We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Twilisha McClelland a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Twilisha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

My first year living in Atlanta, my car was broken into and half of my makeup supplies were stolen. I was so hurt and devastated. Unsure of what to do next, I made a short and sweet social media post stating what happened. In the post I considered asking for help but wasn’t sure that is how I wanted to proceed. The next morning I woke up to digital donations from some of my online friends and fellow creatives.

I was so overwhelmed by the display because, I didn’t expect that. Because of their generosity, I was able to replace most of what was taken from me. It was truly a blessing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got started doing makeup because I was in close contact with models and performers. I was already a makeup enthusiast, but when I started fdoing make up for others, I realized how much I enjoyed it and wanted it to be my career.

As I developed my skills, I realized that I wanted to focus my career on editorial fashion makeup and work in the film industry.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

From my perspective the best thing society can do to support artists, is to stop diminishing the value art brings to society. I believe a major reason why so many artists find themselves “starving” so to speak is because society views art as a luxury, as opposed to something that is vital to our mental well-being. As an artist, every day of your life consists of trying to convince people who obviously want to enjoy your craft, why they should compensate you for that enjoyment, and that sucks a great deal of joy and satisfaction out of the process. It is demoralizing to be aware of how much someone wants your art, but at the same time how little they value it and you.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

To be quite honest, I think NFTs are a scam. I think the vast majority of cryptocurrency and that whole push is just very scammy.

Contact Info:

• Website: thefacegawdess.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/thefacegawdess
• Facebook: facebook.com/thefacegawdess
• Other: tiktok: @thefacegawdess

Image Credits
1st and 2nd ph0to credits: Photographer: Eric DeJuan Hair: Ingrid Young Makeup: Twilisha McClelland Model 1: Aryan Davenport Model 2: Mina Rose 3rd photo credits: Photographer: Kevin with Studio621t Photo Editing: Jason with Blk.Frnd.Media Hair: Tenisha Edwards (GiftedHands) Makeup: Twilisha McClelland Model: Latavia Terry