We recently connected with Des McAdam and have shared our conversation below.
Des, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
For me, I think I always knew I wanted a career in the arts. It started for me when I was super young, like preschool, I used to get dressed up, so my hair, and makeup (badly, but we don’t have to talk about it…), and put on shows for my grandma with karaoke machine. As I got older my love for the arts went more for behind the scenes work. I was always doing everyone’s makeup, and hair, and styling them and putting together little photoshoots for MySpace in middle school. That’s where my love for creative direction and HMUA work came to life. While I wasn’t the best photographer I knew how to put together a set, style everyone in the best outfits, and give them the most outrageous “editorial” hair and makeup you could imagine. Back then while hairstylists and makeup artists were a big part of the entertainment industry, they weren’t really give the credit they deserved for their work so I feel like it was hard for people to accept when I would say I want to do this for a living. It was seen as a hobby, but I’m so happy to fast forward a few years and finally seeing people realizing that creative jobs in all realms are so very real, and so important to keep the industry afloat. I always knew I wanted to do hair and makeup, but I also knew that I didn’t want to just do hair and makeup behind a chair or at mall counter. I wanted to be seen as a creative artist and given the freedoms to create looks, and styles that convey who I am as a person and artist, and I’m so glad little elementary school me never gave up that dream, because here we are! Doing it all!
Des, 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?
My name is Des, I am a freelance hair and makeup artist, with a little creative directing under my belt. I do work behind the chair, doing the typical highlights, balayages, and cut long layered hair cuts, but I also have my Hannah Montana moments where I turn in my artist abilities and get to do the really fun part of my job: EDITORIALS, fashion shoots, music videos etc.
I am licensed and that was probably the best decision I ever made to further myself. I went to beauty school to get my cosmetology license back in 2020. It provided me with so many more options as far as services to offer, and a way to grow my business and network with people around me in my community. But that wasn’t where I started, I got into the industry by working in the music world. I worked for a record label for a while, where I did marketing, and management. While I loved that, my passion lied in the creative aspect of helping artists find their look, doing random hairstyles and makeup looks for their video and photoshoots, and story boarding for them when they needed the extra creative input.
Like I said, I always knew what I wanted to do in life, but I was scared to go for it fully. I never stopped doing hair, and makeup for friends or setting up photoshoots for our social medias, but I did take on a big girl job. When the pandemic hit, it felt like it was time to make a drastic change and go for the things that I really wanted, because like we saw in 2020, life can Change so fast. And so I went for it, I signed up for cosmetology school, graduated with 3.9 gpa and perfect attendance, went straight into freelancing and being an independent hairstylist to make ends meet while I waited for paid jobs for editorials to come through. But I was also doing a bunch of TFP and collaborative work behind the scenes. In these few short years of creating the brand “McAdam Artistry”, I love learned to do much about myself and what I want to showcase as an artist and how I want to brand myself. I learned what aesthetics are mine, and what sets me apart from other HMUAs. I feel like I now have my personal style and identity as an artist set, so much so that when you look at my work, you just know it’s mine. I like to say my work is very Lana Del Rey meets nostalgic 90s grunge vibes with a little bit of modernism. I like to think when you see my work you feel a little sense of nostalgia and beauty, and softness, but there’s still a little roughness around the edges. I just want to make you feel something when you see my work, wether it’s a happy memory, a sad one, or absolute disbelief…
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
NFTs are so interesting to me. I know there’s so many mixed views on them, but I think they’re such a great tool for creatives and artists of all forms. While they can get a little silly sometimes, as a hair and makeup artists, I think they’re brilliant. While I can’t do everyone’s hair and makeup that I would live to do, and while I can’t immortalize my hair and makeup to last forever, a digital version of my art can. I think if used properly they are a perfect tool to let your Art live forever, create a digital foot print, and even get a little extra income for your work, which as an artist we all know that’s never a bad thing!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
In the creative space right now we are all fighting to get the tops of algorithms and grow a fan base and just be seen. The best and even free way to support your local artist, whatever medium they create with, is to give them follow on their socials, like their work, comment on their posts, most of these take seconds but if you just took a simply second from your day to follow your artist friends, and like their stuff it makes such a difference. I know it sounds trivial, but not everyone can afford to monetarily support someone they love’s work, but almost everyone has a social media presence, and most of those sites are free. Next if society would just see that artists aren’t over priced, and be understanding of the fact that this is a job that people do and do their best to buy from local artists, or get a service done by local artists, even just a small donation for a coffee, little things that show your support for the artist you love is so important. It’s doesn’t take a lot to help your artist friends thrive.
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Image Credits
JC Jewett, Bri Marie, Marlene S, Clarabell, Freddy R, Tom C