We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shanna Lee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shanna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve always had a passion for beauty and how color shows up in the world. Friends would ask for everyday makeup and performance makeup tips since I also salsa dance. I wanted to explore creating content for fun. I started a social media account and began sharing looks. After a while, I decided to apply to beauty creator programs so I could learn more from the beauty community.

Shortly after, I started getting contacted by brands to create content. Some were gifted, some were paid opportunities. I was going with the flow until I wondered, “What would happen if I put more effort into this as a way to connect more with my community and with brands?” Now I’m at the exciting stage of doing just that and leaning into it more!

A lot of information learned was on the go from my peers and through opportunities with brands. More recently, I’ve learned from trusted mentors. I also started listening to influencer marketing podcasts and webinars to learn more about the business side of things so that I could understand that perspective more along with cultivating my community.

To help speed up the learning process, I think it would’ve been helpful for me to be more willing to try new things. I noticed more opportunities came about when I put myself out there more and tried new things.

Skills that I think are essential include being true to yourself, two-way community engagement, trying new things, learning about the business side, cultivating confidence, adapting when social media changes, and patience.

Obstacles that stood in my way of learning were mostly self imposed. They were things like hesitating to try new things and not putting myself out there more. Once I overcame that, I saw a big difference and success!

Shanna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I create content using beauty focusing on how color shows up in the world to spark inspiration, emotion, and conversation. Primarily, this comes out through my love of makeup but I realizing more how color inspires me through nature, travel, and the arts!

What sets me apart is my 15+ years experience in community engagement from my nonprofit career as I’ve done this irl and online. I love being able to connect with people. I also salsa dance which is another way for me to have fun with makeup looks!

I’m most proud when someone learns something new about beauty from me or when they feel more confident trying something new within beauty. It’s great when someone feels empowered and I like being the spark to that!

When you see my content, you see color inspiration, practical tips, a little humor, and hopefully you see yourself saying, “I can try this beauty tip or try wearing this color too!”

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect is inspiring a community to have fun, try something new, and feel inspired in a way that maybe they haven’t thought about before. All of this leading to added confidence in oneself. It creates conversation and stories that I love hearing about!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is to share my love of color through beauty and how it can provide inspiration. Color evokes emotion and conversation and I love being a part of that!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: shayshaylabeaute
• Youtube: shayshaylabeaute

Image Credits

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