March 18, 2024 • 17 mins
Aly Jae is the creator of Spotl1ght Artistry!
Aly talks with Jasmine about the origins of her makeup journey, drops tips for up-and-coming makeup artists, the importance of self-care...and BALANCE.
Aly has grown her clientele from friends and family members, to movie sets. With over 200,000 followers on TikTok, Aly Jae is making a name for herself and constantly trailblazing in her creative field.
Follow her @alyjae4real to find more information!
Aly talks with Jasmine about the origins of her makeup journey, drops tips for up-and-coming makeup artists, the importance of self-care...and BALANCE.
Aly has grown her clientele from friends and family members, to movie sets. With over 200,000 followers on TikTok, Aly Jae is making a name for herself and constantly trailblazing in her creative field.
Follow her @alyjae4real to find more information!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hello everyone, welcome back
today. I'm here with Ali Jof Spotlight Artistry. How are you today?
I'm good? How are you?Oh? Just fabulous, flank you.
Thank you. The face is giving. Thank you. Just had to
(00:22):
let you know, thank you,yes earlier. So we got to get
into it. I know you guyscan't see it, but I mean we'll
have pictures and everything like that,so don't worry about it. Okay.
So let's start with like, whateven made you want to start doing makeup?
Ooh? I have been into makeupsince I was a child. You
know, everybody mama sold Mary Kay, and my mama was one of those
(00:44):
mama, so you know, youget the little samples of Mary Kay.
She would let me plan them,and I would pretend like I would be
doing my own little Mary K consultantparty and I would just play around in
a makeup. And then over theyears I gradually got more and more into
it with her boundaries because you know, like we ain't gonna let you makeup.
It's key right. But then Istarted working for Clinic Cosmetics in two
(01:07):
thousand and eight as a counter manager, So that was where my makeup artistry
took full effect. And I waslike, I like putting makeup on people,
I don't like selling it. Yeah, so let's remove the selling part
and just become a freelance makeup artist. And I've been an off and on
freelance makeup artists ever since. Wow. And I know getting into that is
not easy, no, because it'slike it's so many different types of faces,
(01:30):
skin tones, complexions. People justwant different things. They want an
extreme glam or a soft glam.So how do you like navigate through all
that? Like learning the process ooh. Clinique really helped me learn about face
shapes and complexion, so that wasone of the biggest things in hygiene.
So those are the big three componentswith it. So we really went over
(01:52):
a lot of that education and thenI did a lot of education outside of
that on my own just to beable to do a lot of the trends
that we see out here now.So you know, you get the bowl
glam and you got the soft glam, And what I want to do is
be able to recreate that on peoplebut still make them look like themselves instead
of them making like, you know, carbon copies of everybody, like no,
we're gonna you should wear to makeup. The makeup shouldn't wear you.
(02:15):
So it's a lot of a lotof practice. Yeah, And I
think that comes with like anything,you have to practice. You can't just
get up and be like, Okay, I'm not to be a makeup artist
today. Yes, absolutely, no, you can't just wake up one day.
It's like doing a wing liner tookme a while to figure out.
And what I ended up doing wasI saw it on YouTube, and one
(02:36):
of the girls on YouTube is like, put the tape in the corner and
and that's how I ended up learninghow to do a wing liner. Wow.
And now I just do it freehandbecause now my hand's just kind of
used to going in that direction.But yeah, that's that's usually. That's
literally it. It's practice makes perfect. Yep, exactly exactly. So when
you first started, were there anylike challenges you would say you had to
(02:59):
go through, like when you firststarted not just doing makeup but actually like
charging people, and you know whatkind of did you have any like the
biggest challenge was negotiating my price.Yeah, it was can I get a
discount? We go way back?My bills don't go way back, so
(03:23):
no, yeah, I'm going tohave to charge you more. And then
a lot of it was undercharging becauseI suffer from imposter syndrome. I do.
It's real bad. And what Iended up doing was undercharging myself and
not absolutely owning my skill set,owning who I am. And it took
my friends to say because when theywere asking me, I did one of
(03:44):
their other best friend's birthday makeup andshe was like, how much are you
going to charge us? And Iwas like, I'll do it for sixty
five because this is when I wasjust not doing anything, and I was
just like, I'll just do iton the side here and there. She's
like, so can we give youa hundred because that's not enough? I
said, okay, yeah, youcan give me no, right right?
So and it was then right,it was right there, And then I
was like, you're right, I'mnot charging enough. I need to up
(04:06):
my prices. So now that I'vere branded my business, my prices are
up there and they're not moving andthey should be. Does you say even
if you like suffer from imposter syndromeor whatever. It's like you still like
they saw it. They saw likeyou had the talent, you have the
skill, and that you should bepaid for your work absolutely and what you
(04:28):
do absolutely. And I appreciate thatall of my friends are like that Giovanni
Samuels because the last time and Idid make up for the movie that she's
in the og boot camps. Iwas a makeup artist for that on that
set, and she was like,Okay, so of course it's a small
budget, but charge your worth.You're right, yeah, will And I
charged my worth as you should,as you should, because I know it's
(04:50):
a it's a struggle with especially withas you said, like friends and family,
like we known each other a longtime. Give me a discount,
but it's like you can do that. No, if you say you're supporting
me, exactly, support me exactis my price exactly? That's it because
as somebody that is doing this fulltime, like this is my full time
(05:11):
career on top of content creation.No, I got to pay my bills.
I can't give you a discount.I don't have anything to supplement that
right now. This is what Ido for a living. You're gonna have
to pay the whole thing. Mmhm. And what would you say if
you have one? What's the missionof Spotlight Artistry? Oh to not to
give too much away, because youknow, I don't like everybody taking my
ideas, but I do want tomake it a hub eventually for other makeup
(05:36):
artists, not just for education purposes, but for business purposes, because right
now, the makeup unions are specificallyfor TV and film. We don't have
a makeup union for just freelance makeupartists. So I kind of wanted to
go that route and provide those thosebenefits like life insurance, health insurance somewhere
(05:57):
down the line to those who wantto be able to do it, and
they pay into it the way theywould pay into the makeup union for TV
and film. So it's amazing,okay, and I'm claiming it for you.
It's gonna happen in the name ofthe Lord one comb one exactly.
So since you are well, youstarted with freelance and now this is like
your full time and you say youdo content creation too, where do you
(06:20):
find time for the work life balance, Because I know that's a struggle for
everyone. You know what, permy ADHD. I have to schedule my
whole life because otherwise I will beall off and then I'll get distracted and
I'm like, ooh, I canclean this and ooh I can put this
way. So I have to schedulemy life. So what I typically do
is I schedule self care breaks inbetween everything. So I'll do all my
(06:42):
morning things. I'll get up,I'll take my daughter to school. She
goes to school very very early inthe morning, so that actually kind of
helps. It actually gives me moretime in my day, so I do.
I get all my self cared together. Then I start my my business
work, so I do all myemails and things like that. And I'm
also on social media coordinator for mysorority. Shout out today they get a
Tasselorthy Incorporated. Yes, yes,so I have to incorporate that in there
(07:09):
too. So I'll balance all ofthat out and I'll check all my emails
and then I'll do a self caremoment. So it's a full hour.
I'm unplugged. You usually eating lunchand watching Bob's Burger Girl. I love
Boston. I'm sorry, we justhad a moment. Yes, I love
I love that show. Yes,I'm a mix between Jean and Louise.
(07:30):
I think I'm more yeah and more. I'm like, oh, you know,
I can have my Tina moments stuff. Yes, but I usually do
that because that just brings me joyand peace. I also schedule walks.
I'm doing a ten k a dayor ten k steps a day walk challenge.
Yeah, and your money's holding meaccountable, see my accountability partner.
(07:55):
Yes, so I'll send up likeI got my two k steps today,
So I'll do that. And there'rethis trail by my house. Oh nice,
absolutely beautiful, and it goes formiles. So I'm like, I
could literally walk several blocks and getten thousand steps easily. So I usually
try to incorporate that in between everythingthat I do so I don't feel overwhelmed.
That's important. I want to say. Almost every person that I've asked
(08:16):
this question, they always say,like, I need self care. That's
my self cared time, because ifnot, it's like you'll go crazy and
then you'll just feel burnt out andoverwhelmed and you can't run your business that
way. No, you cannot.You have to. You have to take
time for yourself and love on yourselfand my sun days is full self care.
Don't nobody ask me to do nothing. Don't nobody ask me to talk
(08:37):
to them. Not know you cannasay that again? Okay, So another
one for the advice part, Likepeople that are thinking about maybe you know,
doing makeup and doing it full time, they're kind of just, you
know, a little shy, alittle timid because it's scary, you know,
putting yourself out there. So inaddition to some of the things that
(08:58):
you said, like you would likewatch people and you know, just practice,
Like what other tips do you thinkyou want to share? I am
a big component proponent of hygiene.Hygiene is so important in makeup artistry because
what you don't want to do iscross contaminate your products, and you don't
want to put anything that can bebacteria infested on a client's face because they
(09:22):
can work out of rashes, theycan get size in the eye and guess
who they coming back for you andthey're going to sue you. So I
always I always say, if youcan't go to somebody's cosmetology school, YouTube
university, somebody's makeup artists, it'sgonna teach hygiene. Are hygiene hygiene standards
(09:45):
for makeup artists. It will popa right up. And I said I
was gonna start doing it as welltoo with my particular content. But it's
just so important that they understand hygieneand face shapes because that will make or
break the makeup being worn on theperson of the person wearing the makeup.
So those are the two big thingsthat can find on YouTube. You don't
have to pay for it, it'sfree ninety nine. Say that again.
(10:07):
Okay, okay, So do youjust is it just you? Like,
do you have anybody that also helpsyou with social or like emails or it's
just you, it's just me.I'm doing everything. I'm a one woman
show right now, and I'm handlingit very well because it's still fairly small.
Eventually I will branch out. WhatI would want to start doing is
(10:31):
bringing in apprentice and start getting themacclimated not necessarily just with bridling event but
TV and film and taking them onsets with me so they can get acclimated
into that and know how to holdtheir own. Yeah, that's Beautually,
that's what I want to start doing. You Definitely, I'm a big believer
in that you have to like bringpeople along with you. That's important in
the journey, like even if youdon't necessarily need them to, you know,
(10:54):
respond to things for you or postthings for you, like help them
out and help them get the experiencethat they need. Yes, absolutely,
that's one of the biggest things becausenetworking is so big. Oh yes,
that's one of the biggest things.It's like, you can be as talented
as you want, but without networking, you're not going to get anywhere.
Without talking, you're not going toget anywhere. Without advertising yourself, you're
(11:16):
not going to get anywhere. Youhave to open your mouth and you have
to show people what you can doand say what you can do and be
your own walking advertisement. So Ialways tell people start talking, start talking
about your business, start talking aboutwhat you can do. Look, this
is this, is my portfolio,this is this, this is that,
And that's how you secure clients.That's how people are like, Oh,
(11:37):
okay, here was this one timeI got invited to a Katy Perry concert
by Influencer as a creator, andI beat my face to the god,
as you should, because we gotto meet her because we were also promoting
her perfume. And I remember wehad all these rules with stand in this
line, and we can only takeeither a video or picture. And I
chose a picture, and I wasin front, and the first thing she
(11:58):
said to me, makeup is sobeautiful. Yes, yes, here it
is. That's all I needed tohear, exactly. That's all I needed
to hear. And I've had severalother celebs tell me the same things.
I'm like, all right, Ineed to go on a venture in this
avenue. I will definitely do that. It said miss only j knows what
she's doing. M h absolutely.So let's get into that a little bit.
(12:22):
So you said you suffer from impostersyndrome, So how are you How
do you like kind of get overthat? How do you like talk yourself
off of that ledge? I don'tdo it. My friends usually yell at
me. Okay, that's real,hore we go. It's usually it's usually
well why are you doing that?Why? And I'm like, but but
(12:43):
don't, but you need to dothis. You need to do no,
you need to like they literally yellat me, and I just take it
on the chin, like you right, you're absolutely right, and it I
have to get myself out of thattoo. And then I also journal,
So like I'll talk about you knowwhat I am really good at this?
You know what I am really goodat that, I am really talented in
these different venues. So own thatown and stand firm on it. So
(13:07):
now what I do is I golive and I'll pop up in people's live
and I'll just turn my camera onif my makeup is done, and they're
like, yeah, yeah, gotat it. God, I like the
way you think that's smart. Soeven if it's just for a minute,
like y'all gonna see this face,You're gonna see this be period as you
(13:28):
should. So what do you lovethe most about your business? Oh?
I love how versatile it is.I love that I get to do so
many different things. One of thethings about makeup is that it requires me
to focus, so it does absolutelyhelp with my ADHD. It's something that
I have to concentrate on, andthen when i'm zoned in, I'm zoned
in and I like being able tocreate different looks and different shapes and bringing
(13:52):
out the people people's beauty and complexionis literally my favorite. I'll take my
time on somebody, yes, yes, because I want to make sure it
matches, especially for us melanated folk, because my biggest thing is that line
of demarcation. Your face don't matchyour neck, and it bothers me.
Oh yeah, and that's that's theother thing. Like these people are my
walking advertisement. You are going togo on and say, alij, beat
(14:16):
my face. I got to makesure it looks perfect and it looks good.
So I'm looking at it in differentlights, natural light, the ring
light, like I'm looking at everything. So smart, smart woman, smart
woman. I hope you guys aretaking notes if you're pointing on getting into
makeup. Okay, So one ofmy last and favorite questions, brilliantly black,
ali J. What does that meanto you? Oh? That means
(14:39):
to me that no matter what,we are, brilliant, brilliant people,
We've got so many things up againstus. We've had so many things up
against us. Yeah, we haveto go through so many hurdles and so
many battles. One of the biggestbattles that I go through is my assertiveness
coming up as aggressive, that microaggressionthat I have to deal with often.
(15:03):
It's just like because I'm short andthey see in this little girl and that
look like I'm in my twenties andI'm not. I'm almost forty, but
they're like, wow, she gotso much bark. I am a lone
bark okay. And it's a lotof battling that. But even through that,
I accomplish my goal. I getmy point across and I do what
I need to do. I've garneredtwo hundred and twelve thousand followers on TikTok
(15:26):
yes on Instagram since twenty fifteen,and it's been hard work because of course,
a lot of our non melanate acounterparts get there faster. But I've
gotten there and I've made a namefor myself. So despite whatever we do,
and I see it everywhere and somany different people of Katanji Brown Jackson
and Felicia was shot, you know, or one of my favorite black makeup
(15:50):
artists, Pat McGrath. So allof them have gone through so much and
they are where they need to be. So that is definitely my big inspiration,
and that is what brilliantly to me. Yes, and you should be
part of yourself. Thank you.Honestly, you are doing it and you're
doing it well. Thank you.Okay. So, of course, and
(16:10):
speaking of the tiktoks and all ofthat, you have to tell them your
social media's and how to contact youif they want to get their face beat
by Alij. Absolutely so all ofmy social media platforms are Ali J for
real, that's a L Y JA E. The number four real Spotlight
Artistry is s p O T Lthe number one g h T Artistry that
(16:34):
is on Instagram. And then tobook with me, it will be Spotlight
Artistry dot gloss genius dot com.Lovely. Thank you so much Ali for
joining me again today. It's greatto see you again. It's great to
see you. And yeah, Ihope you guys took notes because she dropped
some gyms for you and definitely bookwith her because the face is beat.
(16:56):
Okay you Spotlight Artistry, thank youso much again, Thank you, thank
you for having me anytime. Thanksfor listening to The Brilliantly Black Podcast Produced
by Jasmine Bennett and Ryan La Executiveproduced by Echo Robinson and Derek Brown.
If you're a black business and wouldlike to be featured, register your business
(17:17):
or service now at ninety three ninelight fm dot com slash Brilliant. The
Brilliantly Black Podcast is a production ofiHeartMedia, Chicago,
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hello everyone, welcome back
today. I'm here with Ali Jof Spotlight Artistry. How are you today?
I'm good? How are you?Oh? Just fabulous, flank you.
Thank you. The face is giving. Thank you. Just had to
(00:22):
let you know, thank you,yes earlier. So we got to get
into it. I know you guyscan't see it, but I mean we'll
have pictures and everything like that,so don't worry about it. Okay.
So let's start with like, whateven made you want to start doing makeup?
Ooh? I have been into makeupsince I was a child. You
know, everybody mama sold Mary Kay, and my mama was one of those
(00:44):
mama, so you know, youget the little samples of Mary Kay.
She would let me plan them,and I would pretend like I would be
doing my own little Mary K consultantparty and I would just play around in
a makeup. And then over theyears I gradually got more and more into
it with her boundaries because you know, like we ain't gonna let you makeup.
It's key right. But then Istarted working for Clinic Cosmetics in two
(01:07):
thousand and eight as a counter manager, So that was where my makeup artistry
took full effect. And I waslike, I like putting makeup on people,
I don't like selling it. Yeah, so let's remove the selling part
and just become a freelance makeup artist. And I've been an off and on
freelance makeup artists ever since. Wow. And I know getting into that is
not easy, no, because it'slike it's so many different types of faces,
(01:30):
skin tones, complexions. People justwant different things. They want an
extreme glam or a soft glam.So how do you like navigate through all
that? Like learning the process ooh. Clinique really helped me learn about face
shapes and complexion, so that wasone of the biggest things in hygiene.
So those are the big three componentswith it. So we really went over
(01:52):
a lot of that education and thenI did a lot of education outside of
that on my own just to beable to do a lot of the trends
that we see out here now.So you know, you get the bowl
glam and you got the soft glam, And what I want to do is
be able to recreate that on peoplebut still make them look like themselves instead
of them making like, you know, carbon copies of everybody, like no,
we're gonna you should wear to makeup. The makeup shouldn't wear you.
(02:15):
So it's a lot of a lotof practice. Yeah, And I
think that comes with like anything,you have to practice. You can't just
get up and be like, Okay, I'm not to be a makeup artist
today. Yes, absolutely, no, you can't just wake up one day.
It's like doing a wing liner tookme a while to figure out.
And what I ended up doing wasI saw it on YouTube, and one
(02:36):
of the girls on YouTube is like, put the tape in the corner and
and that's how I ended up learninghow to do a wing liner. Wow.
And now I just do it freehandbecause now my hand's just kind of
used to going in that direction.But yeah, that's that's usually. That's
literally it. It's practice makes perfect. Yep, exactly exactly. So when
you first started, were there anylike challenges you would say you had to
(02:59):
go through, like when you firststarted not just doing makeup but actually like
charging people, and you know whatkind of did you have any like the
biggest challenge was negotiating my price.Yeah, it was can I get a
discount? We go way back?My bills don't go way back, so
(03:23):
no, yeah, I'm going tohave to charge you more. And then
a lot of it was undercharging becauseI suffer from imposter syndrome. I do.
It's real bad. And what Iended up doing was undercharging myself and
not absolutely owning my skill set,owning who I am. And it took
my friends to say because when theywere asking me, I did one of
(03:44):
their other best friend's birthday makeup andshe was like, how much are you
going to charge us? And Iwas like, I'll do it for sixty
five because this is when I wasjust not doing anything, and I was
just like, I'll just do iton the side here and there. She's
like, so can we give youa hundred because that's not enough? I
said, okay, yeah, youcan give me no, right right?
So and it was then right,it was right there, And then I
was like, you're right, I'mnot charging enough. I need to up
(04:06):
my prices. So now that I'vere branded my business, my prices are
up there and they're not moving andthey should be. Does you say even
if you like suffer from imposter syndromeor whatever. It's like you still like
they saw it. They saw likeyou had the talent, you have the
skill, and that you should bepaid for your work absolutely and what you
(04:28):
do absolutely. And I appreciate thatall of my friends are like that Giovanni
Samuels because the last time and Idid make up for the movie that she's
in the og boot camps. Iwas a makeup artist for that on that
set, and she was like,Okay, so of course it's a small
budget, but charge your worth.You're right, yeah, will And I
charged my worth as you should,as you should, because I know it's
(04:50):
a it's a struggle with especially withas you said, like friends and family,
like we known each other a longtime. Give me a discount,
but it's like you can do that. No, if you say you're supporting
me, exactly, support me exactis my price exactly? That's it because
as somebody that is doing this fulltime, like this is my full time
(05:11):
career on top of content creation.No, I got to pay my bills.
I can't give you a discount.I don't have anything to supplement that
right now. This is what Ido for a living. You're gonna have
to pay the whole thing. Mmhm. And what would you say if
you have one? What's the missionof Spotlight Artistry? Oh to not to
give too much away, because youknow, I don't like everybody taking my
ideas, but I do want tomake it a hub eventually for other makeup
(05:36):
artists, not just for education purposes, but for business purposes, because right
now, the makeup unions are specificallyfor TV and film. We don't have
a makeup union for just freelance makeupartists. So I kind of wanted to
go that route and provide those thosebenefits like life insurance, health insurance somewhere
(05:57):
down the line to those who wantto be able to do it, and
they pay into it the way theywould pay into the makeup union for TV
and film. So it's amazing,okay, and I'm claiming it for you.
It's gonna happen in the name ofthe Lord one comb one exactly.
So since you are well, youstarted with freelance and now this is like
your full time and you say youdo content creation too, where do you
(06:20):
find time for the work life balance, Because I know that's a struggle for
everyone. You know what, permy ADHD. I have to schedule my
whole life because otherwise I will beall off and then I'll get distracted and
I'm like, ooh, I canclean this and ooh I can put this
way. So I have to schedulemy life. So what I typically do
is I schedule self care breaks inbetween everything. So I'll do all my
(06:42):
morning things. I'll get up,I'll take my daughter to school. She
goes to school very very early inthe morning, so that actually kind of
helps. It actually gives me moretime in my day, so I do.
I get all my self cared together. Then I start my my business
work, so I do all myemails and things like that. And I'm
also on social media coordinator for mysorority. Shout out today they get a
Tasselorthy Incorporated. Yes, yes,so I have to incorporate that in there
(07:09):
too. So I'll balance all ofthat out and I'll check all my emails
and then I'll do a self caremoment. So it's a full hour.
I'm unplugged. You usually eating lunchand watching Bob's Burger Girl. I love
Boston. I'm sorry, we justhad a moment. Yes, I love
I love that show. Yes,I'm a mix between Jean and Louise.
(07:30):
I think I'm more yeah and more. I'm like, oh, you know,
I can have my Tina moments stuff. Yes, but I usually do
that because that just brings me joyand peace. I also schedule walks.
I'm doing a ten k a dayor ten k steps a day walk challenge.
Yeah, and your money's holding meaccountable, see my accountability partner.
(07:55):
Yes, so I'll send up likeI got my two k steps today,
So I'll do that. And there'rethis trail by my house. Oh nice,
absolutely beautiful, and it goes formiles. So I'm like, I
could literally walk several blocks and getten thousand steps easily. So I usually
try to incorporate that in between everythingthat I do so I don't feel overwhelmed.
That's important. I want to say. Almost every person that I've asked
(08:16):
this question, they always say,like, I need self care. That's
my self cared time, because ifnot, it's like you'll go crazy and
then you'll just feel burnt out andoverwhelmed and you can't run your business that
way. No, you cannot.You have to. You have to take
time for yourself and love on yourselfand my sun days is full self care.
Don't nobody ask me to do nothing. Don't nobody ask me to talk
(08:37):
to them. Not know you cannasay that again? Okay, So another
one for the advice part, Likepeople that are thinking about maybe you know,
doing makeup and doing it full time, they're kind of just, you
know, a little shy, alittle timid because it's scary, you know,
putting yourself out there. So inaddition to some of the things that
(08:58):
you said, like you would likewatch people and you know, just practice,
Like what other tips do you thinkyou want to share? I am
a big component proponent of hygiene.Hygiene is so important in makeup artistry because
what you don't want to do iscross contaminate your products, and you don't
want to put anything that can bebacteria infested on a client's face because they
(09:22):
can work out of rashes, theycan get size in the eye and guess
who they coming back for you andthey're going to sue you. So I
always I always say, if youcan't go to somebody's cosmetology school, YouTube
university, somebody's makeup artists, it'sgonna teach hygiene. Are hygiene hygiene standards
(09:45):
for makeup artists. It will popa right up. And I said I
was gonna start doing it as welltoo with my particular content. But it's
just so important that they understand hygieneand face shapes because that will make or
break the makeup being worn on theperson of the person wearing the makeup.
So those are the two big thingsthat can find on YouTube. You don't
have to pay for it, it'sfree ninety nine. Say that again.
(10:07):
Okay, okay, So do youjust is it just you? Like,
do you have anybody that also helpsyou with social or like emails or it's
just you, it's just me.I'm doing everything. I'm a one woman
show right now, and I'm handlingit very well because it's still fairly small.
Eventually I will branch out. WhatI would want to start doing is
(10:31):
bringing in apprentice and start getting themacclimated not necessarily just with bridling event but
TV and film and taking them onsets with me so they can get acclimated
into that and know how to holdtheir own. Yeah, that's Beautually,
that's what I want to start doing. You Definitely, I'm a big believer
in that you have to like bringpeople along with you. That's important in
the journey, like even if youdon't necessarily need them to, you know,
(10:54):
respond to things for you or postthings for you, like help them
out and help them get the experiencethat they need. Yes, absolutely,
that's one of the biggest things becausenetworking is so big. Oh yes,
that's one of the biggest things.It's like, you can be as talented
as you want, but without networking, you're not going to get anywhere.
Without talking, you're not going toget anywhere. Without advertising yourself, you're
(11:16):
not going to get anywhere. Youhave to open your mouth and you have
to show people what you can doand say what you can do and be
your own walking advertisement. So Ialways tell people start talking, start talking
about your business, start talking aboutwhat you can do. Look, this
is this, is my portfolio,this is this, this is that,
And that's how you secure clients.That's how people are like, Oh,
(11:37):
okay, here was this one timeI got invited to a Katy Perry concert
by Influencer as a creator, andI beat my face to the god,
as you should, because we gotto meet her because we were also promoting
her perfume. And I remember wehad all these rules with stand in this
line, and we can only takeeither a video or picture. And I
chose a picture, and I wasin front, and the first thing she
(11:58):
said to me, makeup is sobeautiful. Yes, yes, here it
is. That's all I needed tohear, exactly. That's all I needed
to hear. And I've had severalother celebs tell me the same things.
I'm like, all right, Ineed to go on a venture in this
avenue. I will definitely do that. It said miss only j knows what
she's doing. M h absolutely.So let's get into that a little bit.
(12:22):
So you said you suffer from impostersyndrome, So how are you How
do you like kind of get overthat? How do you like talk yourself
off of that ledge? I don'tdo it. My friends usually yell at
me. Okay, that's real,hore we go. It's usually it's usually
well why are you doing that?Why? And I'm like, but but
(12:43):
don't, but you need to dothis. You need to do no,
you need to like they literally yellat me, and I just take it
on the chin, like you right, you're absolutely right, and it I
have to get myself out of thattoo. And then I also journal,
So like I'll talk about you knowwhat I am really good at this?
You know what I am really goodat that, I am really talented in
these different venues. So own thatown and stand firm on it. So
(13:07):
now what I do is I golive and I'll pop up in people's live
and I'll just turn my camera onif my makeup is done, and they're
like, yeah, yeah, gotat it. God, I like the
way you think that's smart. Soeven if it's just for a minute,
like y'all gonna see this face,You're gonna see this be period as you
(13:28):
should. So what do you lovethe most about your business? Oh?
I love how versatile it is.I love that I get to do so
many different things. One of thethings about makeup is that it requires me
to focus, so it does absolutelyhelp with my ADHD. It's something that
I have to concentrate on, andthen when i'm zoned in, I'm zoned
in and I like being able tocreate different looks and different shapes and bringing
(13:52):
out the people people's beauty and complexionis literally my favorite. I'll take my
time on somebody, yes, yes, because I want to make sure it
matches, especially for us melanated folk, because my biggest thing is that line
of demarcation. Your face don't matchyour neck, and it bothers me.
Oh yeah, and that's that's theother thing. Like these people are my
walking advertisement. You are going togo on and say, alij, beat
(14:16):
my face. I got to makesure it looks perfect and it looks good.
So I'm looking at it in differentlights, natural light, the ring
light, like I'm looking at everything. So smart, smart woman, smart
woman. I hope you guys aretaking notes if you're pointing on getting into
makeup. Okay, So one ofmy last and favorite questions, brilliantly black,
ali J. What does that meanto you? Oh? That means
(14:39):
to me that no matter what,we are, brilliant, brilliant people,
We've got so many things up againstus. We've had so many things up
against us. Yeah, we haveto go through so many hurdles and so
many battles. One of the biggestbattles that I go through is my assertiveness
coming up as aggressive, that microaggressionthat I have to deal with often.
(15:03):
It's just like because I'm short andthey see in this little girl and that
look like I'm in my twenties andI'm not. I'm almost forty, but
they're like, wow, she gotso much bark. I am a lone
bark okay. And it's a lotof battling that. But even through that,
I accomplish my goal. I getmy point across and I do what
I need to do. I've garneredtwo hundred and twelve thousand followers on TikTok
(15:26):
yes on Instagram since twenty fifteen,and it's been hard work because of course,
a lot of our non melanate acounterparts get there faster. But I've
gotten there and I've made a namefor myself. So despite whatever we do,
and I see it everywhere and somany different people of Katanji Brown Jackson
and Felicia was shot, you know, or one of my favorite black makeup
(15:50):
artists, Pat McGrath. So allof them have gone through so much and
they are where they need to be. So that is definitely my big inspiration,
and that is what brilliantly to me. Yes, and you should be
part of yourself. Thank you.Honestly, you are doing it and you're
doing it well. Thank you.Okay. So, of course, and
(16:10):
speaking of the tiktoks and all ofthat, you have to tell them your
social media's and how to contact youif they want to get their face beat
by Alij. Absolutely so all ofmy social media platforms are Ali J for
real, that's a L Y JA E. The number four real Spotlight
Artistry is s p O T Lthe number one g h T Artistry that
(16:34):
is on Instagram. And then tobook with me, it will be Spotlight
Artistry dot gloss genius dot com.Lovely. Thank you so much Ali for
joining me again today. It's greatto see you again. It's great to
see you. And yeah, Ihope you guys took notes because she dropped
some gyms for you and definitely bookwith her because the face is beat.
(16:56):
Okay you Spotlight Artistry, thank youso much again, Thank you, thank
you for having me anytime. Thanksfor listening to The Brilliantly Black Podcast Produced
by Jasmine Bennett and Ryan La Executiveproduced by Echo Robinson and Derek Brown.
If you're a black business and wouldlike to be featured, register your business
(17:17):
or service now at ninety three ninelight fm dot com slash Brilliant. The
Brilliantly Black Podcast is a production ofiHeartMedia, Chicago,
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