We recently connected with Mong Bui and have shared our conversation below.
Mong, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I already had many “regular jobs.” I worked in the food service industry and retail throughout my time in high school and college. After graduating, I had a salaried job, an hourly office job, and an independently contracted office job for a few years, all in the business marketing field. I always found myself unsatisfied, unfulfilled, and sometimes even depressed, when I was working in these environments, having to answer to someone else. I used to work part time at beauty retail stores when I was establishing myself as a makeup artist for supplement income, but even those jobs were draining. Now, I do makeup professionally full time, and I will never go back to regular jobs. I do take a lot of makeup clients through third-party, booking companies, but I can always say “I’m not available that day” if I need or want to take a day off. I absolutely love being able to take random days off without having to put in a request that may or may not get approved. I am much happier working for myself 24/7 as a freelance makeup artist than a 9-to-5 salaried marketing and operations manager.
Mong, 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 professional makeup artist currently serving the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. I didn’t start off as a makeup artist right away. My career path has been far from “straight and narrow” and the journey is ongoing. I started doing product photography as one of my responsibilities for my salaried job in Austin, TX out of college, then I got into modeling when I changed office job and moved back to Houston, TX where my family is, and then I got into people photography from modeling. Through taking and editing portraits, I realized that I can save myself a lot of post-processing work if my subject’s complexion is already close to perfect which peaked my interest in doing makeup professionally (by this time I had moved to Atlanta, GA with my partner). I’ve always had an interest in makeup since I was young. I did my friends’ makeup for school dances and birthday parties all the time! After I got my makeup certification from Studio Crush School of Makeup in Atlanta and started booking for photoshoots and special events, I completely fell in love with how I can make people feel beautiful in their own skin. I’ve actually stopped doing photography to solely focus on makeup since my partner and I moved to the DC area for his new job. Photography doesn’t spark joy for me anymore and I am completely obsessed with beautifying the skin.
My makeup application is soft and natural. My specialty is clean, conscious beauty. I read the ingredients on the labels to make sure that there are not any potentially harmful ingredients in the skincare and makeup I use on my clients. All the makeup I use contains skin-loving ingredients that improve your natural skin underneath as you flaunt the makeup look throughout the day. I tailor to all skin types and skin tones. I personally have very sensitive skin, eyes, and nose and test all products on myself, so I can handle the most finicky clients. The brands I carry in my kit include but not limited to: Ilia, Vapour, Kypris, Rituel de Fille, Maya Chia, Clove + Hallow, Ecobrow, and Fitglow Beauty.
I am planning on going to esthetician school in 2023, so I can offer nature-derived, result-driven facial services to my clients as well.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Pivoting is literally the story of my life (hah!). When I found myself dreading to go into the office and super depressed with multiple breakdowns a week and suicidal thoughts flickering through my brain, I knew I had to make a change. Mental health is very important to me, and my last suicidal thought really scared me after I confided in a friend. I tried to switch to different office environments to still have stability, but those jobs did not satisfy me at all.
I am not shy from taking major risks (moving to different cities and hitting reset), but that’s only because I have a really great support system through my family, life partner, and friends. Even when I was deep into the creative field, the joy that modeling and photography gave me eventually faded and I pivoted to makeup artistry. I am the happiest I’ve ever been right now with my professional life. I am planning on going to esthetician school to get my state board license in 2023. I’m not pivoting from makeup artistry, just adding other skin-related service options for my clientele. I’m super stoked about this!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The thing that is driving my creative journey the most is to simply live a fulfilling life. I just want to make enough to support the lifestyle I want and no excess. I want to be excited to wake up for work every day even if it’s the crack of dawn, sometimes even earlier (I’ve had 3:30 AM start time before. Did I sleep? No, but I took a nice nap after I got home).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://imongination.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imongination/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imongination/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/mongbui
Image Credits
Personal headshot captured by Nancy Gabriela Pastel green on pastel pink background, bubbles on hot pink background, Black Swan makeup, and cherry blossom portrait captured by Mong Bui (me!) Colorful paint stripe makeup photographed by Alisa Jarmon Bridal editorial captured by Rachel HoTong White lashes and glittery lips makeup shot by Neat Shiny Owl Donut makeup look captured by David Ahn
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