April 17, 2017

Meet Quendie Joy Wong of Pasadena

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Quendie Joy Wong.

Quendie Joy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always felt the need to express myself; I cannot think of a time where I did not feel the need to be creative. My favorite medium was hair, as a child I taught myself how to braid hair and I would even get my grandpa to rock some ponytails. When I got older, around high school, I learned how to cut hair, often offering my services to friends and family. I realize I did it because I was drawn to the feeling of making people feel good about themselves. After high school, my sister was the one who pushed me to obtaining my cosmetology license and only then, in beauty school, did I realize that my talents were in styling hair and doing makeup.

My first job after receiving my license is where I met my mentor (and boss), Nicoletta Daskalakis, she showed me all the possibilities of this industry. I learned essential traits necessary to survive in the bridal industry and also gave me networking opportunities. As saturated as the beauty industry may be, I’ve been given the opportunity to work with countless beauty teams throughout Los Angeles. I love maintaining and building relationships with not only clients, but colleagues as well. I am thrilled and humbled that I have had the opportunity to do what I love and constantly meet new people, all while growing my business. All my gratitude goes to those wonderful people that have helped me become who I am.

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?
I am once again humbled to say, I’ve had a fairly smooth journey. With any career, it could be quite discouraging (trust me, I’ve felt it many times), my biggest challenges were being able to balance going to school while pursuing my dreams. I am working towards a BA in Business Communications, but with the inevitable hectic schedule of a Hair and Makeup Artist, I find myself turning down jobs and potentially future opportunities, because I had to prioritize school. This business tends to be quite spontaneous, a trait which I love, school however, often does not pair well.

Another challenge is the potential downtime between jobs. There are popular seasons leading to spurts of work, leading to a very stressful process when trying to plan out financials. Often, I would take on “normal” jobs which could once again lead me to losing out on potential opportunities. However, I do feel that I’ve been given some wonderful experiences that I would not trade for the world. My clients make all the “bumps on the road” worthwhile and I could not be more grateful.

Please tell us about Quendie Joy.
My company specializes in hair and makeup for weddings, events, films, and print. I am known for creating natural and effortless beauty styles and specifically for my work in the bridal industry. Despite my specialty, I strive to be flexible and versatile in my art which is credited to my experiences with different teams and artists.

My defining factor is my compassion and love towards each and every person, that and my unique personality. My goal is for each and every client sitting in my chair to leave feeling beautiful and better towards their whole day. I put a lot of myself in my work and I enjoy utilizing the short time I share with my clients to learning as much about them as I can. I believe that these interactions I share with my clients truly make me stand out as an artist. They may have hired me to help them out, but I like to part ways as friends.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory would be the countless times I mimic my older sisters. Growing up in an all-female household (plus my grandpa), really instilled a strong female pride. My sisters were tough, they would play sports and rough house leading to what some would call a “tom boy” personality. Who would have thought that the tom boy would grow up to be a hair and makeup artist!

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