You can be beautiful as you work, cook, scrub and hug your way through the day.
I am not your typical makeup artist. To me, beauty is not about continuous maintenance. Beauty is about the right combination of knowledge, product and attitude; then using them together as you season with time.
My de-facto grandmother, Winnie, braided her grey hair intricately, just as she wound kindness into everything she did. I remember her saying that in her youth, she was plain and “no looker,” but she knew she was beautiful. Winnie pursued a master’s degree in her 80s, made cinnamon rolls from scratch and readily gave hugs. I want to be just like her—she was one of the most beautiful women I have ever known. I look forward to having grey hair and the beauty that comes from years of laughter and giving.
Women are often told that beauty is an unattainable perfection. Even the women that we see in magazines cannot maintain that perfection over time, much less daily. I know each woman is beautiful. In junior high, I was 5’9″, “filled out,” shy and very critical of myself. I was quite the tomboy and had the stitches, scars and dental work to prove it. With 82 stitches on my face alone, only my mother called me beautiful. Over time I have learned a lot about covering those scars. I also had severe eczema; not just any makeup line would do. I wanted people to see me—not the scars, and NOT the makeup.
I hope my philosophies about beauty will help you see that it isn’t about height, waist, zits or scars. Beauty is about looking past the surface and knowing your importance to those you love. This is why its important to take some time in the morning to enhance the beauty God has given you. My Aunt Mildred was a wise woman who said, “Spend enough time on yourself in the morning to forget about yourself the rest of the day.”® I will help you to learn this approach in your own life.
Customer Side
Being a makeup artist is not just about customer service, it’s about looking into someone’s heart.
My work is not about how much I make, it is about the amount of results for my efforts.
It is essential for a mother to have a financial security net. In August 2007, a bus hit my husband while cycling. Thankfully, he survived with no permanent damage and only some impressive scars. Still, the scenarios of what could have played out have haunted me.
I have never been more thankful for my chosen career. For three weeks, I didn’t work as I cared for my husband. Clients that I neglected were forgiving and still placed orders, and those that called understood. I work with the most amazing group of people: Women!
When you meet with me, I won’t just be putting some makeup on you and sending you on your way. As a makeup artist, I will spend the time it takes to find out what your beauty needs are from the inside out. Getting to know you and your routine helps me pin point what I can help you with. It’s not just about the amazing anti-aging product I sell, or the fact that you will fall in love with your wardrobe once again. It’s more about finding the beauty in each woman I meet.
What one chooses to do for money shouldn’t be only for money. It should mean more, or you have sold yourself for time. We all need money; but aren’t we really working for family, fulfillment, and financial freedom?
Distributor Side
Business success is not measured just by financial success but also by balance in life. Working 80 hours a week is not living.
As a military wife, I needed to find something that could transfer with my husband’s career. I found the perfect business combination of my interests, ability and product in SeneGence International® cosmetics in February 2001. After one week of wearing the cosmetics, I loved how my sensitive skin responded and how fabulous I looked all day. I signed up as a distributor. Three months later, I quit my job as a sales manager for a national company and have been my own boss ever since. The best parts is when our children came, I didn’t have to ask for maternity leave.
When my husband confided his frustration in his career, I asked him what he wanted to do. He wanted to go back to school. We have since joked that I shouldn’t have asked! It was a great moment when I could say to the love of my life that he could pursue his dream—I would put him through school. Shortly thereafter, our son Nathaniel was born in November 2002. I kept my promise by paying our living expenses through my husband’s education, and kept a personal promise of being a full time mom. Business success is about balance. I trained distributors and worked with clients with my son by my side. What job would let me do that? Being my own boss let me follow my husband’s internships aroud the country while maintaining my financial support. When my pregnancy with my daughter became high risk, I was able to back off to care for myself. Yet, with an incredible product, customers kept reordering even as I was unable to work. My customer base continued to be invaluable until we were done with school. My husband took a job in Utah, and we are making our home in this beautiful and friendly state.
I am often asked why I still work, since my husband has his dream job, we have two young children, and my parents live in our home (my mother has MS). The answer is simple: I have worked hard to build up my business, and the rewards have been great. For example, being my own boss is another way to teach my children about entrepreneurship and leadership. But more importantly, I just love what I do.
Choosing to work with someone is a very personal decision. You should never allow someone to talk you into an investment of time and money that is not right for you. If you are not motivated, no one can make you stay motivated and you will not be successful.
If this approach works for you and you would like to work with me, let’s have a phone conversation (with my children in the background) and see if we are a fit.
Life is about balancing our expectations from the world and our expectations from ourselves.
Life gives us a deck of cards. We can’t just throw our cards aside and say “I don’t want these!” When life experiences come, when we need a card to play, the cards we have already seen played are the ones most readily available to us. That is, we fall back on the ones we have memorized, that have been handed to us by our experiences, family, and society. That is why the alcoholic falls back without mentoring, without a real change. Why the statistical chances of an abused child becoming an abusing adult are higher. All of this is heavy stuff. Are we a pot of destiny waiting to boil over? Or are we in charge of our own future? The eighteen year old that leaves home swearing to never return, finds the habits of the past haunt them. The truth is we can’t run away from ourselves.
When we were each born in the shining castle, and our parents the king and queen . . . Wait, you weren’t born into a fairy tale? That’s weird . . . oh, none of us are. Life is full of contrast with difficulty and thrill intermingled. We have all been hurt—life can be hard. Our individual difficulties may not be as horrid as the child escaping abuse. We all know people who have overcome a difficult start in life, but how did they do it? They systematically changed the deck of cards handed to them. Working on the why of who they are, and what they want to be. They stopped letting life events throw them around, and learned to deal with the cards already in their hand, and change the ones that were unacceptable. Changing ourselves is an internal event and not about changing the world. Life is about choices and we can mold how we see the world and how the world treats us. We are the sum of what we choose. I believe in the power of the individual, I believe in our ability to be who we are meant to be.