Who am I? Let’s see … Well, I have been a self-proclaimed beauty “junkie” since I was in middle school. Throughout high school, I wanted to work in the fashion industry. However, teachers at my school told me to choose something more practical since the fashion industry can be pretty tough at times.

So, upon graduating high school, I chose the field of business as my course of study. Five year later, I graduated from the university with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration: Service Sector Management. I know, I know … “service-what?” It’s basically a degree in customer service. I’ve always worked well with people, so it seemed a natural fit.

Since then, I’ve worked for two major, high-end department stores, a prominent rental car company and was even a manager at a staffing company. And while the latter was the only fulfilling job I’d had (I helped people find jobs), they all seriously lacked the creativity aspect that I was yearning for.

So, after the birth of my son (and being dismissed from my previous employer for wanting to spend more time with my newborn), I struggled to figure out “what I wanted to be when I grew up”, since obviously Corporate America wasn’t such a great fit for me.

It wasn’t until my 30th birthday ( and a bout with cervical cancer) that I finally decided to go after my dream, the dream I’d had since middle school and work in the fashion industry.

For the previous five years, in addition to my corporate jobs, I had been an independent sales rep for a major direct sales cosmetics company. I had so much fun teaching women how to use their skin care and cosmetic products and through the company (as well as my own love of all things beauty-related) became extremely knowledgeable in the make-up industry. So, when I decided to move into the fashion world on a creative level, it made sense to choose the field of make-up artistry, after all, I had been doing friends’ and family’s make-up for over 10 years.

So, one month after turning 30, I enrolled in a make-up artist certification program to “fill in the gaps” of my make-up education and have been loving every aspect of my life since. I make my own hours. I get paid to play with lipstick. I get to help women look and feel their best. I get to help create some stunning and fabulous images. And I get to finally live my dream: I work in the fashion industry!!!

In the years since I became a make-up artist, I have branched out into more areas of the fashion industry.  Being the bossy person that I am :-) I started getting into art direction.  I have great ideas and I'm not shy about sharing them with others, so, naturally, art direction got added to my menu of services.

In addition to art direction, I've begun dabbling in photography.  Way too many of my clients kept asking me why in the world I didn't own a camera yet.  So, after being asked this question WAY too many times, I bought a camera, learned how to operate it and have started  not only doing the make-up and direction for the shoot, but also taking the actual photograph.  I used to joke around that I did everything but press click on the camera.  Well, now I do that too!

Who knows what I will be adding to my menu next!