Daily Inspiration: Meet Shelby Juan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Juan

Hi Shelby, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Hi my name is Shelby Juan,
I am a 24 year old makeup artist born and raised here in Los Angeles. Growing up I feel like I’ve always had a pull towards my creative side and as a Libra I also always had a huge pull towards the beauty world. When I was 14/15 my mom decided to take on social media and I was so inspired at the fact that being 40 years old didn’t prevent her from pursuing one of her passions which was being a makeup influencer for the Latin community. I watched my mom grow a following and watched her get noticed by brands and couldn’t help but feel like it might be something I’d enjoy as well. As my mom started getting a lot of PR I couldn’t help but started playing with all the makeup she would receive and i would practice and practice until I was content with the look I was trying to recreate. Little by little I started getting really comfortable with playing with looks and eventually my mom started tagging me along to help her with her clients and I immediately fell in love with doing makeup on others. I remember feeling a sensation of love and gratitude go over me just watching my first client feel beautiful in the makeup I’d done on her and from that moment on I knew it was something I wanted to pursue in the long run. Skipping forwards 3-4 years after high school .. around COVID-19 I saved up money from the stimulus checks I was receiving and decided to invest in myself and go to makeup school so I could properly learn how to be a great makeup artist and from there i immediately fell in love the energy of being on set and decided to try to pursue a different side of makeup that I had never really been in. After going to school for makeup I’ve had the opportunities of being able to work on many different sets and campaigns that I’ve always dreamed of and I couldn’t be anymore grateful for the way everything has happened.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely been a climb trying to get to where I want to be. As anyone else I’ve been through countless roadblocks like still having to work a regular job where I’m a supervisor and have all these responsibilities on me that could sometimes tire me out but at the end of the day makeup is my priority and my passion and overall the only thing I see myself doing in the future so even on days where I’m extremely tired I just have to remind myself why I’m doing what it is I’m doing. Luckily I have a very positive mindset which I believe has helped me get through many of the roadblocks that I’m dealt with and I truly believe that my positive mindset has attracted many opportunities that have helped me cut my hours at my restaurant job so that I’m able to focus more on my makeup career. I genuinely believe that mindset is the key to overcoming any obstacles, you always have to be open minded to all possibilities and learning to problem solve overall. I still go through many roadblocks till this day but I like to tell myself that my dreams are bigger than the roadblocks that I’ve been given to deal with and that I wouldn’t be given these “blocks” if something greater knew I wasn’t able to overcome them.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a freelance makeup artist in Los Angeles. I specialize mostly in soft glams for different events but I do also work on many campaigns/commercials that I’m able to do different techniques of makeup. I do wish one day to focus more on red carpet glam and to work with my favorite musicians one day.
My most proud moment of my career so far has been being able to do makeup on a famous Mexican band called ‘Mana’; I grew up listening to this band at many family gatherings so being able to do their makeup in my first year of pursuing this career professionally was very special to my parents and I.
I believe what sets me apart from others is how passionate I am about making my clients feel good in their skin; another thing that sets me apart my mentality when it comes to “road blocks” as we talked about earlier. Overall, my main goal when doing someone’s makeup is to see that glow in their eyes when they take that first look in the mirror and I won’t stop until I see that glow in their eyes.

What’s next?
In the future I would love to work mainly with musicians and to do fashion week shows here and there since I have a love for music and fashion as well. I do believe I still have a lot to learn before I’m blessed with these opportunities but for now I can’t wait to keep learning and growing as an artist and I know that when the time is right I’ll be given every opportunity I’ve ever dreamed of. One day I’d maybe even like to move to New York to see what the makeup industry is like on the east coast!

Pricing:

• Soft glam: 170+
• Wedding makeup: $200+

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelbysjuan?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==