If you’re a makeup junkie, you’ve most likely fiddled with the idea of working with your favorite makeup brand once or twice in your life. You’ve wondered what it’s like to manage press launches for new products, and be the first to know about the latest releases.
We’ve shared those sentiments, too here at Preen. So we invited five women who work at our favorite makeup brands to talk about what life’s like between lipstick releases and makeup tutorials. And we’ve learned that it’s more than just all the gloss.
Katie Reyes, brand coordinator, Clinique
“It’s not just about having the best lipstick shade, but having something that makes you feel better about yourself and being the person who can recommend that to people is quite satisfying,”shares Katie who sees her job as a way of helping people rather than imposing impossible beauty standards on women.
The brand consultant tells us that her chosen career path is about how the value of makeup can go beyond the superficial. “Working for a makeup company like Clinique let’s you see how people become more confident with the right skincare regimen and makeup,” explains Katie. “It’s always a good feeling to be the person who can help them find that right regimen or that perfect shade.”
Samantha Sadhwani, brand coordinator, Bobbi Brown
Samantha also expresses how being in the beauty industry is a personal thing. “I wanted to be in a position that shares the same philosophy I have when it comes to beauty. I also wanted to be in a place where I can share that vision with other women to make their lives a little better, even though it’s just through a tube of lipstick or an eye shadow set.”
Dyan Warren, group product manager, Shu Uemura
Dyan emphasizes that in order to make it through a day in her job, one must be very thorough. “The beauty industry is a very dynamic market. You always have to be on point when it comes to creating customer experiences and delivering your vision on time. If you want to be a great brand manager, you have to know everything from the tiniest detail in beauty because it’s all about impressions. You must be service-oriented and customer-centric. It’s not just about having a beautiful store with beautiful products.”
She continues, “It’s not always about putting lipstick and being ‘glam.’ That’s surely part of the job, but a huge part of it is business operations, brand management and tracking, and forecasting. That means you always have [to be aware of] the statistics to understand the success of one product or one event.
Vanessa Vergara, PR and Artist Relations Coordinator, MAC
“The job entails late-night events and early morning call times. Basically, your phone rings 24/7 even on holidays,” Vanessa shares. She also explains the different skill sets needed to make it through her day, “Every day is never the same, which makes it exciting,” she exclaims. “Though, I can say that a typical day for me involves a mixture of corporate activities, like [writing] emails, reports, pre-events, and presentations, it also involves various events, lunch meetings, fashion shows, theater productions, and artist workshops. It is very fun and difficult at the same time.”
Samantha Lewis, PR and Artist Relations Assistant, MAC
From being a model, Samantha switched up her career path by joining MAC to achieve something a little bit more. “I knew that I wouldn’t be a model forever. The question was when would I stop and what would I do after that?” she asks. So what does she do now that she’s not posing for the camera? “I [am] constantly on my computer or on my phone either booking artists for shoots or answering e-mails. Other days, we get our press kits ready for our new collections that we will release since we need lead time for magazines or broadsheets.”
Still, with the demands of her new career path, Samantha tells us that it has taught her something we can all relate to. “I think this applies to whatever job you have, not just in the beauty industry; but you must know what you want. You must love your job. You must know where you’re going. Have a goal and keep your eye on it.”
Click on our slideshow to see our beauty girls and their signature looks from their respective brands.
Photos by Patrick Segovia