• A Student Success Story!

    • May 15, 2018
    • Author | Celena Rubin

    We’ve been busy this spring catching up with former students and getting their advice on what it takes to be a working professional. Danielle Millard only graduated 6 months ago and is already proving she’s a force to be reckoned with. Upon graduating from The Art of Makeup School, she has already made connections with photographers and worked with top athletic brands like Nike and Adidas. When asked how she has been able to acquire work so quickly with brands that aspiring artists dream of working with, Danielle stated the importance of networking. “I made connections on Instagram by showing support and communicating with local artists whose work I admired. Those connections built relationships that offered work experience on fashion shows, fashion shoots, and other networking opportunities for more exposure.”

    One of the most important relationships she has built is with The Art of Makeup’s fashion photographer, Kendra Barber, who she now works with regularly. Kendra is a highly sought-after fashion photographer in Portland, L.A, and NY and has been shooting The Art of Makeup Fashion Photo Shoot Days for 5 years. Kendra and Danielle work well together as they both have a niche and love for clean beauty. The Art of Makeup uses an entire team of successful working free-lancers to teach, photograph and run the program, so the relationships made during the programs with students often turn into working relationships in the field.

    Danielle came to us as a Human Resource administrator uncertain of her path with makeup. Although, she continues to work in her rewarding job in HR while continuing to build her career as a makeup artist, she strives to express her creative side and looks for more positive human interactions. “Sometimes working in HR can be a day full of complaints and problem solving…having a human connection with someone face to face, while also making them feel beautiful about themselves just makes my day.” Danielle first decided to try out The Art of Makeup School Summer Makeup Camp in 2017 which touched upon beauty, fashion, and special effects makeup to see if makeup artistry was the right choice for her, which led her to pursue her makeup career further by taking our Fashion Makeup Artistry certificate program the following Fall. We asked her what AofM skills she took with her and she listed her top 3 for us.  

    1.   “Celena really made a big point of how to act on a set and be professional. She told us the do’s and don’ts of etiquette. You can’t learn that on YouTube. Knowing what to expect really helped prepare me for the job.”
    2.   “Instructor Christina Carlsson taught us that prepping the skin is vital before makeup application.”
    3.   “Having a personality! People want to be able to trust you and want to work with you in the future, so staying positive and being able to roll with the punches are likable qualities. No one wants to hire people that are negative and unfriendly.”
    1.   “I really love Skin Food from Weleda. It’s a thick cream, balm that you can thin out with another lotion and warm it up before application”
    2.   “Mac Fix+ spray is a definite must, it’s such a versatile set spray and helps keep my application look like skin and not painted on”
    3.   “My other kit staple is Glossier Boy Brow! It’s an awesome brow gel/mousse that makes brows nice and fluffy.”

    A big hurdle that artists have to face after graduating from a makeup school is when to trust our instincts and listen to our hearts. Danielle had the best advice “Don’t let fear of trying something new or let other peoples’ views stop you. I was worried that people would see being a makeup artist as vain and stupid. I thought the 9 to 5 professional job was the standard and meeting my parents’ expectations, but my advice to AofM students is to have the courage to pursue makeup as a career. It will build confidence in yourself as it has done for me.” It was so hard to say goodbye to Danielle over the phone. I could tell from her voice that she was content and confident in what she was doing. Let her words resonate within all of us, that you should have confidence in yourself and let that strength exude in the work that you share with the world!

    Visit Danielle Millard’s website for more of her work.

    Danielle