June 29, 2016

Meet Little Tokyo Makeup & Hairstylist: Carolina Yasukawa

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolina Yasukawa.

She’s had a long, successful career in hair and makeup in Southern California. From working in a salon to working with celebrities she’s done it all and excelled every step of the way. She’s a hard working, go-getter with great artistic instincts. We’re excited to share her story below.

Carolina, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

I started doing hair in 2000. My first job was with Toni and Guy Hairdressing. I worked for them for 10 years. While there I was an educator, salon management and a senior art director. I learned how to cut, style, do avant garde work, public speaking and management. I traveled for TIGI Bed Head teaching other hairstylist in various categories of hairstyling. In 2010 I left to freelance in the print world. Since then I have done shoots for runway, red carpet, music videos, various magazines, and various celebrities.

Has it been a smooth road?

I was very blessed to have a company like Toni and Guy help connect me with clients as well as inspiration. Once leaving I had to build my own clientele. It was really hard. I’m not cool nor am I a follower. I feel people on the business sometimes don’t believe in my cause they expect me to have half my head shaved or purple hair. I want my work to speak for its self. I don’t want to have to look crazy because people expect me to. That is my biggest struggle is getting people to believe in me before they see my work.

What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future are to be signed with an agency as well as start some wig making classes. I really want to expand my skill into wigs. They are getting more popular with celebrities.

Let’s dig a little deeper into your story. What was the hardest time you’ve had?

I worked in a salon for 10 years and did shoots on the side in Orange County. One day I decided to pack my apartment and move to LA. I didn’t have a job or an apartment until 1 week before I moved. I decided to become full time freelance. The first couple of months were so hard financially. I didn’t know how to manage my money for that lifestyle. I went from getting paid every two weeks to whenever a job wanted to pay me. Not to mention if a job didn’t. I never had to ask people to pay me. So to bug someone who was late with payment was uncomfortable for me. Now I don’t have a problem with it. In 2013 I got into a car accident that left me with 4 herniated discs in my neck. I was out of work for 3-4 months. It was one of the hardest times I’ve ever been through in my life. Career wise and personally. Not being able to work when you’re job is your passion is so hard. I couldn’t stand, sit or lay for more than 2 hours at a time. I couldn’t lift my hands over my head. A few jobs I took because the money was good and I was in so much pain. I lost clients and had to rebuild my clientele .It took 3 years to heal and now I’m better.

Within that period I started to work with a charity called Project Fashiontails. It’s a charity that shoots celebrities with rescue animals. It helps bring awareness to adopting from rescues by getting the word out through celebrity social media. I donated my time to those shoots because they were normally only 3-4 hours and easy. Now I’m the key hairstylist with the foundation. Within these shoots I’ve shot with celebrities such as Jason Alexander, Kevin Nealon, Adrienne Maloof, Will Wheaton and many more.

Do you ever just stop and think WOW – I’ve made it?

I feel I wanna grow more before I say Wow I made it. I do look back on my career and feel like wow I did a lot and worked with A lot of people. But some of my favorite highlights were doing Emmys and SAG award hairstyles for the cast of LOST including Matthew Fox and his wife, Josh Holloway and Daniel Dae Kim. Also shooting with Kelly Rowland for USA magazine was another highlight. She was such a delight and fun to work with.

Pricing: