We were lucky to catch up with Mayra Malik recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mayra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

With a true passion for beauty, I always knew I wanted to work in the industry of making women look and feel beautiful. Although some things just came to me naturally, I became a licensed cosmetologist while in high school in 2002. I was so determined to learn any and everything I possibly could; with my license I knew that the doors would be open to being a nail tech, color specialist, makeup artist, and so much more. I wanted to do it all! After being licensed I remember I my first job was at Super Cuts where I had to do haircuts back-to-back and although I had great training, I just knew there had to be a way to perfect my craft, so I went to barber school. Boy did I learn so much more about hair! Quickly I realized that this industry is constantly changing with trends, techniques, and new products, that I would forever need to sharpen my skills and stay on my toes. I continued working at Super Cuts followed by Toni&Guy, MAC, Dior, and other beauty lines and took every opportunity to learn by taking classes and trainings every chance I could. Knowing what I know now, I really don’t know what I could have done to speed up my learning process. Still to this day I am constantly looking for classes that I can take to help keep me on trend. It really is a forever learning process. I can honestly say that you will never know it all, there is always something new you can learn. Some of the most essential skills needed and that I have learned throughout the years have been patience, great customer services, and organization. I know you are asking, not working on hair and makeup. Although knowing how to do hair and makeup one of the most important skills I had to learn is to be patient. Most clients don’t know what they want or have difficulty explaining what they think they want. In the wedding industry, it can be very stressful putting your event together and brides are extremely stressed out. You are the person who needs to calm them down, help them explain and understand what they want, overall give them a good experience and with that patience is key. Have great customer services as also very important, remember your clients’ needs and wants. When answering questions, emails, or taking calls it’s all about your tone, mannerisms, and the ability to go above and beyond for your client. Give them a memorable experience to where at the next event you will be the person, they think of to hire again. And lastly organization is very important when booking out your clients. Be mindful of your time management on the event day with the services being provided, in the time frame you answer emails and calls, and your records of contracts and paperwork. Without clear organization your bookings can quickly fall apart. An obstacle that has stood in my way of learning has been adulting for sure. As the years go by, I realized that I can no longer just get up and catch a flight to take a class. I can’t always spend the extra money on trainings because now as an adult I have a family, work, and bills to pay. I will never give up on investing on myself and my craft I just have to make sure I can make it work with my family and work schedule.

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 name is Mayra, and I am a professional hairstylist and makeup artist and the owner of Simple Beauty Artistry. I have been in the beauty industry since 2002 and have been in business since 2010. From a young age I knew that I wanted to be in the beauty industry, but never did I think I would have my own team and a successful company. I am blessed to have a wonderful team that has been with me through the years and who have helped me grow to the team we are today. I honestly was living my best life working for MAC 2003 to 2010; I was traveling doing shows, fashion week, celebrities, and teaching but life happened, and I got married and started my family. Quickly I learned that working retail and having two children less than two years apart was not easy. It was then that I decided to take the risk and start on my own and let me tell you it was scary! What if I can’t book any clients? How do I put myself out here? Who is going to want to hire me, I am a nobody? What if I fail? These are questions that ran through my mind every day, but I could not fail. I was not going to fail! I was determined. I started booking friends events, then their friends, events, and little by little I started getting bookings with just word of mouth. I was growing, so what now? Not only is work getting busier, but my kids are also growing, and childcare is getting expensive, do I stop now and be a stay-at-home mom? No, we don’t stop now! I was approached by a photographer friend who asked me to share a studio with her. And it was a great idea, I was able to take my clients in studio and have my kids with me. I thought clients would be bothered that my kids were there but most of my clients didn’t mind. This was awesome, there was nothing stopping me now. I later moved to a bigger studio in Old Town Spring, and I reached out to some of my friends in the industry and asked, “Will you ride with me?” They didn’t even hesitate, a quick yes from my girls and we hit the ground running. Now 12 years later I have an awesome of team of 18 artists, and growing, ready to service any event.

My team loves enhancing our clients’ natural features and creating a timeless look for our clients. Making sure every client looks and feels like herself is one of our most important values. We completely focus on our clients’ needs, concerns, and expectations to customize a look specifically for each client. We make it a priority to continuously take classes and trainings to stay on trend. What are the most asked for looks? Is there a new product out there those clients are raving about? Education is of the upmost importance. One thing that sets me apart from most artists, is the ability to work on all skin tone and hair textures. I have realized how women of color have such a difficult time finding an artist who can work on natural hair, work on hair extensions, or simply with darker skin tones. I make sure to take continued education to keep my teams as well as my skills with the most up to date techniques.

As I look back and I see how far I have come I can’t help being proud of my accomplishments. From being featured in Texas Weddings Magazine, Channel 13, Houston Chronicle, Brides of Houston, Weddings in Houston, and a few others, just knowing that all that I have sacrificed has paid off. It’s motivating to me to keep looking forward and the knowing I can do anything I set my mind to.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The biggest lesson and challenge I had to learn over the years are that every client isn’t your client. It’s ok to say no! I am a huge people pleaser and for the longest I would say yes to everyone and every job. Can you come at 3 am? Can you give me a discount? Can you start here and move there later? I would find myself being stressed, over worked, and just tired from extending myself so thin. I was so terrified to lose any work that I would get that I would say yes to everyone until I had my first bad review. I was devastated! How could I get a bad review? I did my best. I was early, accommodating, client loved my work, what did I do wrong? There was honestly nothing I could have done differently. That is when I had to take a minute and really look at what I was doing and how can I make things better. Now I take the time to know each individual client and make sure that we are a good fit. Do we vibe? Are we on the same page? Can I give her what she wants without stressing myself out? Can I give her a wonderful experience? These are all questions that I ask myself before accepting a client. And if something does not fit, I am ok to say sorry we are not available but let me refer you to someone that would be a better fit for your needs. That has taken a lot!!! I am still learning to set boundaries for myself and work and sometimes still struggle with saying no but overall knowing that every client isn’t my client has been the biggest lesson I have learned.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My ultimate goal as an artist is to have a successful hair and makeup company providing services for any occasion. I feel that I have accomplished that goal now and what drives me most now to continue is my new venture in opening a school available for new artists who would like to learn more about the wedding industry. I would love to motivate and offer training to new aspiring artist who want to get start their careers in the beauty industry. I feel like I had to learn so many things along the way myself mostly by trial and error that by providing classes to those artists it would really set them up from success in their careers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.simplebeautyartistry.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/simplebeautyartistry
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/simplebeautyartistry
• Twitter: @simplebeautyart
• Youtube: Simple Beauty Artistry
• Yelp: Simple Beauty artistry
• Other: The Knot and Wedding Wire @simplebeautyartistry

Image Credits
Ulises Reyes Photography Angela Lauren Company