We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Inza Ford a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Inza, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Inza Ford Makeup Artistry’s mission is to create custom looks one queen at a time. I am dedicated to enhancing the natural beauty and confidence of every client through the art of makeup. I want to provide a personal touch to each person I encounter, whether that be through teaching one on one classes, group classes or when someone is coming for a professional makeup application.
Most times when I interact with women, there is a stigma of makeup being heavy, or wearing too much makeup makes me look different; when in fact it’s the misunderstanding of how to use makeup to look and feel confident. You can use different makeup products and techniques and achieve your desired results. I’m dedicated to making women feel valued and beautiful, while educating on the art of makeup.
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 journey into the beauty industry started about fifteen years ago when my sister walked me into a MAC Cosmetics store and asked the beauty advisor to give me a soft, natural makeup look. At the time, I was going through depression, and I didn’t feel good about my presence. I went in open-minded, and the young lady who helped me made me feel confident and unique. She enhanced my beauty with soft, subtle looks and educated me on makeup use. Fast forward to 2015; I started getting into different types of beauty products and began practicing on myself and my friends. I started educating myself on brands, products, and tools. Making women feel confident and beautiful and educating them about makeup made my heart smile. I finally took a leap of faith and started my company in January 2020.
My company offers custom makeup looks ranging from natural (nude/pink) every day to glam (glitter). I also provide bridal makeup, one-on-one, group, and brow tinting classes. One of the things that I believe sets me apart from others in my industry is my passion for educating others about makeup (how to apply, different undertones, prepping the skin before makeup application, aftercare once you’ve taken off the makeup, sensitivities to makeup, etc.) Makeup is more than just a job for me; it’s a passion. It’s something I can wake up, never get paid for, and still enjoy doing every day.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I believe consistency in makeup application, customer service, honesty about makeup applications and what is best for the client, remaining professional, and building relationships have helped tremendously build my reputation in my market. From what I have mentioned, customer service and professionalism would be at the top of my list. Because of my years of experience in customer service, it is essential to any business owner’s success.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I first ventured into the makeup world, I was incredibly excited but nervous. One of my close friends asked me to do her bridal makeup. She trusted me to make her beautiful on one of the most important days of her life. Now, keep in mind that she was my first bridal client, and doing bridal makeup versus everyday makeup is very different. I was up for weeks watching YouTube videos from makeup artists, which contributed to my being in the makeup industry. I also asked my sister and best friend to come over so I could do a trial application on them to make sure I was ready for this special day.
At one point, I almost declined her offer to do it, but she believed in me and wanted me to be the person to make her beautiful on her day without doing a bridal trial. Her confidence in me pushed me to give it my all.
The big day finally came, and she loved her look once we were done. It was soft and elegant, just as she requested.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.inzaford.com
- Instagram: fordbeats_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fordbeats/
