Meet Itze De Jesus

Today we’d like to introduce you to Itze De Jesus.

Itze, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I like to think that my story started back to when I was maybe seven years old. When I was a kid, I loved playing with the little makeup my mom had. I have a younger sister that I would always use as my model. I remember my mom not being a fan of makeup but she loved her eyeliner and mascara, and I would go crazy with her eyeliner turning myself or my sister into a character. So at a young age, I knew I wanted to work with makeup when I was older. When I was in high school, my dream job was still to be a makeup artist, so going to college really wasn’t something I was looking into. Being I am first-generation Mexican-American, my parents had other hopes and dreams for me just like any other parent. They always wanted me to go to a four years college and end up getting a desk job, unfortunately for them school has never something I was good at.

So in 2012, I ended up going to a Ventura Community College and was looking to major in Digital Design, this was also the year I started to experiment more with makeup. Being that I had very strict parents, I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup until I was 15, but even then I never really wore a lot of makeup, my everyday look was mascara and eyeliner. So when I started college, I decided to branch out with makeup looks, and due to the fact I spent so much time at home I watched a lot of beauty videos on YouTube and also started making YouTube videos.

Around my spring semester of 2014, my grandma who I was close to passed away, that was hard on my family. I fell into depression and playing with makeup believe it or not was one of the ways that helped me get through this tough time, it took the attention away from not being able to be with my family in Mexico to bury her. I ended up dropping out of all my classes that semester and spending a lot more time at home alone, my parents didn’t know that I had dropped out. In spring of 2015, I enrolled again to Ventura College still with majoring in digital design, only this time I noticed that my school offered a makeup class for theater. Which of course, I signed up for, although it didn’t help towards my major. Signing up for the class was the best thing I ever did, I learned so much from creating a bearded to applying a prosthetic and working on a school theater production as the Key Makeup Artist. When it came to my midterm and final for that class, I would use my sister as the model, and I would record the process, edited it, then post it on YouTube.

My parents started noticing how much time I was putting into this makeup class and how into it I was, so they decided to have a conversation with me about it. I remember that conversation so vividly. They called me to the kitchen and sat me down, then proceeded to tell me how they had been watching my videos and have noticed how much dedication and time I was putting into the makeup, that they could see the passion I had for it. So they let me know that they were willing to financial support me to go to a makeup school only if I finish getting an AA so I have a plan b if it doesn’t work out. That’s something I never thought I would hear coming to from my parents. They ended up asking their boss who happens to be a producer for advice. Marc is someone that has always been in our life and is more family then anything. He told my parents that if I were to get into the film industry as a makeup artist, I can make a living off of it. Up until that point, I never once thought I could be a makeup artist let alone one that works in the film industry, just seemed like something unreal for someone like me. Marc then put me in contact with Lisa Zimmitti, the makeup artist from his show who is also in the union. So I could ask her any question I had. When talking to Lisa she told me about Cinema Makeup School, so I did my own research and ended up loving CMS.

Then in spring of 2016, I graduated with my AA in Arts and Humanities from Ventura College and that summer, I moved to Los Angeles from Oxnard, and enrolled to Cinema Makeup School and started in January of 2017. I will never forget the first day of school mainly because I had nothing other then a notebook and pen, and little did I know that we would have our first lesson that day and would have to do makeup. Thankfully I had an amazing teacher who let me use his materials and I had the best day ever. I had a great experience at CMS and because of them, I was able to work for the first time ever on a set. I graduated in May for 2017 and have been freelancing ever since.

I’m not going to lie the beginning one my career was rough, I was lucky enough to have the financial support of my family while I started my freelance career. I was doing a lot of short/student films for little to no money, a lot of trade for pictures (TFP), and makeup on myself and friends to post on my Instagram. Being an alumni of CMS they also sent out job listings for many different projects. That was something I relaid on a lot after graduating, then from that I was able to meet other makeup artists and producers from those projects. I was lucky enough to have met a nice and supportive group of makeup artists who would always hand jobs over to others when they couldn’t take them. So with that group of artist, and with all the jobs I would apply to from the job listings on Facebook and Craigslist, as well as the Instagram, I got them where I am today. Living my dream job as a Makeup artist in the city that I love.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s not always been smooth, after I finished my course at CMS I only ended up being able to afford staying in LA for the remaining of the year. Then I moved back in with my family in Oxnard, at that moment I still didn’t have a client list. So even while living in Oxnard almost 1hr and 30min (depending on traffic) away from LA, I would apply for jobs in Los Angeles. So there were times that I would actually drive from my house to Los Angeles for a gig. I quickly realized that I was going to have a hard time getting to LA from Oxnard. Lucky enough to I had a best friend that lived in Hawthorn that would let me stay with her when I had booked a gig. Then there were the times on set when I would struggle and make mistakes but I learned to learn from them instead on beating myself up about it. There were also times unfortunately where I got scammed for free work, it sucked but I learned from it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a freelance makeup artist in LA, I would say that I think I specialize more in beauty makeup and TV/Film makeup. I also started out with learning beauty makeup, like most I taught myself with the help of YouTube. Then at Cinema Makeup school, I learned about the special effects side of makeup and fell in love with that’s too. Something that I take pride in is that I cater to every skin tone and every skin type. I’ve heard one too many stories of artists not having the right shade, I don’t ever want to make anyone feel excluded.

What were you like growing up?
I was a very shy kid, but once I got comfortable with someone, I was a fun outgoing girl. School was never for me even at a young age I knew that I really enjoyed arts and crafts and playing sports. I learned how to crochet, knit, and sew when I was about seven. I was always the friendly type of person in middle school, always wanted to make everyone feel included. Whenever there was a new kid in school, I would make sure to get to know them and introduce myself. I was on that basketball team at my school and loved playing, sadly I wasn’t able to play my sophomore year due to my grades. Family was also a big part of my life, my parents immigrated from Mexico so all of our family is in Mexico. It’s only been the four of us for the majority of my life so we’re all close.

Contact Info:

• Email: Itzedejesus@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/itzedejesus

Image Credits:
Nadira F. Gara Elif Oner Jairo Melara Christa Mae imagery