When I finished high school, my mother sat me down and asked what I wanted to do with my life. I had no idea. She said, "All right, pretend today's your birthday, and you can do whatever it is you want." I told her I wanted to play with makeup at a department store, and she said, "Well, I'm sure there's a college somewhere for that."
On Starting a "Natural Beauty" Revolution
I found Emerson College, applied, and got my degree in theatrical makeup. I loved what I created there, but when I left and moved to New York to start my career, the beauty and fashion world slapped me in the face. Back then, makeup artists thought they had to recreate the face — they had to change the shape of the nose, the lips; they had to completely master a different human being base. It was similar to what that woman at the department store tried to do.
