Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sheraton Gatlin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sheraton, thanks for joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

I truly feel and believe my Parents did the best they could with the resources they had, and I am forever grateful for them. I had a pretty good life. My Parents have been married 32 years and have always worked hard to ensure our house was taken care of, my Mother and my Father. I would watch my Dad go to work and get off late at night while I stayed home with my mom. I remember sleeping in the bed with her until my Dad would come home from work. I would watch my Mom get up early in the morning to go to work. They both had factory jobs. My Mom always encouraged me and pushed me to stay focused, and to work hard. She wanted me to get an office job in Corporate America and work under air conditioning when it was my time to begin working in Corporate America. She always said that she never wanted me to work in a hot factory like she did, Not that anything was wrong with it, but she always wanted better for me.

Her and my Dad are the reason I hustle. They are the reason I grind and why I am a go-getter. I have never seen anything different. Not only am I built like this, I feed off of success. I thrive when I am given opportunity. I love breaking down barriers to show others in my family, such as my children, you can WIN in this world, whether it is a corporate career and/or entrepreneurship to owning your own business. You can truly be whomever, and whatever you want in this world, Its all about choices and what you choose to do with your time while you have it. There are so many windows of opportunity if we are willing to not even just take the risk, but take a step. A step out on faith. Execute!

I am very thankful that my Parents made sure we all went to church. I can now appreciate not religion, but having a real relationship with God. I come from a loving, praying, hard working family, This is a tough world to live in as it is. I couldn’t imagine trying to get through life with nothing to believe in. I was in the choir and on the praise dance team. I use to attend bible study, vacation bible school, and still go to church on Sundays. Whew, did I dread going to the 8 o’clock service. As I became a teenager, I still had to go to church. I can still hear my Mom saying, if you can stay up and hang out all night, you can go to church! My Parents ensured I knew the God in me.

My Parents have always had my back and supported me. They have never told me what I couldn’t do, They allowed me to dream and see beyond what was in front of me. They gave me room to be ME ad embraced my creativity. It’s exciting, as I achieve goals and try new things to share it with them. I get joy from my Parents being able to see me, or hear from me, and I can share good news. I believe they take pride in it too. I will never forget my graduation party, senior year. We had decorations, good food, family, and friends, but I will never forget my Mom had kept pretty much all of my artwork I had done throughout my high school years. Yes, I have always been artsy, a creative. But, I had no idea she still managed to hang on to it all. To see that my Parents took pride in me and my work was a great feeling.

I want them to feel and truly believe they did a good job with me. I never wanted to let them down, or my children. My Mom has told me before that she is proud of me. She still motivates me, inspires me, and pushes me to reach new heights. Some things I don’t always want to hear, but I am thankful for the both of them. I look forward to continue knocking more goals off my bucket list while they are here, living on this earth to witness it. We have so many more memories to make.

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

I am Sheraton Gatlin, the CEO and Founder of VoirBelle LLC. I started my business in 2017 after graduating from Gwynnis Mosby Makeup Academy in 2015. During those two years, I was nervous to jump out into the beauty industry in Atlanta, Georgia. I felt like there were so many makeup artists already, and the industry so saturated. So why would anyone notice me? Who would want to book me? All I could do was think about the other artists doing makeup, and the fact that I did not think my technique matched up to theirs.

Then, one day, I received an email from Gwynnis Mosby Makeup Academy, as Mrs. Gwynnis would always send out jobs to work in the industry, both paid and unpaid jobs. And I made up my mind I was just going to have to just go for it. I knew I would never gain any experience, perfect my craft, or build any relationships if I didn’t try. I started jumping on gigs left and right. Anytime I was available, I was signing up for something! From film, to fashion shows, and photoshoots, I was signing up for it all. I had to get focused and give myself a chance. Like the saying goes, “Bet on yourself”. And that’s exactly what I did. Has it been easy, absolutely not. Has it been worth it? “Hell yes!”

I am a Professional Celebrity International Published Makeup Artist. I am a 4x Best Selling Author, and a Master Certified Life Coach specializing in Personal Image and Personal Development. I complete makeup application particularly in film, birthdays, date nights, weddings, prom, galas, and more. Being a makeup artist and staying consistent, faith driven, and open to learning, and trying new things, has opened so many doors for me. One door which led me into writing a book, my personal memoir “BITCH Grab the Wine”, and co-authoring in three additional books. Those books are “Women WIN…””Boss Moms…” and “Pray, Slay, & Collect”. All of my books are on Amazon and my website. I am also a coach and work with others as their accountability partner. I am considering opening the door to mentorship as I get a lot of others that ask me to mentor them in the beauty industry, and through various walks of life.

I offer a safe space. I listen, and I help clients feel empowered when they leave me. I believe that everyone has a gift, a talent, something to offer the world. We are all “gems”. Very unique. And when others are done being serviced by me, in any area, I want them to leave feeling impacted and empowered. Or, be moved by something that was said or done in some way that will inspire them to be different as well as going for their dreams.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As a business owner I think resilience is something you have to possess. You have to expect the unexpected in business and still balance your personal life, as life is still happening. I can attest to this as I recently had a newborn baby boy, super excited. He will be 10 months this month, however, it has certainly been an adjustment. My oldest boy is 14, so I’m sure you can only imagine how it is starting all over again. I truly had to think about what was going to be the best way to still be able to manage my business and be a mother, to both of my boys. It was very hard for me to just, sit down. Sitting down and slowing down made me feel like my business was at a standstill. It made me question myself, could I do it? Could I be a mom, all over again, and still manage makeup, books, and still try to encourage someone else? Could I remain relevant?

And, then I had to breathe. I had to be reminded that I am on nobody’s time, but God’s. I had to give myself some grace and realize, I had just delivered a baby for goodness sake. Not even acknowledging the other things I had on my plate personally. I had to really think to myself, who am I up against? I am not in competition with anyone, but myself. I had to accept that I was going through a life transition. We have those throughout our lives, periods of transition. But, when its time for the transition, you have to be ready to pivot! I finally got to a point where I was ready. Ready to pivot. I started brainstorming ways to still remain active and closely connected in business.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

It takes money to make money. That is a fact. I am a firm believer in working a corporate job until your business is at a place that allows you to quit. My corporate job allowed me to use my paycheck as a resource to fund my business. I had to be willing to first invest in myself. I paid to take the class learning the foundations of makeup at Gwynnis Mosby Makeup Academy. I bought products to build my makeup kit for my clients. My Parents bought me my first makeup chair for my clients to sit in with my brand on it. My Parents also bought me makeup to go into my kit as well and so did friends. People that truly believed in me, supported me in any way possible. I had to understand that building a business was a process. I was not able to purchase everything overnight.

When you own a business you are always learning and investing every step of the way. It does not stop at initial capital and startup costs. Even after that, you have to be open to learn and invest to continue to grow and scale your business. Legitimizing your business, marketing, taxes, ensuring your paperwork and the financial aspect of your business is right, is an entirely different beast.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.voirbelle.com
• Instagram: @voirbelle
• Facebook: VoirBelle by Sheraton

Image Credits
@twrphotography @forevertailored