One of Berbice’s youngest entrepreneurs, the talented Rebecca Ann D’Andrade, is on the path to open her makeup business, Bliss Studios in Rose Hall Town early next year.
The studio, which will be located on Arch Road at Munesh Govindsammy’s mini mall, is expected to offer advanced and beginners makeup classes for all age groups, professional makeovers, as well as a line of authentic and quality makeup products.
Rebecca, who is 19, and lives in Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, told The Scene in an interview: “In early 2018 after my makeup career began to excel it was in my thoughts to start my own studio, but at that time I felt as though I wasn’t ready and I needed more time.
“I put everything on a pause. I was giving it about 2 years more, but I realized the longer I wait I’ll never be ready. You can’t just sit and wait for something good to happen you need to get up and make it happen. So, I decided to set an attainable routine. People set goals, have dreams and want different things in life, but they may not achieve them because they don’t actually start working towards them.”
Rebecca, who aspires to one day become internationally certified, is hoping that her studio will be a major success in the ancient county. “When I have clients, whether old clients or new clients, when they come in, I want them to feel accepted. When they come and they leave I want them to say that they are coming to Bliss Studios again.”
Her entry into the beauty industry began through her late mother, Sharmela D’Andrade, who operated the popular Sharmela’s Beauty Salon in Rose Hall Town.
Rebecca said her mom, who passed away two years ago, was a hairdresser. But “on the weekends when she had brides, she would have to do their hair and their makeup. I would go along with her. She would take me. I would be excited to go along,” she recalled.
She stressed that her love for makeup started by watching her mom doing others’ makeup. “I was always intrigued by the process and how much it can transform a person and make somebody feel so confident, I really love that.”
Despite loving makeup at a young age, she never had any idea that it would become a career for her. “When I was ten years old, I wanted to be a banker. I wanted to work in the bank but when I jumped into high school, I really wanted to be a nurse. I was still into makeup and doing my thing, but I wanted to be a nurse,” she added.
She said she was 11 years old when she was first allowed to wear some light makeup, and it was at the age of 14 that she received her first branded makeup products which she still cherishes up to this day. At that point, she would spend hours on YouTube practicing her craft.
However, when her mother would often ask her whether she wanted to follow in her footsteps, “I would say no, even though I really loved it. I just wanted to be a nurse.”
She explained that while she was planning to attend a medical school overseas her mother passed on. “I didn’t get to do that. Things just kind of fell out of place.”
However, she said, an opportunity then presented itself for her to go abroad and study to become a nurse. “I went there, and I was getting all prepared that I still stand a chance of doing this, but I ended up in a storm.
“I ended up facing lots of difficult times, many tearful nights, depression and all of that. I ended up coming back to Guyana a few months after.”
On her return to Guyana, she began job hunting and landed a temporary travel agent job.
“I really liked it. It was okay. I wasn’t really happy with it, but I was content I had a job,” she said.
Rebecca, who is also a self-taught baker, operates Delight Treats, which supplies one of the best cupcakes in the region. While working at the travel service, she said, she continued to bake and complete orders. “I was really hustling. Really trying to get it,” she added.
After about a month, she decided being a travel agent was not for her and she continued to focus on her baking alone.
According to Rebecca, it was then that a close friend approached her to do her makeup. “I did it for her. I didn’t mind. And she loved it.” She said whenever she happened on photographs of brides she and her mother had worked on together, she felt nostalgic.
Then a pageant consultant approached her to do makeup for contestants. “I just went right ahead with it all of a sudden,” she said. “I posted some pictures of my work on Facebook and everybody seemed to really like my work because I had never really put it out there like that and then suddenly it blew up. A lot of people started to message me.”
She said, her passion for makeup emerged once more and she started to take in clients. “I would say within a year of my makeup career something happened and my client base grew extremely well.”
She said it felt good that her work was starting to be recognized. “I was working on weekends and even during the week, busy as ever.”
Rebecca is now known as one of the best makeup artists in the region and is sought by many persons both from within the region and outside.
Furthermore, she added, though people sometimes say doing makeup is not a dependable career, “I beg to differ. There are so many opportunities available and it is recession proof. If you are passionate, you will find a place for yourself in the industry.”
According to the soft-spoken and kind young woman, in the next five years she hopes to be internationally certified, expanding bigger into the makeup field, hoping to collaborate with a few top brands and creating her own line of makeup products. “I also see myself evolving my own bakery company.
“Entrepreneurship is the path I’m walking in and creating more job opportunities is a big aim,” she stressed.
Her advice to upcoming makeup artists is, “if you love it go for it… practice, practice and then practice some more. We all know practice makes perfect and makeup artistry is no exception, practice is key.”
She also said that while learning from a professional can be important to becoming a truly great artist, “making practice part of your everyday routine is also critical. Also try getting formal education. If you’re serious about becoming a professional makeup artist, going to school is a great option to consider. There are tons of different programmes across the country,” she advised.
Rebecca also spoke of the importance of social media in today’s business world.
“You should get online and market yourself. Thanks to the internet the beauty world has changed drastically and if you want to be successful, you have to have a web presence. Social media has had a huge impact on makeup artistry.”
After experiencing so much at such a young age, Rebecca stressed that it is important to “never put things off until tomorrow. Start today by setting an easy, attainable routine. I took action, collected feedback and I kept thinking bigger than I actually am. Be determined. Where there’s a will there’s some sort of a way, even if you have to create one. Having a vision allowed me to be where I am now. Your vision should be the blueprint for what you are going to actually achieve. Clarity is everything. Even if you start small, it’s still a start, it’s the beginning of something. Also, affirmation is what keeps me going. There’s a lot of power in consistently telling yourself encouraging things like: ‘I’ve got this’, ‘I can do this’ and ‘I want this’. You’re creating a positive dialogue with yourself and this positive energy may eventually manifest into reality.”
