We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mia Frison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mia, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Starting my business was honestly the best decision I ever made. I used to work for AT&T in sales and I got complacent. I have always loved the beauty industry but being a single mother, I started thinking about how easy it was at the time with all of the bonuses and money I was making. Then I got sick and was diagnosed as a diabetic during my second pregnancy. From there, my health went downhill and I learned that I was just a number at AT&T. Every time I had a doctors appointment or had to miss work because I was too sick, my boss would complain about my not being there affected his numbers. He literally once asked me why didnt I get sick at the beginning of the month. I kept thinking like “clearly, I didnt wake up and say God give me a case of diabetes and high blood pressure on the 12th of the month just to mess up his numbers lol”. My husband saw how distracted and distraught I was and he pointed out how every job I have ever had, I was always getting in trouble for doing my makeup at my desk. He was right, I truly loved it but i grew up with the traditional family thoughts that you had to be a lawyer, doctor or playing sports to make it. I never thought about truly doing what I LOVE: Makeup. That Christmas, my husband used his 401k to purchase my first makeup kit and back then Poetic Beauty was born. I reached out to two branding businesses and they assisted me with my logo and all of my marketing for my business rebrand. When i thought about the name, it didnt say much about my business or my love for beauty; hence the name MiAmor Beauty. My love for beauty was reborn and I’ve been focused on building a brand that encourages women to find that natural beauty that they have always had and enhance the beauty in them. Since 2018, I’ve had some good and bad months but every year I have persevered. I’ve been told that most small businesses die out within the first two years but my support system has helped my business elevate through the hard times. I’ve had many late nights working on introducing my cosmetic line to enrolling in cosmetology school this year to get licensed doing natural hair to offer additional services to now going back for my full cosmetology license so that I can have an all in one salon.

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

Hey! I am a Licensed Natural Hair Stylist and Professional Beauty and Bridal Makeup Artist. I started in this industry because I had a rough upbringing. My mom had mental issues where she felt we were in a competition almost and would constantly tell me that I would never be as pretty as she was and my family made constant jokes about my weight as a child where I turned to magazines and wanted to be pretty like the models on there with their makeup and gorgeous hair. I started feeling like you had to wear makeup to be pretty. When i met my sorority sister in college, she was my advisor at the time and she helped me do a complete makeover. I was forced to truly see myself during that journey to sisterhood and I was introduced to my natural beauty, and realized that makeup only enhanced what was already there. It was then that I wanted to teach others the same thing. I only fell more in love with the beauty industry at that time. I think what sets me apart from others is my motivation and love for this industry. My passion stems from that little girl who felt like she wasnt enough and I never want anyone else to see makeup as a coverup but more as an enhancement to their natural beauty. No matter if I’m booked for a wedding, tumbling event, hair service or anything involving beauty, I want my clients leaving knowing that they are only enhancing what is already there. Its why I started my cosmetic line MiAmor Beauty Cosmetics. I offer brow pencils, brow pomade, eyeshadow palettes, lashes, highlighters and mascara.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I have always been that out of the box makeup artist. Back when I first started promoting, I would do the newest trends on my Facebook and Instagram accounts and back then, I would get so many shares but they werent all loving. Every comment only made me want to progress even further because I wasn’t stopping. I learned how to make my brows sharper, found better products and started using a vendor to make some of my own. My clientele mostly came from word of mouth. A lot of my first time clients would always recommend me because of my work ethic and my customer service. If a client needed their makeup done at 5am for the kids birthday party or for a photoshoot, then I was up when the money was lol. They knew if they referred me, I was going to deliver while providing great customer service. My clients are my family. We talk at the appointments about everything and I check on them throughout their lives just so they know they were more than income to me. I don’t just do this for a paycheck, this is my life, my love, and my passion.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I once worked at a salon where the owner had different business practices and they were basically using me as their personal mua but wouldnt pay me for weeks and would book me for their friends and tell them I could do a full face for 25.00 while trying to get a cut of that for doing makeup in their shop. This was my first experience working in a salon so I didnt know the right business practices. Then one day, when my daughter was out of diapers and milk and I needed gas for my car, I realized just how much her balance had accumulated. She owed me close to 200.00 and I needed to get paid. I was too naïve thinking that because she was a woman and a business owner, that we would have the same business integrity and wouldnt try to cheat me. When i got there and asked for my payment, she started to talk about all the times I did her makeup and she never got her commission off of those appointments. I couldn’t understand because how can you charge someone to do your makeup. I even consulted other artists I respected in the beauty community to make sure I wasn’t confused. It made me want to just quit. There I was crying because after all of her “deductions”, she decided she only owed me $13.00. It was then that I decided to leave that salon and build my brand by myself. I wasnt going to give up because of one bad experience. It taught me resilience because after leaving that salon trying to figure out how I was going to make it home with my daughter’s diapers and my car on E, i knew that this was only a trial and test of my perseverance. Now my business has afforded my family to move, pay my bills and take care of necessities.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.miamorbeauty.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/miafrisonmua
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/miamorbeautymua
• Other: Linktr.ee/miafrison

Image Credits
John Cox IV LaPic Visuals