We recently connected with Renelyn Thomas and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Renelyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
The Beauty industry has become extremely saturated in the last decade. Customers are overwhelmed with content online and it’s harder to reach the right demographic with the constant algorithm changes in social media. Reaching and appealing to customers in this new business climate is definitely a challenge to profitability in the beauty industry.
Renelyn, 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 have always loved beauty. I started my career as a hobby when I found that there were limited options for myself in finding Makeup Artists who could deal with my ethnic facial features. I ended up doing some research online to see if I could do my own makeup for a special event. I stumbled into the world of beauty blogs and was able to jump on the band wagon as the whole Beauty Guru era began. It was a great outlet for me outside of my corporate 9-5. I expanded my beauty career to also become a Freelance Makeup Artist and I also worked with many beauty brands as an Influencer and Product Consultant. Fast forward 10 years and I found myself being laid off my corporate job. I decided to dive into my passion full time. I became a Full Time Beauty Boss and focused on education. I joined Industry Makeup Academy as a co-owner and Lead Instructor, helping other Makeup Artists as well as everyday women to learn the ins and outs of applying makeup to themselves and others. I love that I can teach others about something I’m passionate about while incorporating my business background. My Makeup Academy has been voted Best Makeup School in Georgia for the last two years and I’m so proud of this achievement.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Covid-19 was a huge challenge to my business. The Beauty Industry is so personal and requires face to face contact. Thankfully right before Covid hit, I had been working on building an online course for our Makeup School. This was the pivot – when you can’t meet in person go online. We launched our Online Makeup Artist Certification Course to reach customers and increased our visibility on the web.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I founded a group called the Atlanta Makeup Meetup. This was an opportunity for beauty lovers to come together and meet on a monthly basis. I used the influence from my YouTube Channel and Beauty Blog to gain sponsors. One of the hardest parts about putting this event together was finding a space to host it. This is how I met my Business Partner Ebony Miller. She was actually a YouTube subscriber and offered to host my meetup at her Makeup Studio. She liked the way I taught and hosted my group and offered to let me sit in on one of her makeup classes. I not only sat in on one class, but being the motivated individual I am, I sat in on her entire course. That led us to doing events together, me eventually teaching her night course and then in 2017, we became business partners and launched our new studio together.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.imaatl.com www.renelynthomas.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/imaatl www.instagram.com/makeupbyrenren
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/industrymakeupacademy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renelyn-thomas-mba-91874049/
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/makeupbyrenren
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/renelynthomas
Image Credits
Photography by Kelley Raye, Caitlin Tabilog, Mecca Clark