We were lucky to catch up with Marque Hill recently and have shared our conversation below.
Marque, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
Growing up in a home with two other siblings, I realized I have always been more of the risk taker. I’ve always been the black sheep, The rebel, the black swan and whatever else falls in the line of those terms. Although not all of my risk taking moments was the best idea. One thing for sure it helped to manifest and build the person I am today.
In addition, the biggest risk I ever took was starting a business with no business plan, no financial support & not even a list of vendors that would be helpful for my small business. But I will say I definitely allowed the fails to mold me into who I am today. I can just remember it like it was yesterday. I was of course researching and watching YouTube videos trying to figure out the best recipes to turn & twist into my very own. I even wrote a whole recipe book in my journal just to fall back on in case I forgot. Me not knowing how this would go I took the biggest leap in my adult years thus far. Now one thing I did lose sight on when creating my holistic products was the fact they needed preservatives. A preservative helps to kill bacteria which gives the product a longer shelf life. I didn’t fully grasp the concept of a preservative. Thankfully my first launch was still amazing.
Eventually after going back to the books I realized that I needed to not only improve but also add preservatives to my products. I can be fully transparent & say that I’ve had a couple hiccups and lost a couple of customer along the way. But what people have to realize is when you are taking such a risk like that then there’s going to be slip ups, products wasted, time wasted & sometimes you have to go back to the drawing board completely. Your brand is not for everyone and that’s okay. But once you find your village of customers then they are yours forever! Never be afraid to take a leap of faith aka risk! Because it may just work out in your favor.
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?
For all that do not know me. My name is Marque Hill and I am a business owner of a holistic beauty brand also I am a professional mua. I have been in the beauty industry for almost 10 plus years now. I started as a hair stylist which I studied at bishop state for my associates degree. I eventually grew out the passion for hair and became a make up artist in which my first make up job was working at Sephora. I’ve personally always been a go getter since the age if 13 and never let anyone deteriorate my dreams. My father didn’t always support my choice to become a cosmetologist because he didn’t think they made much income. But now he understands and supports me in all of my endeavors. Thankfully I had a step mother who literally spent her last dime to take me to Atlanta for the Bronner Bros hair show. She believed in me when I felt nobody else did. She always wanted to see me expand my art & I forever will love and thank her for that. Currently I have taken a break from velocity aesthetics and just focusing on adding more services to my beauty bar. I offer so many amazing services such as: make up, brow tinting, lashes, lash extensions & I’m even opening up services for micro link & tap in extensions. I absolutely love what I do so when I have the opportunity to service clients that’s a huge deal for me. To this day as a freelance artist I have never had a client complain about my services. My clients definitely ride for me when it comes down to it. That’s why I continue to build and brighten my horizon with services because I want to ensure I am giving them the best experience possible. The customer experience is definitely what sets me apart from a lot of artist. I don’t look at my clients as just a service or money. I acknowledge my clients as family. Overall I want everyone who has either experienced my service or looking to experience my services that I love what I do and who I do it for. It brings pure joy to my heart to see women who have either struggled with their image or suffered from cancer just feel beautiful again. I always tell people that beauty is not defined by make up but only revealed. You are beautiful just the way you are. Reign in your beauty.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I can definitely share a story from my journey that has made me illustrate resilience. I honestly have so many of them being a risk taker. & all. But one of the most recent experiences that I’ve had was doing my first festival. I had gotten the opportunity to be a make up artist for a new up and coming brand called “About Face.” This was their first time coming to the Bonnaroo Music festival. At first I contemplated because I never did anything like this in my life. I’ve always been a stationed make up artist at places such as Mac cosmetics as a retail manager, Lancome as a counter counter manager and Sephora as just a artist. So this was definitely outside of my comfort zone. The scariest part about it was having to plan for somewhere to stay and how I was actually going to get to Tennessee which was 6 hours away from me. A lot of people don’t know but I suffer from anxiety. My anxiety can get so bad that my skin feels itchy and I start hyperventilating. Anxiety can also make me very indecisive which causes me to worry and stress.
In addition I was in the process of leaving my job at dillards that I hated. But I starting my new job that next following Tuesday ..When I decided to do the festival it was a last minute quick decision. I didn’t have no money and I didn’t even have the money to get my car serviced but I was determined. I began to think about the opportunities and experience I could really learn from this. Thankfully one of the artist let me stay with her and we were to ride together each day to the festival. Also my step mom gave me money for gas so that I could get there and back. While I was driving there it was unfortunate that there was a really bad thunderstorm passing through. It had gotten so bad that I couldn’t see & I seen other cars pulling off the inter state. My anxiety kicked into full drive in the moment. I literally was only 40 minutes outside of mobile and just started telling myself to turn back around. I also started hyperventilating because I didn’t know where to turn off that way I could sit out the storm. One thing I definitely learned that day was there is a God and he is powerful. I just so happen to be near a exit when the storm broke out. I don’t know how I was able to turn off and drive down the dark road to be able to pull off in a storage area that was lit so bright. But I have to give credit to God. I actually thought I was going to crash that night. In conclusion I did press forward and accomplished the mission that I set out for that day. I had already quit dillards to pursue this opportunity with no money in my pockets. I had nothing else to lose. I said all that to say, although a storm may try to blind your path don’t let the storm take you away from your destination. If I would have gave up that night I would have either crashed my car or simply lost one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had this year. Be resilient in your gift!
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
What has been the most effective result in building my clientele? I would definitely have to say is creating content. Your should always be creating content even if it’s just a reel showing your products. I’ve noticed a lot of people complain about the support in their city but don’t even reach outside of the neighborhood. What people have to realize is your friend, cousin, spouse & family is more than likely not going to be your target audience. You first have to figure out your target audience. As much as we want the support from the people that we know that’s just not the reality of running an actual business. Don’t be afraid to invest in advertising. Taking $30-$20 out each check to invest in a campaign for your business will be beneficial. There are so many target markets that are available to you such as tik tok. Instagram, Facebook, twitter & even twitch. Another good idea is to get a YouTube started. With me being a make up artist I will ask one of my clients to be my face model and I would practice different looks on them and used that for my content for the week. When you mix everything that I said with also being consistent you will be effective with building clientele. That’s how I’ve built clientele over the years. I’ve service 1,000s of people since my career started. Never be afraid to offer a free service to get the content you need to promote your services !
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theartistryofmarquehill.square.site/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/presphisticated?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marque.hill.505?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Presphisticated23
- Other: https://linktr.ee/PresPhisticated?fbclid=PAAaZT-qBuBb5kHV92HqheWkd31kqRW7Gq9V3NmKJj98cqsI9IH_yXrUWjAd8_aem_AfmirA4RkdhweKzsPVJ4wLgLyeQhp83MoGXcQVAlOMQ-HYuvyMM89_7YJ6VVbppvcNI
Image Credits
Michael Martin Lauren Lindsey