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Meet the Artist - Brandi
* I am an Amazon affiliate and Oriental Trading affiliate.
Welcome to my blog! My name is Brandi and I decided to start a blog to let people know more about what I do.
As most of you know, I started off on my amazing journey as a face painter and have added so much to my business. I have had many jobs in my working career but I have never been as happy in any of them as I am in my business.
See my list of services here.
One of the most common questions I get asked at almost every event, is how I got started doing what I do. The simple answer is: I just went for it. I know that really oversimplifies everything. So, let me explain in the long version.
As I mentioned, I have had many different types of jobs. I have worked at a grocery store, worked retail, I worked for Estee Lauder, I have been a waitress, worked at a hotel, was an assistant manager at GameStop, and, more recently, I worked (and technically still work) at a library. Those are just some of the things I have done, but I accomplished the same thing at every one of those jobs. I learned.
I learned everything I could at those jobs because I enjoy learning new things. I have always wanted to find ways to improve my knowledge and skills. In all of those jobs I tried to do my best and excel by learning and being unafraid to WORK. I am a redhead, I am stubborn, and if something needs to be done, I do it. That mindset has benefited me in those jobs. One of the most important skills that they all have taught me, is customer service. How to talk to and interact with people. I can't even begin to tell you the importance that has in any job or career path you choose.
I am also involved with my community. I am active in my community theater and I am a member of a nonprofit singing group that raises money to fund scholarships every year. Those are only two of the things I volunteer my time for.
Now that my resume is out of the way, let's get to the point in my life where I became face painter. I feel like one of my strengths is the ability to make people happy. That's the reason I was successful in my previous jobs. I previously mentioned that I still currently work at a library. Well, it is more of an on-call basis. They call me when they are short handed and/or need help. However, it didn't used to be that way.
I used to have regular hours at the library. I was the evening supervisor. I worked with the teen workers, they are called pages. Then a shift in my life happened. My husband changed jobs and his new job required him to work in the evenings. We had two small children at the time and we were adamant about not sending them to daycare. I have always said that if I am going to have children, then I am going to raise them. I don't want other people to raise my own kids.
It turned out, at that same time a daytime librarian was going to get married and move closer to where her fiancee worked. So, they were going to put me in her position. They pulled me off evenings to start training with her during the day and they found a replacement for my position. Things seemed to be falling into place.
Then, things changed. The other librarian decided to stay and her husband moved instead. I couldn't go back to my original position because they already hired someone to replace me. So, I was unintentionally pushed out of my job. They kept me on as a fill-in, though. That is still the position I hold today.
Being without a job with regular hours, I was struggling to find something that I could do that still allowed me to have a flexible schedule to take care of my kids. I would think about my skills and knowledge and how I could put those to good use. Remember, I feel one of my biggest strengths is making people happy. I have customer service skills, management skills, and so many more skills that I have learned. The problem with all my skills and knowledge is I don't hold a degree. I am very much a self-taught individual. So, in today's world, that posed a problem for a lot of businesses.
It wasn't until we went on vacation to visit my husbands family that I came to a turning point in my life. I didn't know it at the time, but this one purchased changed my life.
We were walking through a store and I glanced over and saw this cheap ten dollar face painting kit. I thought it would be fun and that the kids would enjoy it. So, we bought it. I have always been artistic. My mother was into arts and crafts growing up. That was a regular past-time for us. So, I had every confidence that I could paint their face, no problem!
It was horrible.
The paint was thin and wasn't very pigmented. I didn't feel the designs I did were necessarily bad, it was just not turning out the way I had thought it would. But, it served it's purpose. The kids enjoyed it and it kept me busy.
I put the kit away and didn't touch it until months later when my niece came to visit. I pulled it out thinking I would try a different technique and get it to work.
It was horrible, again.
The kids seemed to enjoy it still, but my creative side was getting frustrated. I knew there had to be something better. That is when I did my research and a whole world opened up to me! I found a good beginner kit online that was still almost three times the price of the cheap one I had. I purchased it and I fell in love with the first brush stroke. It was a Snazaroo kit. Not the most expensive, but a perfect introduction to the world of face painting. If you choose to try it yourself or give it as a gift for fun, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I started researching more and learning more. The kids were so much happier with the good paints. They kept wanting their faces painted. Then it turned into my kids and their friends. And that is when I had my "AHA!" moment.
I can make so many people happy! I can make this into a business! I can do this!
In 2016, my business came into existence and it has grown so much. I now offer many services along with face painting and I get to make people all over my area happy.
I couldn't be happier or more thankful.