From Day Dream to Day Job | Industry Musings

Today is the one-year anniversary of making the daydream the day job.

If you know me or follow me on other corners of the internet, this isn't a new story. It's one that I tell often. My hero's journey, if you will. Sometimes you spend your life trying to climb to the top of the ladder only to realize not only that you're on the wrong ladder, but that ladder is leaning against the wrong wall too.

The Wrong Ladder

The corporate world was the final phase of my journey on the makeup side of the beauty industry.

While I was in college, I saw a photo on IMDb of Orlando Bloom getting his makeup touched up and thought, wait... there's a career to be had in beauty? Sign me up.

After college, I moved to Los Angeles, went to makeup school, and started working as a freelance makeup artist.

I never hit celebrity status, but I worked pretty consistently and had some amazing clients.

Then I got older, truly out on my own, and got tired of chasing invoices. (If you're wondering when I became such a stickler about saving, planning, and running a small business, it's because in my twenties I made all of the mistakes.)

So I thought, okay, new path. Find a brand you can get behind and work your way up.

I worked my way up from retail until I landed that corporate dream job, a job that was literally made for me.

The problem was, the shoe just never fit.

I always felt like I couldn't quite get corporate culture and, to be honest, corporate culture didn't really get me either. It took me years to figure that out.

It wasn't all bad. I met some amazing people who will absolutely be lifelong friends, and I got to make New York a second home. (Speaking of New York, I'm long overdue for a visit.)

Even though the corporate world and I were not good bedfellows, there was never any doubt in my mind that I was meant to be in the beauty industry and make my living as a creative.

I just had to trust that the right path would present itself.

Falling in Love with Nails

Years ago, I became fascinated with nails and started buying all the things, staying up all hours practicing, and absorbing as much information as I could find. Thanks, YouTube.

It was so fulfilling.

Nails made my heart feel things I didn't think I'd ever be able to feel again.

But really, who leaves a cushy job to trek into the great unknown?

After doing some research, I found a local school that offered flexible scheduling and night classes. I finished, got licensed, and the rest is history.

It was the right ladder, the right wall, and the right path. The later-in-life love that I found and was fortunate enough to make a reality.

Thank You

I also want to say thank you to everybody in the industry who has been so generous with their knowledge, whether through online content, in-person classes, YouTube videos, email, or just friendship in general.

Thank you to the makeup artists from my past who were eager to bring me onto shoots and help me ease back into the industry. I honestly never thought I'd be on set again, and once I got back, it was like I never left. It was home.

Thank you to the photographers and fellow creatives I've met and had instant soulmate-friend connections with.

Just all of it.

And all of you.

I vow to always be generous with my knowledge and to do everything I can to elevate this wonderful industry to its rightful place.

There's a reason I'm such a stickler and so passionate about our industry and our standing within it as manicurists. I honestly don't know what I'd be doing if I weren't a part of it.

Looking Ahead

We're in a place right now in America (and, TBH, the world) where everything feels topsy-turvy. California has been sheltering in place for months, and like so many people in the beauty industry, I'm waiting to find out what comes next.

While a pandemic is certainly not an artist retreat or motivational seminar, I'm doing my best, taking advantage of the downtime, and trusting my instinct for adaptability.

Even with all of that, I still can't picture myself doing anything else. I'd rather be unemployed knowing that someday I'll go back to holding hands with my clients and creating rad art.

It took me a long time to get here.

Making a career change in your thirties is hard, especially at a time in life when other milestones are often portrayed as the things that give women meaning and purpose.

It took me a long time to get here, but I wouldn't change a thing.