Conversations with the Inspiring Emily Lopez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Lopez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Emily. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
It all started back in the summer of 2012, right after I graduated from high school. I had a friend who wanted to pursue becoming a barber and had told me about the cosmetology program at his school, The Real Barbers College in Anaheim CA. He had informed me that they had open enrollment for that course right after we graduated if I was looking for a good school to go to since my local community college didn’t have open seats anymore. Everyone kept telling me to enjoy my summer vacation but I was ready to start pursing my career. I finished my hour’s summer of 2013 and still felt like I was missing something. I then started working other jobs while I found a job in the field. May 2015, I started working at the Disney land resort doing hair and makeup for little princesses at the Anna and Elsa’s boutique, and that’s where I realized makeup was my passion. I then decided to start working at Sephora May of 2017 to learn a little more about makeup. Working there helped me build confidence and knowledge of the beauty industry and what I needed to work on to make my art become stronger. I started taking clients on my own time for weddings, birthdays, and special events for Halloween. And my story still continues…

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My journey to becoming a makeup artist has been a long struggle. In 2015 I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. It was a topic I kept to myself just because I didn’t want it to affect my social life and my work ethic. For a while I couldn’t be at a big social event without panicking or feeling like everyone was staring at me. I took a step back, took a breather, and took care of my mental health and came back ten times stronger. I decided to pick up my things and move to Arizona to move forward with my career and start fresh. It was a hard process to find new clients and new canvases to work on my art but I have some awesome friends I’ve made that have helped me out.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into your business story. Tell us more about the business.
I truly believe makeup is the art of enhancing someone’s features they already have. I see things differently, you can tell from the work I do, the mood I’m in is what I put onto my canvas. Even when doing photoshoots for my art pieces I in vision how I want it to be photographed so I do take my own photos and edit them. I’m known for my creativity in all my work but I usually hear more compliments from my fantasy makeup and my photography. I don’t do photography as much as I do makeup but I do enjoy taking pictures. I’m overall proud of the creativity and determination I have for makeup. I have had stepped away from it time to time but when I get back to it, it’s like I never left it. I feel what sets me apart from everyone starting off in the beauty community is I stay real to my work and myself. I love to tell a story with as much details as possible with my work, you see that in my photos.

For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
I feel women are able to do anything they believe in. Whether its makeup, becoming a mechanic, or even becoming the next president. I’ve said it before, opportunities aren’t given to you if you don’t seek for them. I don’t think anything is impossible for a woman, we just have to make our voice heard. So no I don’t think there are particular opportunities well positioned for woman. We need to create them and run with it.

Contact Info:

• Email: emilyylv94@gmail.com
• Instagram: emilyylv__

Image Credit:
Emily Lopez on Instagram @emilyylv__

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