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

Hi Taylor, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

If I had a time machine I would wholeheartedly go back and start my creative career way sooner. Being a full-time content creator and makeup artist, I feel gratitude for having the ability to be 100% sure that this is what I was always meant to do. I graduated HS back in 2012 and like many, I figured it was only natural for me to go to college like the rest of my peers. Unfortunately, it didn’t come as easy as HS did and in full transparency, it was a hard time for me personally and academically. By the grace of God, I came in contact with the right people and graduated from NC State (GO WOLFPACK!), and again without even thinking, I took the “normal” next steps and began working in Corporate America shortly after graduating. After 2 years I knew it wasn’t for me but it took me an additional 2 years (4 total) to do anything about it. I’ve had an engrossment for Youtube since 2009/2010 and would watch my favorite influencers for hours and hours. I wanted to create since HS but felt I didn’t have the skill or tools to start so I never did. I attempted in college and posted my first video then but because of my lack of consistency, nothing came of it. Fast forward to 2020 and the world is forced to sit down with their true thoughts and emotions I knew I had made a mistake in not taking my burning passion for beauty and content seriously. So after months of prayer, confusion and a whole lotta tears, in April 2021 I quit my comfortable 9-5 and decided to step into my calling of entrepreneurship and I haven’t looked back since. Hindsight I would have started creating right after HS and forgone college but I’m forever grateful for the people and experiences I received in both college and my time in corporate America.

Taylor, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Taylor Berry and I am a content creator/MUA. I come from a large family, number 2 of 5, and we are originally from Rochester, NY. My family and I moved to Charlotte, NC when I was 8 so I like to say NY raised me but NC is where I call home. I’ve been into all things beauty and creating since childhood so to be in the field I’m in is no surprise. I often get asked how I know how to do makeup so well and in all honesty, it was through Youtube. I would watch people like Michelle Phan, Nicole Guerriero (Keating now ), Jackie Aina, and more for hours & hours daily, practicing on myself trying to get my makeup to look as good as theirs. Fast forward to college, that’s when I did my first couple faces for proms and graduations and realized how much I enjoyed myself, knowing then it was something that had the possibility of longevity for me. Now I get to serve women from all walks of life. I’ve done work for maternity, bridal, and print photoshoots. I’ve also been blessed with the opportunity to work with countless brides for their weddings which while stressful are always so meaningful to me as they start a new chapter in life. I often say I’m in the beauty enhancement business because my goal is always to simply enhance the canvas they were already blessed with already. I don’t like using a lot of makeup on my clients because I want them to be able to recognize themselves and realize how beautiful they already were prior to any application. I believe that is what sets me apart because my whole purpose is to make ensure they realize they were already beautiful before the makeup and to always be confident in that.
In terms of my content creation, I use it as a way for clients, friends, and simply people who are interested to get to know me and connect on a more intimate level. I want to be a reminder to have grace with oneself and while many may present to have it all figured out, they usually don’t and are simply faking us out lol. I’m in unchartered territory at this stage in my life and want to be as authentic and impactful as I can for those who are on similar journeys. I want my content to entertain and inform my tribe about not only beauty but life in general. As I grow and learn I want to be an example to others that it’s never to go after what God has placed in your heart. The journey isn’t easy but with a purpose-driven leap of faith, anything is possible and I’m proud of the leap I took and the way things are coming together for me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson I had to unlearn is that being perfect is the only option. At the beginning of my content creation, I would be so disappointed in myself for my lack of consistency or that my content didn’t look like this or that person. I would be long with how long things would take me and would get lost in the numbers. I would forget the whole point of it all which is to have fun and find a pace I could sustain. While I heard the saying often, it wasn’t. until a therapy session earlier this year where I truly had to change my belief system and realize that progress is a lot more valuable than perfection. No matter how long something takes, as long as we are making daily progress to completing whatever we have been tasked/tasked ourselves to do that is all that matters. I’m a firm believer in whatever you do to get whatever it is, followers. money, friends, etc. is how you’ll have to sustain it so we have to be very intentional with what we do. I now focus on finding a pace I can sustain regardless of how long it takes.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is when I get to see the finished product of what I saw in my head and have it make a positive impression on other people. With my makeup artistry to get to see the reactions of the finished product and to have clients shocked in the most positive way will never get old. I want to have a positive impact on the world and to be able to do that through my own content or makeup application gives me an indescribable amount of joy that I never want to take for granted.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_taylorberry/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/__taylorberry/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@_TaylorBerry
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_taylorberry?_t=8YkxxwzpG2s&_r=1

Image Credits
The mustard blazer and black top w/red lip photos were taken by my amazing photographer friend J “Slim” Robertson (IG: @theslimcreative) at his studio in Raleigh, NC. Graduation Photo taken by Camille Hughes