Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeet Bahra. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jeet, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success for everyone is different, but success to me means that my clients are satisfied, my books are full, my time is balanced with motherhood and I still love going to work every day!

I think it’s really important to invest time, energy and resources into your job to continue to be the best professional you can be in your craft. Secondary to this- it is very important to work on your interpersonal skills especially if you work in a customer service role as I do. You never know who your client may be, and it is important to always be on your a game- I’ve serviced everyone from the girl next door to women that work on our favorite tv shows. I try to keep my work life as organized as possible by hiring administrative help to take care of scheduling and contracts and really focus on providing an excellent experience for everyone that sits in my chair! I think this is another really important piece of advice – if you feel that you need help in an area of your business, hire someone. I love running my own social media but hate doing administrative work, so that’s where I shifted some of my budget in order to accommodate the salary.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi! My name is Jeet, and I’m a professional makeup and hair artist in the Washington DC metro area. I also offer permanent makeup services that help me provide perfect brow shapes long term for clients that love their makeup look!

I got into makeup as a young teenager because of my heritage- Indian weddings and events kept me on my toes every weekend and all the colorful outfits required me to have a creative imagination for makeup and hairstyling. Once I was in college, I helped friends get ready for events and headshots because they loved how I looked all the time! I finished my degree and worked a boring job for a couple of years but continued to dress friends up during that time. I quit my job once the lack of work life balance made me feel like a terrible mom to my young daughter. My friends looked at this change in my life as a positive and urged me to follow my dreams despite pressure from family to find another “stable corporate job”. I shadowed a bridal makeup artist a couple of times to build my confidence and jumped into the hair and makeup world during military ball season 2014 and have never looked back! The military community spread my name like wildfire and so did the locals in my town and I was able to make this a full time job. I built my social media presence because I enjoy photography and connecting with my audience and the rest is honestly history!

During the course of my business, I have lived in northern Virginia, New Mexico and Maryland – all of these areas are incredibly diverse and require those in my field to be proficient in all skin tones and hair types. I pride myself in being able to serve all ethnicities, eye shapes, skin tones, and hair types. I have relentlessly educated myself to become better and am now known as one of the best makeup artists in the Midatlantic area for luxury portrait work. Photographers love working with me because they don’t have to photoshop clients’ makeup and therefore refer me to all of their clients that come from all walks of life and cultures. Every client becomes a client for life and comes back for one on one makeup education for themselves and their children or family members, brow tattoos, as well as weddings/maternity photo glam and family photo glam year after year.

Making others feel beautiful has also coined my nickname “confidence creator” and that makes me feel so fulfilled and purposeful in life. I never knew my business would completely flip my life around in the best way after feeling like a failure when I left my corporate job all those years ago.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing clientele has been to treat every client as though they’re my sister or mother. I take care of them, I listen to them and I make sure that I fulfill their desired look to the best of my ability. Most people have had a bad experience with foundation matching or horrible customer service – these are easy areas for me to provide an amazing experience because I genuinely desire to please every client and consistently provide a beautiful product every single time. Once a client is happy, they’ll always tell their friends and family. They’ll post photos and selfies. They will shout your praises from the rooftops without you having to prompt them to. It’s a beautiful thing.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve had to pivot a couple of times in the last two years and it’s been hard but worth it in the end. The first was when my husband tried a new job out in New Mexico in an effort to provide better work life balance as a husband and father, lower cost of living and nicer climate. Unfortunately the job was better on paper than in person so we found ourselves right back in the Washington DC area but I had to drop everything I had built in Virginia and start over in a new state. I did what I do best and went full force on social media making connections with prominent photographers, wedding planners, and creatives in the new city. I lined up meetings with all of them for the first week that I arrived and they knew they’d met someone that really was passionate about hair and makeup services. I was integrated into the community relatively easily because they were all really welcoming and I brought my skills over with me – namely my ability to serve south Asian clients and those of different skin tones. I was really good about tagging locations and photographers in my posts and quickly became a staple in my new city in a short time. Same happened again when I moved back to the Washington DC area but in Maryland instead of northern Virginia.

The other time I had to pivot in my business, as many others have had to, is during the pandemic. I found myself doing elopement weddings rather than traditional weddings with a dozen bridesmaids and events were at an all time low. I partnered up with photographers to offer elopement packages for brides that still wished to get married during the pandemic and also became flexible for those that needed to cancel or postpone their weddings during this time. To fill the income gap and also anticipate a permanent loss of event and wedding work – I learned permanent makeup artistry and filled empty gaps in my schedule with brow and lip tattoos. I enjoy learning and my client base trusts me with their beauty needs, so it’s worked out quite well and I’m so happy I made these changes. I’m also really happy to be back home even if it’s in a different area because I’m more centrally located now and can serve my old area as well as many new ones. It’s been a hard but positive change.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.glambyjeet.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/glambyjeet
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/glambyjeet
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glambyjeet
• Twitter: Www.Twitter.com/glambyjeet
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/JXVWx5Idbxk
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/glam-by-jeet-manassas
• Other: MD 20817 (301) 518-8082 https://g.co/kgs/TEkuu9

Image Credits
Ksenia Pro Photography, Leandra Brown Photography, Karla Mason Photography, Honey & Gold Boudoir Photography.