Well, Hiya!
Thanks for checking out my website and being a supporter! I’m guessing you’ve come to this page because you’re interested in knowing who I am, or maybe you want to know how I got where I am today!
About Beautynewbie, The Short Version:
I am a 39 year old office-rat-made-blogger-made-cosmetic-junkie-made-pro-makeup artist-made-pro-photographer-desiger-made-writer-and-small-business-coach. Really?! Really. Like most people my age, I feel I am still searching for “what I’m supposed to be” but work on embracing all of my talents and experience to this point in my life. I am working hard to become a full-fledged solo-preneur. It’s an interesting (sometimes challenging) and overall, rewarding path and I am extremely grateful to those who have helped me reach this point.
About Beautynewbie (really? You want the long version?):
I faced an early-mid-20’s-crisis, lol. Or it felt that way at the time. Early in my twenties, I felt stuck in an office job and wasn’t sure that I was ready or able to commit to a particular career field that would require me to go to university (so that’s not really new, lol). I had slowly climbed the corporate ladder, so to speak, only to find that I hate the office politics the structure and the oh-so repetitiveness of it all. I felt like a robot that was slowly losing it’s circuits!
So, I decided to take some time off from my job as a medical insurance consultant to train as an ESL teacher. I desperately wanted to travel (still do) and loved getting to know about new cultures and languages, so I figured it’d be a great way to start fresh and jumped at the opportunity to change pace. I loved every minute of my training as an ESL teacher and met amazing people- it was so much more fun than I thought it would be. However when I graduated, there had been a major down-season of exchanges happening and I found it difficult to find a job with the little experience I had. Luckily I had office skills which kept me working, but I still felt unsatisfied where I was in life. I thought I would just stick to what I was doing for a while until I landed a really awesome job in my city to teach ESL. That never happened, and I ended up giving up on the dream after I applied to a few schools in Europe who required a University degree (in anything) to teach. I was bummed. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do so, I just continued working miscellaneous jobs and sort of stayed in limbo, undecided of what to do next.
I have always been an artistic person and at that point I’d explored so many creative avenues, even a music career. But I was quickly coming to the belief that I was just going to have to pick a job doing something I didn’t like in order to simply survive. I had moved out when I was 18 and had severely struggled financially up to that point.
The first time I came across Youtube, I was hooked (especially since I didn’t have cable at the time) I was googling for lyrics of a song when I discovered a new site called Youtube. I found a whole world of different people and artists… and they were making VIDEOS! From then on, I spent my evenings glued to Youtube. One of those nights, I came across a makeup video (wish I could remember what it was), but I remember thinking how I knew so very little about makeup. Then I watched another and another until it was the wee hours of the next morning. Holy Cow, Batman. I was totally inspired by this new found art. I didn’t wear much more than lip gloss and mascara until then. I decided that I wanted to learn how to do my makeup and so I started spending my spare time practicing and reading about all the techniques in makeup. I started talking to other people who were interested in it too— I even started participating in contests for makeup looks…. and I actually won one. I remember the elated feeling I had when I won my first contest. I think that was the little boost I needed to pursue an actual dedicated hobby in makeup.
Beautynewbie was started in 2009 as my own educational journal on makeup. In fact, my slogan was “Learn While I Learn” and also why I chose “Beauty-newbie” as my user name. Later my slogan turned to “Who Says You Have to Be a Professional” when I started to actually get support and encouragement and to my bewilderment, thousands of viewers.
Then in 2010 I decided I wanted to become a professional. In January of 2011, I began my training as a film and television makeup artist in one of the industry’s most prestigious institutes, Vancouver Film School. I not only learned about beauty and special fx, but I also learned how to create almost anything with makeup, and what it takes to work in film. It was probably one of the most amazing times in my life.
As with so many things in this journey, after I graduated I discovered new passions and interests after a long period of downtime from my Youtube presence. As the film industry slowed down in Vancouver, I expanded my career as a photographer and digital designer, and then, unbelievably into business coaching. There is still so much undiscovered territory I have to explore in this new field. For now, I do a series of freelance jobs for work hoping to find my one true path along the way 🙂
I have always wanted to be a teacher, an artist and creator. I’m very happy to call myself an “solo-preneur” (solo entrepreneur) and plan to continue to grow and build Beautynewbie to be an even better resource and hub for positivity and self-growth for professional freelance artists and young women alike. I hope that you enjoy your time here and will stick around 🙂
I sincerely thank all the subscribers, commenters and friends who have encouraged me over the years and who continue to support me– you have helped me learn to accept and cherish who I am and believe that anything is possible.
I will strive to pay that forward <3
Lots of Love,
Holly
Holly currently resides in Ohio, USA and works as a professional freelancer and continues to create content as Beautynewbie and it’s affiliates.
