effects prosthetics. I would suggest focusing on working in one specific area when you are new, because the field is so broad. Also, if you are serious about the industry, you will need to find a market that is large enough to support all of the talent in the city. A small town will not provide the revenues to succeed as a full-time makeup artist.
You have taken so many creative avenues to advance your spectrum of talent, such as becoming an image stylist, working in fashion, and re- ceiving your degree in theatre. How have these additional skills advanced your career?
They all compliment one another and work cohesively. Makeup, image en- hancement, and fashion styling are so intertwined that it is difficult for me to perform one service without the others. I always end up providing compliment- ary fashion services to my makeup clients in order to most effectively serve them. Since fashion is my first love, I am always excited to lend assistance in that area. For instance, envision a beautiful bride. She can have a beautiful gown, but if her makeup and
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