Today we’d like to introduce you to Kay Lee.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kay. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Over 10 years ago, I only had six things in my makeup bag: an eyebrow pencil, black eyeliner, brown eyeshadow, lip liner, powder compact and either a lipstick or a lip gloss but never both. I have always been an artist at heart and consistently gravitated towards the creative aspect of everything, but never did I imagine myself as a makeup artist and knew little to nothing about it.
The boring version of how I became a makeup artist? I was working at a consulting engineering firm designing bridges and 3D modeling, and while I could have kept going at it for a long time, it wasn’t long before I started to get restless. At that time, I also dabbled with the art of makeup – one thing lead to another and before I knew it I was having business cards printed with my name followed by Makeup Artist as my title.
From there, it became one of the scariest things I had to do – I walked away from my corporate 9-5 to make no money at all and now I’m passing out business cards trying to collaborate with other artists to build my portfolio, trying to convince people to let me work on their faces for free for over a year. I was both feet in with no safety net and no idea where any of it was going to go.
I was working my way along getting a few paid jobs when I met a breast cancer survivor named Donna during a photo shoot to commemorate her strength through the grueling fight against cancer. The more I chatted with her as I was doing her makeup, the more I became so inspired and amazed by her uplifting personality and her ability to stay so positive. Once I was finished, Donna took one look in the mirror and did something totally unexpected – she became extremely emotional and started to cry. My first horrific thought was, the makeup, my makeup was so bad it made her cry! To my surprise, once she regained her bearings she then explained that after all she’s been through, the poking, the prodding, the slicing, the dicing, the chemo and the radiation, she had never thought she could look and feel as beautiful again as she did at that very moment.
It was at that very moment also where I realized, unlike most things in life, beauty isn’t something you have to see to believe, you must believe it to see it. 12 years have gone by and I still remember that moment like it was yesterday, for it defined who I was, who I am and who I will be, everything I’ve worked for and everything that I am working for, it was the moment I became, the “make-believer.” With makeup, I am able to help women of all ages believe in their confidence, in their power and how beautiful we all really are.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
One of the most natural questions we all naturally receive is, “What do you do for a living?” It has been incredible to see the difference in reactions when I used to answer, “structural and civil engineering” to “I’m a makeup artist.” I feel as if people ask this question so that they can decide on how to judge you, as it went from “oh wow, how impressive” to “oh, you play with makeup all day” and I can almost feel the eye roll happening in their minds as they search for something as minimally condescending to say as possible. I remember how much this used to bother me and had me questioning whether I was making the right decision.
My competitive nature always seems to kick in when I feel as if my worth is being challenged and I start looking at things as if it’s a race or a game where I have to strategize and outwork everyone in order to win. So, if the world views me as someone who plays with makeup all day, then that is what I shall be.
However, I will be so good at it that they may just read about me online one day about how, just like them, I’ve been keeping a roof over my head and paying the bills by “playing with makeup” all this time. 🙂
Moral of the story? – Never lose sight of your passion and when others doubt or look down at you, receive that negative energy as fuel to turn it to your advantage. It may be discouraging at times, it may seem impossible, but when you love what you do so much and are willing to work hard every day and strive to become the best at what you do, there will come a point where other’s impressions and opinions of your passion and goals become merely a small talk conversation piece.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Kayana Beauty Trends story. Tell us more about the business.
While most makeup artists were working as a one-person freelancer, I decided to form a brand out of an amazing team of hand-picked artists providing the industry’s finest airbrush makeup, hairstyling, and spray tanning services, and with that idea, Kayana Beauty Trends was born in 2006.
At Kayana Beauty Trends, our focus is on having the best professionals providing the highest quality service while bringing comfort to any room full of people we work with. We’ve been described as the fun bunch who always listens to what the client wants and we couldn’t have put it any simpler ourselves!
When you make Kayana Beauty Trends your choice for your wedding day, your competition day, a special event or a photo shoot, you’re making it an experience you’ll be extremely pleased with, an experience you were delighted you chose every time you book our services for your next big day.
What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
As an American entrepreneur, I wake up every morning thinking of all the ways I can kick ass with everything I need to do in my day. While I am aware of the discrimination and inequality women are faced with on a daily basis, I’m having a hard time with the word “barrier” when referring to the difficulty factors of female leadership as it implies that there is no way through or that we cannot get around it and that pretty much feels like we’ve already accepted defeat before we even begin to talk about it.
For male and female leaders alike, we all have obstacles we’re faced with, and while those obstacles may vary from one individual to another, I don’t feel that it should be seen as a gender-specific issue. Not to disregard the obvious factors, one being physical attributes, but men have to work harder in some areas while women have to work harder in other areas and then, there are areas where both men and women struggle with equally, it just depends on which side of the fence you’re on and the cards you’re dealt with. We can either spend our time trying to incorporate how gender plays a part in any one situation or we can instead channel our energy towards getting through it irrelevant of the factors as we should with any hardships that come our way.
Pricing:
- Airbrush Makeup, Hairstyling and Sunless Spray Tanning Services starting at $145
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kayanabeautytrends.com
- Email: info@kayanabeautytrends.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayanabeauty/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KayanaBeautyTrends/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kayanabeauty
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/KayanaBeautyTrends
Image Credit:
Kayana Beauty Trends, Chris V Linton, Nick Wons
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