We recently connected with Jordan Gibson and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jordan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights 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.
Makeup artistry is something that I’ll never stop learning! I have always been someone who enjoys tapping into my creative abilities. Throughout high school and college I enjoyed doing a variety of makeup looks on myself as well as friends and family. I was a competitive cheerleader, so big hair, lashes, and red lips were a signature look for my teammates and I. I also did a few school pageants and of course went to prom so I had plenty of practice doing my own hair and makeup. After years of not really taking makeup serious, I got the opportunity to take a certification course in Houston with The Perfect Face. During this course I was instructed one-on-one by Danielle Doyle learning all the logistics of makeup artistry. Not only did she teach me color theory and product placement, she sat down with me and mentored me through the process of making myself a marketable business professional. Without her expertise and knowledge of the wedding and pageant industry, I would not be where I am today!
Foundational skills in business absolutely are essential. Learning how to communicate professionally with current, future, and even past clients is so important. Oh, and social media skills are 1000% needed when it comes to getting yourself booked as a makeup artist!
For me and probably a lot of other young professionals in the beauty industry, the biggest obstacle I have faced during this growth process has probably been myself. I struggle with imposter syndrome all the time. I also quickly learned that comparing my work to other artists’ is not healthy, because comparison is the thief of joy! I learned that believing in myself is so important because if I didn’t, who would?!
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?
I’m Jordan Gibson! I’m 24 years old and live in a small town in Mississippi right outside of Memphis, TN with my husband and our dog. Fun fact, on top of being a MUA, I actually work full time within my local school district providing language intervention services with the speech and hearing team! I love what I do and I love that I get to do two incredibly rewarding jobs. I’m so thankful!
I got started with professional makeup in 2021 when I graduated college. I had been doing prom/formal event makeup for friends, sorority sisters, and local girls but it was never with the goal of making money… it was just fun and I had a little experience with full glam so people trusted me. During COVID, I had a lot of down time, so I would sit and do different makeup looks on myself just for fun. At this point I had been out of high school for 3-4 years so the girls that reached out to me about prom weren’t girls I knew, so I made an Instagram page for makeup just to see where it would go (I was so nervous to make the page I had to go sit and drink a margarita first lol). I ended up booking 10 clients for prom and that’s when I realized I wanted to take makeup more seriously. I knew that doing some sort of education/certification course would not only help me, but set me apart so I did that at the beginning of 2022.
I provide makeup services for anyone for any reason! I do a lot of weddings, but I also do pageants and other special events like prom or homecoming. I absolutely love any reason to do someone’s makeup but I especially love being able to hang out with brides and their closest friends on the best day of their lives. I feel like finding a good fit in a makeup artist is so important when booking your vendors. I have literally had brides that I’m now friends with because we just hit it off! I’m super proud of the things I have been able to accomplish in just a couple of years, some being some big weddings I’ve booked, I got my first film job for a commercial not long ago, and I even did hair and makeup for a Miss USA preliminary pageant. It hasn’t been easy putting myself out there and juggling being newly married and working full time for my school district on top of booking clients and growing my social medias, but it has been so worth it. I truly love doing this and have felt so much love and support from my family and friends, community, and other artists.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Being able to connect with clients that choose me out of such a large melting pot of artists is something I never take for granted. Making someone feel beautiful for their wedding day or their photo shoot or whatever event they have, big or small is the most rewarding part of all that comes with being a MUA. To the average person, it may not look like much, but once you factor in the work we put in with maintaining our equipment, communicating with clients, growing our social medias, traveling for clients, and setting up/tearing down… it is a lot of work. But seeing women’s faces light up when they see themselves ready for their event or even watching them share their photos to socials afterwards is exactly why I do it!
No matter what kind of creative you are… if you’re sharing your gift with others, you’re doing it right!
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
With social media pretty much dominating the service industry right now, I’m going to sound like a broken record…. but supporting creatives and artists on the Internet is the number one way to help out. We all spend a lot of time on social media and it’s an amazing place for lots of reasons, but if we’re not making a conscious effort to support the work of those that are brave enough to put it out there, the creative space can’t keep growing. A lot of my clients have told me that in their search for wedding vendors, they stumbled upon my page and decided to reach out based on what they saw on my profile. This is exhibit A of why it’s important to have people who support your online presence. I feel so lucky to be accepted into the beauty space online thus far and there are some amazing artists that I’ve never even met that interact with me on socials and I’m so thankful for them! I also am a big believer in collaborating with other creatives. Whether they provide your same service or not, tagging them in posts where both of your work is showcased and sharing their work online or via word of mouth is so helpful. Recommending artists/creatives to clients when you can’t take the job, and teaming up with artists when you can’t do the job alone is also something I do often. I have some girlfriends in this space that have helped me with large wedding parties and I’ve gone with them to their booked weddings and those honestly are my favorite work days. It’s been so refreshing and fun to know I have some talented friends that will back me up when I need them! Shoutout to Kassidy Gillis (@makeupbykassidy__,) Madison Yount (@facesbymadixx), Kelly Cosper, and Madison Scholl for being willing to help a girl out!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jordangbeauty.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordangbeauty/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordangbeauty/
Image Credits
Caroline Casey Photography
Madeline Rose Photos
Raegan Buckley Photo
Brynn VB Photography