After another helpful, informative Virtual Open House, Multimedia Makeup Academy is proud to present our latest student interview in our segment titled “Ask Me Anything”!
This is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn about specific experiences and how the makeup school has made a difference in the life of so many future makeup artists. If you’re looking for the right makeup learning experience, that fits your style and needs, use this interview to figure out if we’re the perfect fit!
Olivia Woodworth
Olivia is graduating from Multimedia Makeup Academy soon and sounds like she’s ready to get that career rolling. Olivia gave us some incredible insight into how she found makeup, how the community at MMA helped her and how the instructors helped her feel like an equal.
Check out the rest of the interview below and don’t forget to check out Olivia’s Instagram (@ethereebeaute) and her new website!
Getting into Makeup
Brandi [00:00:37] Can you tell me a little bit about How you got here? What made you want to become a makeup artist?
Olivia [00:00:44] OK. So when I was younger, I dealt with like a lot of self-confidence issues. And I was not feeling really great about myself. When I turned 13, my mom started allowing me to wear makeup, and I started to slowly gain confidence in myself. And as it went on and YouTube became a bigger thing, and I was watching YouTube (makeup tutorials, makeup celebrities) more. I said, “Wow! This is something I really want to do! This is for me!”
We ended up moving here to Michigan from Washington state. And when we moved here, I Was Still in high school and I wanted to find somewhere I could do makeup and not cosmetology school. I don’t want to do hair I want to just do makeup. And my cousin, who actually does hair, recommended Multimedia Makeup Academy.
So my mom and I talked about it, and I called the school, and I set up an interview.
The Student Experience at MMA
Brandi [00:01:39] I love it. That’s a great story, and I love that you were open and your reasons why for falling in love with the makeup industry. I feel like confidence and self-confidence is a big thing. It’s one of the reasons why I got started to make it too.
Makeup just provided you with an outlet to feel comfortable. And now you can give it back to other people, which is incredible! So tell me a little bit about your experience as a student.
Olivia [00:02:14] So my whole time here I felt really accepted. I felt like it was a fantastic outlet for me to express myself, and honestly, that’s more than I could have ever asked for. We would always be able to talk and have stuff in, and it was like it was level ground for people of all walks of life. And I thought that that was really nice. And I felt like I wasn’t alone.
I thought a few times: “I don’t know how to do this but can you (the instructors or fellow students) can show me how to do this.” Then I turned around and was able to start helping too! It was just amazing that we, as students, were able to grow together, and I thought that was amazing!
Brandi [00:03:00] It sounds like you’re speaking to the community. The environment being Right for You to learn and soak everything in without outside negative influences. And just having other people that love the same thing that wants to support you and help you.
Obviously, you felt that from the student culture, and it enhanced your experience at MMA. What was your interaction like with the staff? Learning in the classroom?
Olivia [00:03:39] When I walked into a classroom, I didn’t feel like it was like: “Okay students, do this!” It didn’t feel like that.
It felt like a community still. A great example: Crystal, I literally love her to death. She’s like my best friend, and I’m not trying to be like a butt kisser either. Every single teacher I met felt the same way. They’re not here to contradict everything I’ve learned. They’re here to be my friend, but still, teach me how to do stuff.
Advice for future Makeup Artists
Brandi [00:04:11] That’s great. And I love that you said you know they’re not here to just call you out to contradict everything because you learned from YouTube, a lot probably on your own and you’re self-taught. And there’s a place for that and I think it’s crucial that you feel like when you’re learning new things.
So it’s not just crashing what you knew before, but they’re exposing you to a higher level of. Professionalism and knowledge. That’s really great! So tell me. What may have been A challenge for you in your experience as a student?
Olivia [00:04:41] Definitely it was getting out of my own head because like you said I was YouTube taught and I was still learning while I was in high school and I was just like: “Oh, Jeffree Star! Oh, James Charles!” I love watching them and learning from them, But That really wasn’t realistic. Because it was hard to learn from someone who worked on the same face every single day and expects them to know how to work on somebody else’s face.
And so that was really hard for me because when I came here, I didn’t know how to work on anybody but myself. Getting out of my comfort zone and starting to work on different patients, different shapes, different eye shapes, that kind of stuff. That was really challenging, but I’m glad that I overcame it because like I love working with other people now and I love doing the kind of artwork on different faces.
Brandi [00:05:28] I’m sure that was a little intimidating at first. Just approaching a new face that you’re not familiar with. I love that you brought up that you know and could see (at the time) the difference. I was going to ask you. What do you feel is the difference between learning what you did on YouTube versus coming to school and that transition of self to others being a big switch?
Olivia [00:05:49] Yeah.
Brandi [00:05:50] I find that really great. And getting out of your head is essential. I think everyone fears this. You know? You want to be perfect, and there’s so much perfect makeup out on social media and things like that. You wanna do that but in the learning process embracing like failures or you know they’re not really failures. It’s more like…
Olivia [00:06:10] Learning experiences.
Brandi [00:06:11] Exactly! That’s exactly it.
So another question that I have for you is telling me about some of your experiences that you’ve had while you’re in school or now that you’re done and waiting for graduation. What have you done with your skills?
Olivia [00:06:31] I work with a photographer and her name is Katie Novak, and she’s a fantastic photographer, portrait photographer. She lives in the Sterling Heights area and I’ve been working with her and building my portfolio.
I love working with her just because she pretty much lets me get all my ideas out on paper. We do anything from full art or full color to Bridal. Even natural beauty. That whole spectrum is what we’ve been working on together, and I’ve just been like so obsessed with that.
We’re actually planning on doing a couple of shots later where we’re gonna be doing some androgyny and stuff like that. I’ve gotten really excited about that.
Brandi [00:07:13] It’s great!
Olivia [00:07:30] I can’t believe how much I’ve accomplished in like a week because a lot of this is just happening in the last week.
Brandi [00:07:34] Wow, that’s awesome! Do you feel that school prepared you for that transition into moving into the real world? And if so, how?
Olivia [00:07:47] It definitely gave me space. It was like: “Are you ready for this?” It gave me like the confidence to want to go with all of that stuff. And I felt like that was, like, surprising because I when I started out I’m like: “oh yeah, maybe I won’t get this type of people or whatever.”
And that whole demeanor changed because I was here amongst like-minded people. And it was allowing me to be like “Okay, you ready? Let’s do it.”.
Brandi [00:08:23] Yeah. That’s awesome. Sometimes we just need like a push to help us move forward into the future. Thank you so much for sharing. I appreciate that!
I think that’ll be really helpful for people that are watching and now knowing some of the ins and outs of what the experience is like for a student at Multimedia Makeup Academy.
It’s super important when you’re looking at schools. And then that transition of “Okay, I’m done, and what are the next steps?” And you know the business training and all of that helps prepare for that.
Learn More about Multimedia Makeup Academy
We always love when our students are excited to share their MMA experiences and we hope they’ve given you some insight into how much we care and the difference our makeup school can make.
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