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

Hannah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I do feel happier! I recently had a phone call with an old friend and they asked how I liked my life now in comparison to working for someone else for years. From age 16 I was working in restaurants. I always treated it like it was my own. But I was also never guaranteed I’d have my job. It’s funny we never really think about getting let go from a job until one day it did happen to me back in 2021. That wasn’t part of my plan, I was in shock as something like this has never happened before. At that moment I was faced with a hard decision, I can either go work for someone else and be unhappy or make a leap of faith to go to school for Microblading. I made the decision to go right into school. There will always be stress and struggles with work but I will choose the stress and struggles of working for myself because the freedom I feel and happiness my job now brings me is all worth it. Working for myself now gives me the opportunity to spend holidays with family like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day instead of having to sacrifice those important holidays to be at work.

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Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Hannah, I am a twenty two year old Microblading Artist. I have been very fortunate to have grown up watching my parents become entrepreneurs. Being a witness to their journey I have been able to learn much from them throughout my childhood that I now use in my business today. I knew that at a young age I wanted my passion in life to be a career and not a hobby. At age 12 I was introduced to makeup from being a competitive dancer. From there I started to pursue makeup more seriously when I was 15. Being a competitive dancer taught me self discipline at a very young age. Almost everyday after school I would spend hours in my makeup room practicing and trying to perfect new looks. From age 17-20 I was living in ecuador doing missions work to help children in the orphanage of the village I was living in. Doing that I put my career plans on the shelf so I could help others. When I returned in 2020 I worked at a gym for a few months to get money for school. After a few months I was let go. After being away for so long I was fueled with hunger to start my passion. I was not going to allow me being let go differ me from my plan. I adapted, I went to school sooner than I planned but I believe Gods plan is sometimes different compared to ours. After 6 months of schooling I graduated in July of 2021 and that same month I started my brow business full time. Fast forward a year I have been blessed to move into my own suite. Since starting business I have been able to fully support myself by serving my beautiful clients from all over the state of Florida including some that have traveled from outside the state. Taking what I was taught from my parents entrepreneurial-ship and my discipline with dance has all fueled my dedication to my career with brows. I am always practicing to be better than I was the day before. I’m always learning for example I recently graduated from a second school making me double certified in brows.

I have threee services. First being Microblading which is a form of cosmetic tattooing. I use a manual tool, it is 18 small needles formed in a U shape to act like a blade. Think like a surgical blade. Microblading is a hyper realistic style of eyebrow tattooing. The shape of the eyebrows is calculated according to your facial characteristics. Micro incisions are made to mimic hair like strokes that are manually drawn following the direction of natural hair growth.

The second option is combination brow which is a mixed technique of microblading and powder brow. This will add more density and make the brow appear even more full.

Third I have feather brows which is a nano style technique using a single needle cartridge with a machine. The line strokes very closely mimic the look and detail of actual brow hairs, creating a softer, natural-looking “feather” like brow.

With cosmetic tattoo we use pigments that are semi permanent. We say semi permanent because over time it will fade. The pigments I use have zero metals in them. For that there is no risk of discolouration of the eyebrows. No unexpected fading into unwanted shades of blue, gray and red.

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

For me in my line of work when showing my clients the brows I have created for them at the end of our appointment. The rush of emotions I get to witness in their face, the happiness and joy, sometimes tears of joy. The instant boost of confidence knowing that I did that. I was able to enhance my clients beauty and make them feel better about themselves is the most rewarding. I spend about 3 hours with my clients, during that time I get the build a relationship with them and get to know who they are. I feel I have created lifelong relationships, from seeing my clients get married to having children and to graduating college. My clients share special milestones with me and that in itself is a rewarding gift. It is why I wake up everyday with love for my job.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I feel the best way you can support an artist is promoting their business in any way that works for you such as word of mouth. Engagement on social media like sharing posts, liking photos, and commenting on the content they are posting. I love when friends or clients share my photos with their followers. Leaving reviews on community groups and recommending me to friends, family, or strangers. Giving a testimony of your experience with me is another great way. With sharing the content of an artist you can be reaching an audience the creator is unable to reach themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://badassbrowsfl.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badassbrows.fl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/badassbrows.fl/
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
@JessiMariePhotos