We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marcela Guillen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Marce thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, I’ve always thought about this constantly, specially when I started to rebuild my brand when I first lost my drive… I believe beauty, just like art, is whatever you want it to be and therefore, see based on your own life experience which is not only a powerful tool but a crucial part of our healing journeys that in its purest form truly starts from within. Real beauty stems from within and lives in the eye of those willing to see it and celebrate it however they feel called to! So it only made sense to build my brand all around “the eye” or perception of people because at first, it all started as in “Ok, I am the professional so I am the one that got them and their beauty!” but just the thought of all that responsibility whilst starting my career was so draining that after many years of deep inner work I realized that I had the concept all backwards because each one’s beauty really is owned and not defined by someone else’s idea of it! And then, I also realized that phonetically “eye” wasn’t that different from “I” and it all really just made sense enough to get me fully inspired to rebuild on top of what I thought was a dead end because something was always missing before it clicked, hehe. Guess it’s true what they say that some things do eventually just fall into place!
Marce, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi, hello there! My given name is Marcela but I usually go by Marce (pronounced Mar-seh) for short. Originally Nicaraguan born and raised but a self proclaimed Miamian after 8 years based in the area. With an economics and English translation background, I am also a licensed cosmetologist who specializes in holistic hair and beauty through intuitive color, cutting and make up techniques at an inclusive conscious space. I love anything beauty but I also think it shouldn’t be complicated or high maintenance ALL the time so a huge part of my work consists in customizing the experience to each individual’s needs in order to get the best long term results; I also mainly work with cruelty free vegan products because yes, the world we live in and everyone in it really matters!
To be your most authentic self, to find your style and keep getting to know your very own self and what works for them or not may take a few tries but that’s only a friendly reminder that there will always be some work to do in order to keep evolving and living your best life ;) We’re all beautiful and unique in our own way simply because there’s no one else made like you, so if the outside really is a reflection of the inside then, why not look our best to feel our best and keep doing our best? Beauty is what you make it so choose your own today <3
Have you ever had to pivot?
When covid first hit I definitely questioned my career choices because I felt in a weird place within my industry and its value. I couldn’t relate to most of my colleagues, and I couldn’t seem to find other people to share my vision with, so I decided that maybe it was time to try something different; maybe challenge myself and see how I felt about other fields since now there was so many options to work remotely too… And so, I did, which also pushed me to become a student again and that was a huge game changer for me. Needless to say, beauty will always play a big role in my life and story but it’s definitely not all that I am and I’m glad I gave myself the chance to explore other skills that allow me to still be in the industry but now, in my own terms!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
“You have to know what you’re doing at all times” Learning how to “chill”, let go and not being so hard on myself are some of the biggest challenges of my life because for a long time I was afraid of failure, which was taking a huge toll on my mental and physical health, so I definitely had to find the way to slow down to (ironically) claim my power back. It wasn’t until I started studying myself after years of therapy and self development books that I began accepting that most of my control fixation came from deeply rooted perfectionist habits that didn’t make much sense and weren’t really serving me at all now, in this new chapter of life I was starting to build! What I didn’t realize back then was that failure was exactly what kept me growing in the first place and that it was totally ok to make mistakes and learn from them in order to keep growing that better version of me every day! So, let this be your friendly reminder to never stop investing in yourself; book that therapy session, go for that walk, take a few hours off to self care at home… you name it! Whatever it looks like to you, afraid or not, just do it!
Contact Info:
- Website: Coming soon
- Instagram: instagram.com/eyegotyourbeauty
- Facebook: facebook.com/eyegotyourbeauty
- Twitter: twitter.com/marrcegc