HOW I GOT TO WHERE I AM TODAY
I was always on the artistic side since I was a little girl sketching and drawing, and as far back as I can remember, I liked doing hair. I had one of those barbie heads as a child and I used to always style its hair! Eventually, I cut it super short and realized it would not grow back, but at least it was my first great haircut! After that, I knew I wanted to work on real people. I would watch TV shows with my mom where they did makeovers and people and told her, “Someday I am gonna do that.” I continued to teach myself by cutting friends’ hair or doing makeup through high school. I always liked to see how a person could be changed by just having their hair and their makeup done and how it could change their whole mood and confidence level!
After high school, I decided to go to cosmetology school close to my childhood home in Greenwich, CT instead of going to college. I had my parents blessing because they saw a natural talent and gift in me for the beauty field. After a year of school, I got my first job in a local salon doing hair. However, I noticed that whenever I would finish their hair and they would leave, I felt like they were missing something and I wanted to do their makeup too to give them the total look! I began to take before and after photos of my clients and put them in a mini photo album. I also began to do makeup for local photoshoots in my hometown.
After a few years of doing that, I decided I did not want to work in the salon anymore and that I would rather do hair and makeup on models and actors in New York City. I spent lots of time looking at fashion magazines and photoshoots and wanted to give this a try. So, I called up Ford Models (the top modeling agency at the time) and told them my goals and asked if I could come in and show them my little makeshift makeup and hair photo album that I had compiled. Low and behold, they agreed to meet me. They decided that they liked my work and told me to contact a few fashion photographers in NYC that they were working with. I called them up and met some of them that very day. These were photographers wanting to make it big in the industry, just like me. I established relationships with them and began coming into NYC from my hometown in Connecticut quite often to do the makeup for these photo shoots. I was nervous at first to take on something new like this, but I learned so much and started building a great portfolio. From working with more and more photographers, my name was getting around in the city. I began to get paid work and that was great!
I was told by my peers that in order to make it big doing makeup for top fashion models and fashion magazines in America, I needed to go get some experience and some published work in either Milan, Paris, and Barcelona. The doors opened for me to go to Milan, Italy. I met another fashion photographer who also wanted to head over there, and I ended up living in Milan for 3 months. It was such an amazing experience! I met other models and photographers from all over the country trying to make it big in the fashion industry. I got some editorial work there and ended up doing the makeup for a 3-page fashion spread for Mexican Vogue!
I came back to The United States with more experience and got some more work in NYC for both fashion print jobs and fashion shows. After some years of living in the city, I eventually got married and moved to New Jersey where my husband is from. I began to freelance out in NJ and I got some work doing makeup for corporate print ads, TV, and video jobs. I also started freelancing for many well known cosmetic lines in various department stores. I worked for companies such as Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, Chanel, Christian Dior, Estee Lauder, Lancome, Elizabeth Arden, and more. I found out that not only was I good at makeup but I had a mind for business and sales. I freelanced for quite a few cosmetic companies for a while traveling to stores like Nieman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdales as one of their makeup artists for big events. Eventually after some years of doing this, I decided I wanted to also do makeup for weddings. Since makeup was more of my specialty, I found hairdressers that I could partner with who would do the hair for weddings while I did the makeup. And here we are today!
I hope you enjoyed reading my story and feel free to take the time to look through my website and see the many people I have done makeup for. I look forward to hearing from you, meeting you, and working with you. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me!
