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

Hi Athena, thanks for joining us today. We’ve love to hear an interesting investment story – what was one of the best or worst investments you’ve made? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

Since most of my products are body paints I have definitely had to go through a lot of different products to find what works. That equals time AND money. It’s very hard to find what works and to be honest I STILL haven’t found the body paint that works best and won’t crack. It’s a struggle but it’s worth the work.
I’ve also learned a lot about which companies to work with. Not everyone is professional and it’s hard to weed them out. There has been times I’ve joined a company and quickly realized it was the wrong decision.

Athena, 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 have always been an Artist in many forms. Whether it be painting, music, drawing, or makeup. Anything creative comes to me naturally and I build on that. I first became interested in makeup when I was young, I’m talking around 4th grade. My mom sold Avon and they had those tiny little Lipstick samples. I had a whole collection of them. I loved lipstick and still do.
In 2015 I lost my Mom in a motorcycle accident. Soon after I started a small lipstick company and started doing live videos on Facebook, teaching people my beauty techniques.
I occasionally dabbled in sfx and body paint for Halloween, always enjoyed that. I never really thought it was something I could do regularly until I joined a makeup competition. I ended up expressing myself with face and body paint throughout the competition and have been doing creative looks ever since.
It’s important for me to do original work. I do sometimes do recreations, but to be honest I feel I am at my best when I create original work.
I always go live on Fridays 7:30pm pst on my facebook to do my creations.
And I also open my face charts to the public to recreate. I have a nice group of women who collaborate with me weekly.
I feel it’s so important to lift each other up. After all we can ALL make it in this industry even if we are doing the same things. This isnt a competition.
My goals are to work with big companies like Mehron, Kryolan and more. I use their products the most.
I also use a lot of beauty makeup on top of paints. My favorite Beauty brands are: Watch Me Sparkle, Macabre Esthetics, Pamper me Glam, All Dolled Up, etc.. I have a bunch! Visit my website to learn more about me and to see all of my looks.
Amxbeauty.com

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

It’s so important to ENGAGE!! A lot of us artists rely on social media to get our work out there and to monetize it. Sharing, commenting, liking is huge!!! A little bit can go a long way.
And it’s important to support people at all levels. Even the girl who is just learning a winged eyeliner… might be a little uneven but she’s trying and we all start somewhere.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I think they are cool. I’m not well versed in how they work but I’d like to start creating them.

Contact Info:

• Website: Amxbeauty.com
• Instagram: Athenamariemua
• Facebook: Athena Matekel
• Youtube: Athenamariesings