Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Elimian.
Amanda, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
So I was a gymnast for a while then I moved back to New York. My mom asked if I wanted to continue it so I decided to. I wasn’t horrible but I wasn’t that good either and I was feeling so discouraged. Then, my coach recommended that I try out for her all-star cheerleading team in 2013. That literally changed the course of my life. I’d had no experience with makeup before joining this team so I had to learn how to do stage makeup, basically, in a crash course setting. I could’ve just learned how to do the eye look and moved on but something about it really got my attention and drew my interest.
Each season of cheer, I started to get better and better at even, doing the makeup and doing it on other people. I started to take this passion of makeup seriously, I would say in 2016/2017. The slash is there because 2017 is when I started to take my social media presence seriously while 2016. I just started to take makeup seriously. Now I consider myself a beauty influencer amongst other things. I gained enough confidence to start a YouTube channel and actively post on social media. I have been able to cultivate my work into something that I’m proud of including makeup artistry on other people.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh no. For a while, I sought validation in numbers and that’s a really dangerous thing. I would get caught up in the “algorithm” and likes and retweets rather than the content. And I didn’t even realize it. I would always look at other people and say “They’re getting too caught up in the numbers” and I didn’t even recognize that fault in myself. It took multiple “beat downs” almost to make me realize that the reason I’m still doing this is because I love it. And now that I’ve recognized that about myself, the numbers have come with it.
Please tell us about Makeupbymanda00.
I am a working makeup artist. I currently do and have done work from music videos and creative photoshoots to just regular prom makeup. I don’t currently have a favorite type of work because everything I have done has challenged me and my creativity in one way from an all pink shoot to my classmates’ graduation makeup. I really make it my mission that every single person who sits in my chair leaves knowing that they walked in confident in beautiful and they are about to walk about confident and beautiful (with a pinch of glitter).
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memories from childhood all relate to theatre somehow. I did theatre when I was really young and then I stopped for a while but then I started again. My favorite memory is from third grade. I designed the program for our Christmas musical and I had one of the lead roles in the musical. I haven’t thought about why that particular memory, seemingly obsolete, is my favorite. I think it’s because that was one moment where I started to come into myself and realize what I actually liked and didn’t like. I also think that experience solidified my love for the arts and creative thinking. Up until that point, I thought I was only allowed to have one passion but after that little me realized I could have multiple.
Pricing:
- The Headshot $30
- The IG Baddie $35
- The Row $40
- The Club $45
- The Birthday B*tch $50
- The Shoot $55+
Contact Info:
- Website: makeupbymanda00.com
- Phone: 9146465180
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeupbymanda00/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/amandaoee_
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUCygxhG2VsJXz7i1GkmLVQ
Image Credit:
Two Pink Photos: Aleah Clark
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