We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Molly Ryan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Molly below.

Molly, appreciate you joining us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

I started playing with makeup as a little girl, sitting in front of my vanity, making silly little videos (like the influencers I watched on youtube), pretending to have my own “Youtube Channel”. A lot of my peers and even some “friends” at the time would bully me for doing so. They would make fun of how I would talk during my videos or how much makeup I would wear, etc.

When I began to get a bit more serious about becoming a Beauty Influencer, that’s when everything changed, including how people started to treat me, once they saw a benefit for themselves. I then had my own style and aesthetic when it came to how I would do my makeup.

Once people realized the talent I had, they started to take advantage of it. The ones who had put me down my whole life for doing something I loved, were now trying to benefit from my success. They were asking me to do makeup for their weddings, special events, or even just because. I chose not to participate because if you’re not going to support me in the beginning, why now? I was getting taken advantaged of and used from the people that wanted to see me fail.

These people thought I was doing my makeup to feel better about myself, but in all reality, I was doing makeup to express my creativity and to show others you can do anything you put your mind to.

Molly, 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?

I am a 24 year old, small town girl, from Michigan. My obsession with makeup started as a young girl, I would play with the fake makeup play sets you would get at Walmart or Target. I got a vanity when I got a little older and started sitting in front of my mirror for HOURS, just messing around with new products and trying to learn how to apply makeup. I started watching Beauty Gurus on YouTube and I knew I wanted to be just like them.

Shortly after high school, I thought to myself, “Why not take this seriously?”. I had started by creating my makeup Instagram – Makeupbymolls_ – I then began a TikTok account, and shortly after my Youtube Channel. I had started out pretty slow, being new to the whole beauty community. Once I was determined and staying consistent with my content, I gained a pretty big following in only 2 short years.

I am currently only posting my content on social media, I am not a huge fan of doing makeup on others, but I would like to make it part of my career. I have done makeup for events such as homecoming and prom. I have also done a couple weddings and other special events, but it is just not my forte at the moment. Maybe one day.

I am really proud of how far I have come in such a short amount of time. Content creating isn’t as easy as everyone thinks. Between the preparation, applying the makeup, finding the best audios and lighting can be difficult. This whole process can be anywhere from 4-8 hours of work. I try to put all my hard work and dedication in every post I upload.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building my audience on social media hasn’t always been easy. It doesn’t happen overnight and I feel like a lot of people forget that. I started my social media accounts with little to no followers. I started posting consistently, posting 1 or 2 videos a day, following up with an Instagram post about whatever content I was posting that day. I would constantly interact with others with the same niche as me, to put my foot in the door with the beauty community. I had put my email in all of my biographies, so if at some point a brand or business wanted to contact me, they could. It truly helped more than I thought it was. I slowly, but surely started to gain a following. Brands had started to reach out to me for collaborations and brand deals.

My best advice for those who want to start to grow their social media accounts, is to be consistent and don’t give up, no matter how hard it may seem. It could take days, months, maybe even some years, but you will get to where you want to be, if you don’t give up. Best things come to those who wait.

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

I started sharing my content on Youtube as a young girl, I would post my videos and not get the feedback I wanted from my peers. I eventually let their words get to me. I ended up deleting my YouTube videos and kept my love for makeup and content creating to myself, for years. As I got older and more mature, I realized that what those people think, truly didn’t matter. If I was doing something I loved, that made me happy, why do their opinions matter? They never did. I may have let them get to me when I was younger, but I no longer care what people have to think or say about my art.

This may sound cliche, but haters are my motivators. I use the negativity to prosper. Without the extra views from those who wanted to see me fail, I really wouldn’t be where I am right now, so thanks to them. I am doing what makes me happy, while others are miserably commenting on my posts, waiting for my downfall, which won’t happen.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/makeupbymolls_
• Facebook: Makeup By Molls
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/makeupbymolls_
• Other: www.tiktok.com/makeupbymolls

Image Credits
Leap Of Faith Studios – Tristan Peach Molly Ryan