We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Noel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I am very happy as a creative. I think about having a normal 9 to 5 pretty often, It’s hard not to. Especially with how difficult working in the movie industry has become. It never really bounced back to what it was before the pandemic and the strike. Now we have to add the looming threat of AI, that’s going to make most jobs obsolete. Practical effects are going to become a thing of the past pretty soon, I think beauty will follow after. I was looking at going back to school for medical billing or to become a court stenographer, about 2 months ago.
The best thing I did was take a meeting at a community college where I was planing to start the classes. After talking it over with my mom, she made me come to terms with the fact that I’ll never be happy at a regular job. And I should take the money I was planning to pay for tuition and invest it into my business. Pivoting away from the film industry doesn’t mean I have to completely give up on my makeup artist career. There are plenty of branch’s under the makeup artist umbrella I can work in. I am going to have to start from zero, and it will be difficult. But following through with my passions will be better than giving up.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I feel like I was a late bloomer in the makeup artist world. So many of my peers talk about how they loved SFX and dressing up since they were little kids. They were the weird kids who loved Halloween and did all the school plays. I wasn’t, I was a painfully shy and pretty boring kid. My introduction to the beauty industry was when I was 16. I did running start, a program where high school students can take college classes including professionals programs. It’s literally the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn’t hate my school experience but I wasn’t enjoying my time there, I also knew I had no idea what I wanted to go to college for. Being able to go to high school classes and cosmetology classes was the best option. I graduated and had my cosmo license at 18 so I could start working right away. While I was in cosmo class, the school put on a big charity fashion show and had us do photo shoots for our portfolios. I knew then what I really loved was designing the looks and doing makeup. This led me to look into becoming a makeup artist. I immediately followed up my cosmetology graduation with enrolling in the schools master estheticians program. Immediately after that I was on my way to London to attend the London School of Beauty and Makeup. It took a few years but I was finally in my way to get a makeup centric education. I extended my stay overseas and went to Ireland to attend the LA college of Creative Arts. It was literally the best time of my life. 19 going on 20n and I was out of the country surrounded by creatives. It really gave me the confidence, and foundation blocks for starting my career.
After coming back to Washington I worked for Bare Minerals, and Sephora. Some artists say there is no point to working in retail makeup spaces if your goal is to work in tv and film but I completely disagree. Working in retail helped me get better at working with different skin types and skin problems, and how to navigate problem solving with difficult personalities.
At 24, I moved to LA to attend Cinema Makeup School for SFX. There are artists that will tell you going to makeup schools is a waste of money. I strongly disagree with that. There is nothing wrong with people self taught or getting your education from a mentorship, but going to that school gave me so many strong connections and relationships with other artists that made my jump into a professional career so much easier.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I really wish I had invested more time into joint in the plethora of communities that are built for artist by artist. Especially in this digital age, its so easy to be connected to artist who’s work and careers you really admire.

The powder group is a great one I would highly recommend to other artist. They have a membership fee but it pays for itse4lf. They often partner upon with brands to give discounts on product and also send out products for artist to try in their kits. They have a bunch of education summits through zoom hosted by veteran artist. It’s also a great place to meet other artist and make friends. The powder group made moving to LA by myself so much easier.

There’s also Makeup To Go Blog, created by Tania D. Russell. She’s a powerhouse makeup artist and always dropping free knowledge on her instagram. But she offers a class to really give you an understanding on the business side of your career. Her contract template has saved me from being screwed when it comes to getting paid.

There’s also a on of free podcast that have a wealth of knowledge and you can listen to them on Spotify or apple for free.

Lipstick Biddies, created by Rachel Mazza
On Hue, created by Renee Loiz and Jessica Monzalvo
We Speak Beauty, created by Lottie Star and Lindsey Williams
The Last Looks Podcast, created by Jaime Leigh McIntosh

Deshawn Hatcher has a YouTube channel under her name that has a bunch of videos that answer almost every question you could think about starting out as a makeup artist.

These podcast and groups were created by stellar artist who have very enviable careers and have made a point in giving back to the community and helping young budding artist break into the business. I’m beyond grateful for them.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

It’s funny, I’m actually pivoting right now. I’m ready to change the focus of my career from tv and film to private clients, live performances and events. I would love to be a touring artist. I’ve been working with Maryze, a French Canadian singer for the past year. We just vibe so well together. I’ve done her makeup for her last two big DJ shows in LA, and there’s just something so different and satisfying about watching my work in artist with such a strong stage presence. I love it, my next goal will be to create looks for her upcoming visuals. It’s a lot of work changing up my portfolio and marketing strategy, I also have to change what products I’m keeping in my kit. I am taking a financial hit with this rebranding, but I’m sure it will be worth it in the end and I will be a lot happier more satisfied in my career.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.ashleynoelmua.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleynoelmua?igsh=bmswMTcxM3lqeGR6
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshleyNoelMAU
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-noel-48841a106

Image Credits
1st and 8th – Photographer: Mansoor Anwar. @manoooooooor Model – Sunny Bharath 2nd – Photographer: Maria Osequera, @beautifulsoulsphotography Model – Kendall 3rd – Photographer: Priscilla Mars @priscilla_mars Model – Maryze @maryzemusic 4th – Photograph taken by Ashley Noel, of The cast of “The Demon Core” film (from the left) Ben Taylor, Ryan Lucy, and Sam Jacobs. 5th – photographer: Maria Osequera @beautifulsoulsphotography. Model: Jennifer Lloyd 6th and 7th – Photographer: Maria Osequera, @beautifulsoulsphotography Model: Jasmine Navarro