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

Elisa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning my craft(s) came from a combination of things. Some good, some bad, and of course some ugly. When I was five, my mom enrolled me in ballet. Shortly into it I discovered you get to wear all of these fun costumes and makeup. You guessed, I got hooked. From then on I was always trying to give someone a makeover. I wanted to do their hair, play in their personal makeup bag. If it involved beauty, I wanted to do it. Once I hit high school I got introduced to different creative outlets(Theater, show choir etc.) My involvement with that contributed as well. Then the time hit for me to decide college or work. I knew college wasn’t for me. Genuinely, I’m not kidding, there wasn’t a singe subject that interested me enough to make it my full-time career. That’s how I landed in beauty school. That’s when it all started to click. From the first time I set foot in those door, I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. That people could see me for who I was. Shortly after finishing, I move cities and pursued the next step in my beauty career. That’s about the time the bumps and curves really started to hit. At the time I had no idea what was going to be essential skill wise. I also had little to no experience in the direction I was trying to head in. That’s when I learned how important and essential it is to say yes. That’s when I learned how important it is to network and market yourself.(Learning that lesson costed me my first business.) After I finally took someone’s advice and really, really put myself out there, things started to move much further in the direction I wanted. Honestly if I would’ve been more confident in my work and put myself out there sooner, I would’ve gotten here so much faster I feel. My biggest obstacle, was the lack of confidence I had in my work. It caused me to really shut down and close myself off. Therefore I was never open or even able to learn more.

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?

My background started with cosmetology. Everyone always instilled this weird fear in me that I would never be finically stable as a makeup artist. So I figured if I got. a full-time job behind the chair I would e able to work my way up in a more stable fashion.(I did learned, stability comes from then amount of work you’re putting in. Not the specific path you use to get there.) After pursuing that for a few years, something still didn’t seem right or like it fit. So it was suggested I look into esthetics. How that was presented at the time, was mind blowing to me. I had no idea there was a whole career that not only involves makeup, but it teaches you about skin.( Which is the biggest thing when it comes to makeup.) From there, things really started clicking and taking off. Those avenues also opened me up to the production world. Which when its all said and done what the end goal was/is. My journey to get here wasn’t conventional nor was it ideal. It did inspire the way I connect with my clients and students(when I’m teaching.) Part of what sells my business the most is, what you see is what you get. As straight forward as my journey has been, so is my approach to any and every guest I have. This industry is already overwhelming enough. So I really like to simplify it so people feel comfortable with the unknown. This is the one space you do not have to fear the unknown.

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

Being a creative is what drives me. When I connect with people, I feel at peace. That feeling of knowing I helped someone feel more confident and comfortable in their own skin. Is unmatched. There truly is no bigger reward than connect and love.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I started in my industry in 2012. Social media just really started hitting the market. As we can see it has been a huge marketing tool for everyone. With that being said I wish I would’ve taken more of an interest in learning things like SEO, algorithm and just the basics of IT as a whole.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nashvilleskinsociety.com
• Instagram: elisa_nicole
• Other: Tik Tok: easy_eeee3

Image Credits
Dope Cinema: Sam