We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tatiana Noele. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tatiana below.
Tatiana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I once met an established artist, we were discussing my lack of schooling in the arts, and their response is something that lives with me forever…
“Sometimes I feel like formal training put me in a box. I feel compelled to meet the expectations of those who trained me. Don’t worry about being self taught, you make your own rules that way & you can break them!”
I didn’t go to school for makeup, I don’t have any credentials, licensees etc. On the contrary, I actually went to school for accounting…wild right?,,,I know. I grew up Haitian American and if you know anything about foreign families, If you’re not a doctor, lawyer or an accountant you are pretty much a failure. FOR THE LONGESSSTTTT I succumbed to the influence of my family. Went to college, graduated with a degree in accounting and led a career for almost 4 years.
However, ever since a young girl my core was creative. Making clothes, making up dances, singing, getting family members to record “movies” starring my cousins and I. Ironically never did I dab in makeup. In fact, the first time I actually did makeup on myself I used acrylic paint. Little did I know that moment would catapult a whole new lifestyle for me.
This was October 2016. No experience I just knew I wanted to do something creative on my face and to my surprise I was actually really really good at it. I went into a deeep dive of watching youtube videos, calling on friends who were good at it to help me and just trying stuff just because. Each time I tried something I shocked myself, even if it was a fail, I was still shocked at how close I got.
The years to follow, while simultaneously working as an accountant, I did a 31 days of halloween challenge on my instagram, creating a new look every day. So its safe to say my start was heavy in the SFx lane. I got so good that pages started reposting my work, smaller brands would send me products and my friends and family would look for more looks.
November 2018, immediately after my 31 days of halloween challenge for the year I quit my job as an accountant and well the rest…is still being written.
I still allow myself to learn on a daily basis. Even with the strides I’ve made and the knowledge I have acquired along the way I still sometimes fall into imposter syndrome, Especially because I don’t have any credentials and I am in Hollywood. Youtube is still my best teacher and so it Tiktok. The girls are not gatekeeping and I love that for self taught artists like myself. In hindsight I do not have any regrets on how I sharpened my craft, some days I entertain the idea of going school, but opportunities, or people who I talk to remind me that the things I have done without a license is support enough for me to keep going/growing in the industry.
I think being hands on, being vulnerable and allowing myself to try stuff and share it without feeling pressured to be perfect has been really good for me, Yes I feel it when I don’t get the recognition, I am human and my confidence to pursue makeup was fueled by the support from putting myself out there. But the beauty of feeling the negative is being able to see where I can improve and having the will to do just that.
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 guess I may have overshared in the last question, thats on brand for me lol.
But,…as I mentioned I went to school for accounting. I was good at it and there was promise in my career but I just wasn’t happy. So in 2019 I decided to quit my job and follow my heart. At the time I didn’t really think I had a plan but in hindsight I did and it actually worked out pretty well.
When I decided to leave my career I was in the Washington D.C. area, I just moved out of my high-rise condo to a basement studio apartments to cut down on my living expenses. Then I decided to get a job at a comedy club. My thinking, celebrities come to perform and I could introduce myself to them to help get my foot in the door. To my surprise the manager of the club knew a woman who worked on film sets, introduced me to her and next thing I knew she had me working as the lead MUA on sets by myself. She, referred me to a few jobs actually. One of which brought me to my home town Boston MA during my birthday to work at the same hospital I, at the time thought I was born at. Come to find out I actually wasn’t but it was still a full circle moment to say the least.
My time at the comedy club didn’t last long as I ended up getting a job at Sephora. This was big for my career. I was brought on to a new store opening and with that came a whole month long training in makeup, skincare and hair. This was big for me considering I am self taught. I was in line to become an in store beauty advisor, which would have gotten me a Sephora license but then COVID.
This however was a blessing for me, allowing me to relocate to Los Angeles where things were just getting started.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I struggle with this. I started to use past tense but, as I am writing this, as of yesterday, I had to learn the lesson AGAIN!. If you want to make it as a creative you have to give it 110%. I heard this once before but I didn’t take it to heart then, mainly because of fear but, “YOU CAN’T HAVE A PLAN B, THERE IS ONLY PLAN A”! Plan B will cause you to not give your all to plan A. You will always know in the back of your mind Plan B is a way out and for that when things get rough, and they will, you can easily turn your back and go to whats easy PLAN B.
This is if you truly want to make it. Life is hard, bills will always be due and that is enticing enough to want to keep a stable option in play or at the very least on stand by but, dreams costs too. While they may not always cost money, they do cost time and expertise and the time spent devoted to Plan B is time that should be poured into the sharpening of your craft so that when opportunity arises you are ready. Because what is true is that motion begets motion and if you are pouring into your craft and actively in the energetic flow of al that is, opportunity will present itself and it is much more valuable to be ready than to have money in this instance. I hope this is making sense, but no worries if not like I said I still let fear consume me sometimes. Even though every time I ever allowed myself to entertain fear it backfired and when I entertained faith things truly did always work out.
As someone who once worked a stable job I get how concerning it is to watch someone, or in my case experience the highs and lows of a creative lifestyle. It is unpredictable, at times scary, and truly not for the weak. However, as a creative deep in my heart I have learned first hand that the gratification that comes with getting that gig and seeing my work on screens is a feeling I can’t live without. I would honestly rather go through the ups and downs, work hard, believe in myself, have faith and trust that I am destined for this life than to go down the stable path to only one day look back and be filled with regret.
As creatives, from our non creative loved ones we just need to be loved, supported and when our cups run low fill us up. I know its easy to worry but we do that enough TRUST ME, so if its in your realm pray, otherwise just please try to keep the concerns from us because even though we know its not the case it feels like lack of belief in our dreams. That coupled with the actual volatile nature of the industry causes us to doubt, and then comes the creative blocks etc., etc. Respectfully, we can’t afford it, emotionally, physically and yes financially.
If you know a creative, love a creative and value the relationship with a creative, regardless of whether or not you see the vision just lead with love in those relationships. Every industry has its plights but in addition we also have inconsistency and you have no idea what that can do to a person. I say all this with love, as someone who has lived both sides, loved from and received love from both sides, this is a vital lesson for us all to learn. Creative endeavors, entrepreneurship is not easy!
So trust your creative, support their plan A, at least in love and words of encouragement and please refrain from reminding them of their stable options, “just saying”. And if they fail, be there for them and when they decide to give it another try dust them off. True creatives most times are in pursuits that are quite literally life or death. To do anything else is death to the soul of a creative and to not support that…well. “Just saying”.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Simply put, the freedom. The freedom to not be at a desk, in the same four walls, doing the same mundane tasks, talking to the same people every single day. Not only that but, the freedom to create on your own terms. Yes there may be a scope of work but the vision and the execution is up to you! There is a power and a sense of accomplishment that comes with releasing your creative ideas in the world, it getting the green light to be part of a bigger project that the world can see. I visually tell stories with my makeup and I love it so much.
I think to when one of my models asked me to make her eyes pop and there was scene where the camera focused in on her eyes and at that moment I got to see my work, in all its purpose and it gave me a feeling I can’t explain. While the money is great and I am not complaining, this in itself was rewarding. I’m teary eyed as I write this because It truly is gratifying to create and for it to be seen.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TatianaNoele.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TatianaNoeleBeauty
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatiana-noele-579584204/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYv6QzPo54mZSRF-Y4f4OXQ
- Other: IMDB: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm12752932?rf=ProPublic&ref_=nm_pub_upslb_login&rf=ProPublic