Creative Highlight 04: Beauty: Temi Khadijah
So a little background story. I am a makeup artist. Not much of a story so far but bare with me lol. Beauty and skin care and fashion and anything of that sort has always played a big role in my life. I've always just been extremely naturally drawn to it. As a kid I remember spending hours upon hours playing in my aunt's makeup creating the "perfect look" whole time it was giving circus clown but I digress. Nonetheless eventually I got really good at it! So sometime throughout my college career I said "hey I should probably start a business" and that I did. I sold eyelashes, worked on different formulas to make the perfect lipgloss and highlighters. Spent HOURS on YouTube watching tutorials since I didn't have enough money to enroll in beauty school and college at the same time. I had to be self taught. Speaking of money, the amount I've put into buying products and building my brand absolutely was not cheap, but still very very worth it. Took clients, and pretty much promoted my brand ENDLESSLY on instagram always on the hunt for more clients and publicity. The end goal was and still is for my work to be in high end magazines, to do makeup for models during fashion week and other A list events. I just want to be known as the black makeup artist from Brooklyn who put all her blood sweat and tears (lots and lots of tears) to make a name for herself. Granted, due to covid ya girl hasn't really been super active in terms of my makeup career but I'll be back soon no need to worry. But ultimately, I say all this to say, this shit is hard. Of course anything you want in life will be hard. But as we already know from life, and reading this blog alone, being a black woman makes it 10x harder. But on the bright side, I wasn't alone! There has been so many amazing fellow black makeup artists I've met on this journey who share the same sentiments as I do as really wanting to leave a mark on this beauty industry. But if there's anyone who I know who puts in as much effort as I do when it comes to makeup, it's Temi. Iv'e known Temi for about of year now and literally she's one of my closest friends and one of the most hardworking TALENTED women that I know. As expected, we talk about makeup all the time so this interview was nothing short from our regular convos. Temi did my makeup and we talked about some of the struggles and upsides of being a makeup artist in today's society.
(this was the only video I got with Temi that day because when we're together its always jokes and we can't stay focused for SHIT. But as you can see she finessed! Book my sis y'all!)
Me: Okay so you do ALOT of shit. Makeup, hair, you have your own business. What inspired you to start all of this?
Temi: So when I was about 19, I’ve always been into make up as a hobby for myself. I felt like it was a great stress reliever for me honestly, and then I fell in love with it. It was like where has this craft been this whole time? So then I started to get jobs and make sure I was always in places and spaces that involved make up and beauty. So I think the first job that I ever got that was in that area was when I was working at Ricky’s. And then from Ricky’s I went on to work at NYX cosmetics and then eventually Sephora. What inspired me to start my own business was I felt like because early on I was obsessed with this world. Like this was my hobby I felt that I had learned a lot of knowledge and picked up a lot of tips and tricks along the way, I’ve come up with hacks for myself that I’ve passed along down to other people and it’s been a help to them and vice versa and it’s just like this is a world that I really want to be in. It brings me joy, it brings me happiness. It brings other people joy and happiness, so why not? But the main kicker and what really pushed me to start my business with seeing how in this little community world that I fell in love with, I’m going to struggle bad. And I say that not to say that oh because I’m not good, or I am not talented enough, but like with any creative field, it’s really hard to get recognition and when you’re black and also a black woman at that, is extremely hard x1000. Companies don’t really prefer to work with black people and when they do, they tend to choose the ones who are lighter in complexion or are darkskin, but portray a very specific look. Where in comparison to the Caucasians (lmao is that PC?), and others on the outside looking in , they’re the ones to doing the least but getting credited the most. Black people have been the blueprint for many things, but when it comes to beauty and makeup trends, Black women are the ones who run it. We are the blueprint, we set the bar and are mocked for it until someone else comes along to ride the wave. There needs to be more of us out there in positions to ensure that they will continue to be more of us out there. I know I’m just one person and this is the beginning but hopefully my business can grow into what I want it to be and there’s nothing but spaces and places of beautiful black women and men doing their thing and succeeding in this industry.
Me: As a black makeup artist/hair stylist do you feel as if you face any specific challenges as opposed to creatives who are not black?
Temi: I kind of touched up on this a little bit in the previous question but yes I do feel as a black make up artist and hairstylist I do face a lot of challenges that normal stylists wouldn’t? Any Black person will tell you this: in any and every thing we do, we must be 10 times better to even be seen as half as good as the non black persons standing next to us. We’re much more open to criticism, people expect so much from us and our services right from the jump— it’s already set up for us to fail. It’s crazy because your social media is tailored to you right? Your explore page on Instagram is based off of your searches, people you follow, things you like stuff like that. The stuff they recommend on your YouTube is based off of things you watch, your history, people you subscribe to, videos you like. So on and so forth so it’s crazy when I’m on my social media, I’m on my Instagram, I’m on my Snapchat my TikTok my whatever and I am seeing things and you know I’m interacting and it’s nothing but beautiful black faces, and people doing their thing.... but when you bring yourself out of that little bubble and you realize that these people are not being recognized “outside”. They’re only being recognized within the black community whereas I know of a lot of white influencers who are recognized in their respective circles but then are also recognized worldwide, across cultures, across age groups with the wild range, across genders etc but for us it’s like we only know us, get it?
Me: What is your favorite part about what you do?
Temi: Ahhhh this is a very hard question. NEXT CALLER.
Me: Do you think the career path you chose in terms of makeup/hair has been harder being a black woman?
Temi: Rightfully so, I feel like everything in life is harder as a Black woman. Like I said, we’ve been set up to fail. I feel any career path for a Black woman would be hard but it’s how you react to situations and spaces you find yourself in that determines what you wa t to get out of it. But if they try you, turn up one time to let them know you’re not the one sis!
Me: What advice do you have for aspiring makeup artists/hair stylists/business owners?
Temi: CONSISTENCY CONSISTENCY CONSISTENCY. Consistency is key. I said it 3 times, that’s how important it is! It’s gonna be hard, but don’t look at the numbers. Lmao that’ll discourage you real quick. Don’t look at how much money you’re spending or have spent, don’t look at how many number of orders you’re not getting, how much money you’re making a day or whatever analytics you’re not seeing. You’ll run yourself mad I’m telling you . Focus on staying active and consistent. If you run a business page, post on it everyday (I would say at least twice a day if you’re really trying to see exponential growth in a significant amount of time), YouTube? Upload content on a schedule that works for you. You gotta put yourself out there. It’s way easier said than done, trust I know that. But you have to be your biggest hype man if you want people to even recognize what you and your business are bringing to the table. If you don’t think you’re lit, how is anyone else going to? Don’t compare yourself. I know on IG everybody got that one picture when there’s nothing but bags of orders on the floor or they making a huge post office run or they’re flaunting how many orders they’ve received. Don’t dwell on those. Your time is coming too. But you have to put in the work. And promo! You are your own walking billboard. You make prints for people? Press something on a shirt or bag or something for yourself and wear it out. You make wigs and do makeup? Beat ya face and do your hair if you have the time and you’re just going out to run errands. Or even if you not going anywhere and you’re just taking pictures of your work for social media. When people compliment what you’re wearing or what you have on, it’s a great way to segway into introducing yourself and your business and turning strangers and acquaintances into potential customers. Find influencers and brand ambassadors who are into the same things you do and see if y’all can agree on quid quo pro promo. Theses are the ones that don’t require you to pay the influencer to post. They’re simply posting because you offered them free products. With this, always have some sort of contract in writing in place. Preferably an email. Something simple that basically says that this person agrees to promote your products/ business in exchange for free services and products received. Don’t be afraid to set rules either.
Make sure to follow Temi on instagram @temikhadijaah
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