Fantastic things happen when two incredible artists get together, even virtually! Award-winning makeup artists Vivian Baker asked rising star, Leesa Simone, to join her for a chat via Zoom! Together, they talked about the importance of professional lighting for professional artists, how the Vivian Set Bag is really changing the game in the time of COVID, and why The Makeup Light is a non-negotiable part of Leesa's kit!
Watch the video below for the whole Makeup Artist Chat!
Read the Complete Transcript:
Vivian: Hi everybody. This is Vivian Baker. I was so inspired looking at all of the amazing images, of Leesa Simone with my set bag, all over the world and all of the travels she's done and using TML lights. And I just had to sit down and have a conversation with her. Take a look. You had this little bag on all over the world.
How amazing is that?
Leesa: I was, so it comes from a place of gratitude and I wasn't doing it just to, like, I just wanted to, I'm so happy to have the bag it's been so useful. And so for me, it's like, It just was a part of the journey. I mean, everywhere I went and I mean to go from the top of the O2 arena standing on top of this arena with this bag and then to just travel the world.
And I had never traveled the world before. So for me, it was like experiencing everything just with these fresh eyes and people on the crew had traveled around so many times before, so they got to experience it with me. So that bag went with me everywhere. I mean, except for zip lining, it didn't go with me zip lining...
I mean, I was on set.
Vivian: That's always a big one. So what did you end up bringing? What was your main kit packed in it?
Leesa: So I had to have it in a Zucca. I had obviously the Vivian set bag and then, um, I just had to fit things in suitcases. Anything that could just. fit I mean, I spent, I think like a full week trying to pack everything.
Vivian: If you do a movie where you're doing a lot of people or even one person, and you have that, it's different, it's a different type of travel. And you know, it does have its stress, but they are more equipped to move. Like you were, I've done that down and dirty across the world too. It's really. It's it's something.
I mean, this was like, actually some of the very beginnings of The Makeup Light. I used to carry a bulb because I needed daylight because of how we were shooting. I was doing one person and we were literally all over the world and we were, we would shoot. No matter what we would shoot in travel, we would shoot in the bus.
We would shoot on the train to shoot in the plane. I would carry this is long before TML and I'd carry. It was a screw in light bulb that was daylight balanced, but it only got four hours of life. And it had to be an, a porcelain casing that white thing. And after four hours it would explode glass. So what I did.
It is, I would take, I took really fine mesh, like you would find on a screen door and I would, I would clamp the mesh around it and put it on the clamp and clamp it up. So the old clamp, I go clamp light
Leesa: and clamp it up.
Vivian: And then I would carry the bulbs with me. So when it would EXPLODE. I couldn't have the glass did people's eyes.
I have so many lights, but the TML became kind of important because that way it's so easy. You can't break it. You can do all kinds of stuff from those kinds of days. So I definitely remember that.
Leesa: Oh, yeah. I mean, well, so I started off doing makeup in Denver, so that was my first real beginnings. I didn't grow up with a mom who did makeup.
It wasn't something in the household. So makeup for me was, was never really a thought who I was doing retail. I was a store manager. I mean, I was doing that kind of world. I was acting and singing and makeup was just not a concept for me. And just one day I happened to go on my break down to the, to the MAC counter.
And I was like, I don't know what this is all about. I keep hearing about this company, let me just go down and see what this is. And I walked out with like $230 worth of stuff, and I just started playing with it and had so much fun. And then when I got laid off from that job, I kind of had to sit with myself and go, okay.
No, I'm in my late twenties. I'm like, why do I really want to do? And I didn't have an idea, but I was like, you know what I mean? Let me just try, makeup out and see how it is. And it just took over my soul. And I started to do makeup everywhere I possibly could training myself, watching videos. What movie did I like, whose work did I find that I had, that I kept being drawn to?
And then I ended up getting hired at MAC. And it was there at MAC where someone was like, Hey, um, I have to leave the country with my fiance. I'm going to Paris. Do you want to work in a strip club doing makeup? And I was like, uh, that's a bizarre world. I don't know if I'm ready for this. I went in there.
And I learned so much, the lighting was dismal. It was like nothing down. We were down below at the stage underneath and no lighting. I had to learn how to do every skin tone I had. It's like a three song set. So you only have maybe less than 10 minutes to try to do as much as you can. And then they'd have to wait for them to come back down.
So I learned so much, but lighting was really the issue. I didn't know anything about lighting back then. So I'm doing it in various, uh, places that I can find. And then as I started to progress, I was like, okay. Lighting is really such an important issue. And it started to become, uh, something to my forefront of my mind, where I was like, okay, I have to start researching this.
At the time you think, okay, it's, it's something, but it's not what I need. And so then as soon as I progressed on the makeup light came out. I mean, it was just like life changing for me. And I can't tell you the times that I've been in non-union productions, where they put us in the darkest corners and I have these lights and they have saved me every time.
I don't go anywhere without them. Like not a single place. I don't care if they're giving me a trailer. If they promise me there's lighting. These come with me everywhere. So it's nice to see the journey from that.
Vivian: But that's fantastic. And you do learn, a lot I mean, people like you just have to get in there when the stakes aren't that high figure it out.
Don't you just have to figure it out. How we learned, this is what I need here. This is what I need there, because at the end of the day, Our job becomes very little about makeup. It becomes about all the decisions we make on the fly.
Leesa: It really does. It's everything that journey that you learned. So I'm very appreciative of this career.
I mean this, but I think the most important thing is, is educating and educating myself and really understanding everything that I can. And I just love learning everything. And just not from like the makeup from the lights. I mean, I have these lights set up right now and it's like, I love learning about.
Why I have these lights, why I have the certain products that I need, um, and things that. I like to be challenged in that sense where it's like, I know I can be better in this moment and trying to think ahead of, okay, I have this problem. How can I get out of it? And people don't realize that for our industry, it's not just about makeup.
It's really about business and interpersonal relationships and, you know, psychology. And there's so many aspects of makeup besides makeup itself.
Vivian: Right. It's about problem solving. Is that a lot of posts? What are we going to do? How are we going to fix that? And a lot of it you have to do on your feet. So the idea, I mean, while going to school is cool.
I've heard that there's a, there's a point where the rubber hits the road and then you, you learn to make those decisions. Right at the, you know, at that only have a couple of seconds to do it. And I think, I mean, I wasn't going to go this way, but I think it will seqway. I think that's one of the reasons for me that particular set bag, I never meant to bring out a set bag.
It was never tried to do that. TML is not in the bag business. It just became such an overwhelming demand because those are the split second decisions. It's camera's rolling. Something happens, you know, like, Oh, I decided to do want tears or this makeup is sweaty, Oh, this happened while I was doing it. And you don't have time to go grab your bag, take your bag to set, open it up.
You gotta walk into that set. It get that done. Tell me about how you have that set bag all pulled together.
Leesa: I mean, I think it changes depending on the job. I mean, there's basic things that I have in there, but I feel like for me personally, I'm, I'm forever changing my setup and trying to find out what's the best.
And I've been doing that my whole career and I, but that bag is with me everywhere, because I will tell you, I, you know, just for, for I'm, I'm going to be 40 in a few weeks. And so I think about my back as well. And so I'm like, Carrying everything. And I actually started off carrying a tactical army fanny pack.
That's how I started. And so, because it was nice to, to balance out the weight on my body. And so then. I started to look for options. And I actually came across because I had already been following you and everything. And I saw, I think you had posted a picture on your page where you had that white, um, bag and everybody was going crazy for it.
And for me, I was already looking for something like that. When this bag came out, it was absolutely a no brainer. I chucked that tactical fanny pack out. And it's so great because it balances out the weight, but, um, you know, and you have the strap, so it helps with your shoulders helps with the midsection, but also it's on you and you're not leaving it on the ground on a table.
It's always there on you. No matter what. So you don't have to, it's not a. A thing that you have to think about it's right there, it's open, you can work right out of it. And so, you know, and it's, and it's waterproof. And I mean, it's a lifesaver. It really is.
Vivian: I feel the same way. I'm constantly changing mine.
I have the very front pocket always has the, kind of the same stuff in there. But other than that, it changes for the movie.
Vivian: So the other thing that I wanted to ask you is you just got into the union. How long ago has it been?
Leesa: So I got in officially in June, so right as we were.
Yeah, show that I worked on was the one that flipped me in. And I actually had a date set for myself that I wanted to get in by January 1st. And that was, I got a phone call January 3rd. And it was originally they're like, yeah, it's going to be a non-union traveling around the world. And then it flipped.
And I was like, Okay, this is all coming together and it it's been a blessing. I'm still learning to, you know, everything about the union meeting people. And I'm just so grateful. I come from a place of gratitude. Because
Vivian: Because you do your time. Your Social media feed is all about it. And I really, really love that.
And I know to get into the union is challenging especially the one in Los Angeles. So congratulations.
Leesa: Thank you so much. And you know, I'm just so appreciative of this journey. And, you know, even though I've been doing this for so many years now, I still feel like a newbie every day. There's always something new to learn. And it's, so now that I'm in the union, you know, it's kind of almost like starting over again.
People are like, no, not really. I'm like, no, it is, you really are having to reprove yourself. And at this point I have. I have no, there is nothing in me. That's like, you know what? I'm just ready to just go straight to the top of whatever that may be department heads. I want that journey because I think that's what is so meaningful for me.
So if that means that on the next project, someone brings me on and they're like, you're just going to clean brushes for eight hours. You're going to wipe down these tables. You're going to help set up, clean up everything. I know that I will learn something just by doing that, observing, being a part of the team.
That to me is a blessing because. I'm still in the union. I'm still getting to do what I love to do, but there's going to be lessons that I'm going to learn in that. And I, I want that journey where it is because I am a nice person. I'm grateful. I'm hardworking, I'm smart working. And I am someone that can be depended on. That to me is what is going to make this career so much more fulfilling is those proper steps that I took to get to hopefully where I hope to be.
And just to be where I'm at right now is amazing because you know, 10 years ago, I wished to be in this place now. So for it to be actualized, there, there is such a, just pure appreciation, just even, you know, to have this talk right now and to get to meet you and talk with you. That was my younger self would be like, I just want to love to meet and speak with people that whose work I absolutely admire, but also their work ethic and the style that they do on the back end of it as well, just on the business side and everything.
So thank you.
Vivian: So, let me ask you another, like kind of, you know, looking for some bits and pieces and we can, so at the moment, do you have a product that you think will always be in your Vivian's set bag? Do you have any, just a handful of things that will never not be in that bag set bag.
Leesa: So so just right off the top of my mind the RCMA no color powder is definitely going to be in there anti-shine.
And I do have I love Sony Roselli products. So her skincare line is always in my kit.
Vivian: You put... into smaller things.
Leesa: I do. Yes, I do. I have some in like those click pins. And then I have some in you know, just whatever container I can put them in, make it work. Yes. I mean, I think as makeup artists, we love tiny little compact things.
It's so helpful.
Vivian: It really is. Well, if you're climbing to the top of a mountain with everything you need on top of your body, you know, that's a hard climb adding a lot of extra weight to you, so you definitely, yeah. Getting on your feet. I wanted to say to you, so when it came into light a what. Did you understand the technical parts of light?
Or could you just see? Tell me what your experience is on how you deter, how you determined that TML is a good light or walk me through.
Leesa: This is so easy to answer because right off the bat, the other light was so tungsten and it was just, it was just so yellow. And then you know, I could never find anything that had that daylight balanced.
Lighting light. You just, it was really hard to find. So once I came across these, The Makeup Lights, I mean the perfect daylight balance dimmable the fact that it was portable and easy to, to set up anywhere. For me, I mean, early on when I first got these, I knew right away that these were amazing lights, but I didn't know the technical aspect of it as much as I do now.
And I think that's just because once you get something, you end up doing that research on it. I mean, I've got three of the makeup lights right now. And then the bag I'm like, what else can I add?
Vivian: Well, you know what what's kind of interesting about all of this is that TML didn't start out as looking for a company. TML started it out as products that were needed by me that were needed by what we needed. And that ended up turning into a company because of the demand of people saying, I need that. And even at that makeup artists still, I think. As a whole don't understand lighting, even though it's everything we do, we are made or broken by the director of photography in every way.
Right. Absolutely. And digital makes it even more. Yeah, go ahead. And tell me about your experience with them.
Leesa: The innovation that you that you guys are creating is that, you know, something that's portable like a portable battery. So now you can go to the desert and if you do need light, you've got a way to have your lights set up.
You can set it up in the car. There's so many places that you can Access the light. So it's for everything. I mean, again, going back to my origination of my career, it's like working in the basement and dark settings to now actually having proper light. I mean, light has been everything and it's, it's something that it's even a conversation starter.
I mean, even with the G & E department, they'll come over and they're like, Whoa, where'd you get these lights, these are great. And it's like, well, here you go. Here's the website. And they're like, Okay. Awesome. I mean, even actors want to use these or like, if I want to do my self tapes, can I get these lights on?
I absolutely. You, they're not just made for makeup, whatever you need to have. Perfect lighting. These are it. And so for me, it's not something that's negotiable. These have to come with me everywhere.
Vivian: How did you learn where to set and how to set your lights up? How did you know how to light your environment?
Where did you learn that?
Leesa: Well, I think definitely from the videos that you guys have had before talking about it and going live and. And having that information is essential. So I'm pulling from your knowledge, I'm pulling from other makeup artists knowledge. And also just sometimes I would go on YouTube and see, okay, let me look at photographers behind the scenes set up, or, you know, people that have lighting specialty, YouTube videos, and they talk about You know, fill lights and, and all that stuff.
So it's like, okay. I started to understand the more technical reasons about why I needed to set up lights. But you know, my very first training I remember was always up, up, up and above. And that is a great place to start. If you don't know anything else...
Vivian: There's so much to learn all the time, you know, and with the digital stuff, you'll put the light on it because behind me is so cold.
The lights, the camera is registering. Meanwhile, the warm side, because it's trying to choose which one it's balancing too. So then you have kind of all kinds of issues like that as well. But yes, we're always trying to learn and every situation is different.
Vivian: What would you say to someone who's trying to get to this business?
Leesa: So I think the number one thing that I would say is you have to have passion for what you're doing. For what you want to do. So if you have passion, then everything else is going to be filtered through that. So you're going to be more willing to accept education and start from a place where it's a humble beginning.
You just want to absorb everything that you can. So I think passion and education are going to be the two biggest things that are going to help you elevate your career. I also think being mindful of your ego. And I think it's because when you are, you're going to be coming in across so many different types of people, different ideas, you have to be willing to absorb everybody's knowledge.
And I learned something from someone that just graduated from school to someone that's had 30 or 40 years in this business. So I take myself out of it and think, wow, this person who is brand new to this career is teaching me something and a new technique, as opposed to just as much as someone else that's been in this career for a long time.
So I feel like with, if you have passion, if you have education and you, and you just are a sponge for, for anything and everything around you, I think that is the most important thing because products products can, can come and go and change up. You have to be adaptable. And I think that is an aspect of where you can never just rely on one certain product or.
Buy everything that you think you need stay in your financial lane with that it's like, get the things that you need, but then everything else, your passion, your education is all gonna come with it. I think those are something that, that right now we're in this, this place where we're like, we need the best of everything.
I need this, this new trend. I need this product, but you still have that foundation of that education, that passion To say, okay. I don't know what this product is. I've got this last minute. I need to go to the store. I need to go to the drugstore. I need to grab something. All right, let's make this work.
You have to be adaptable and be a sponge ship for everything. So I think that's a long answer for that, but
Vivian: I loved it. I think you're absolutely right. Because see we do there is this idea that the product itself is magic. The product is magic in the hands of someone with a vision. Hm. And the humility to work
Leesa: and another important aspect is that I think new artists want to focus on the creative aspect, but they forget that show business has show and business in there.
And I think to be also really business-minded they don't really teach that you have something that you have to kind of learn along the way, but if you can start training yourself on how to be a more mindful business minded makeup artists. I think that's going to also help elevate your career because you're a freelancer and you're non-union, you have to learn how to budget everything.
You have to learn how to, you know, jobs are not going to always just be continuous. And so you have to understand what your means are and, and build that kind of knowledge because that's something that. Isn't taught really at schools. There's very, there's like maybe a couple hours of it.
Vivian: So what's up for you?
Where are you going next? What's your next job?
Leesa: It's called "The Pack." So it's on Amazon prime and it's kind of like the amazing race, but with dogs. Oh, that's cool. And here your love for dogs. Okay. Oh gosh. I'm a huge animal lover. So it was everything all combined into one. But I don't know. I mean, I'm, I'm open for anything.
And, you know, I'm just still new to the union. So I think people are still getting to understand who I am and to figure me out. And yeah.
Vivian: If you just get you'll find that, you know what the right, the right thing always comes along. It really does to me and you just, and as I said, you, you show up at the right time, you have the right attitude, attitudes.
First thing you are completely correct about that. So one last thing, now that you did a commercial during COVID, how was that?
Leesa: Oh, my gosh. You know, I think it, for us as makeup artists, it's really not that different because we're already such a clean and sanitary department. For us, we touch people.
And so that has never really changed for us in the way that we do things. I think the face shields and the masks are, you know, quite an adjustment masks I could be okay with face shields are, are just a little extra to adjustment to get used to, but for if you're a really good and mindful makeup artist, it's really not that much of a transition.
If you're not really, if you're not really used to the procedures, then, then it can be overwhelming. And, you know, we had to finish "The Pack" in June. And so we went back and that, that was before the guidelines had come out. And so I had really had to think about. How it was going to set up everything.
So it's better to be overcautious and you just never know what your talent how they feel. So you just have to take that all into consideration and have your setup. And it's it's I miss it hugging people and high fiving them.
Oh,
Vivian: I do too. It really has done that. Well, did the set bag, I find that the set bag for COVID is paramount because it's the only bag that zips up that you can sanitize and you can throw it in the wash with bleach and make sure that it's really clean.
So it's a set bag working for you, during your COVID times too.
Leesa: Oh Yeah, it was definitely with me. Yes. I mean, it's always with me. It's not a question. I mean, how has it been working for you? I mean, you've been. You've been working nonstop. I mean, pretty much during this whole pandemic.
Vivian: Yeah. Since June, I started my first quarantine in London and then I was sequestered there.
And then I went directly to Atlanta and I was quarantined and then sequestered there. And then I went directly to Vancouver and I've quarantined and less of a sequester or a bit of a self-imposed one because I'm not going to risk anything. And I'm not that big of a risk taker anyway. But no, but one of the things I've learned with the shields and lighting.
So I've learned like, you know, if you're in the trailer and they usually don't have screw in light bulbs, so they usually have the fluorescent lights and they go right down. What helps for me with the shield is that I just don't use those. I put the key lights up high and put the station so that I'm lighting.
But if they're up high, it doesn't get the reflection in your shield because the lights up high. It's the same thing that we use for our lights. It's not in our eye it's not in our eye light, it's just above it. So you're not looking at it and you get less reflection at under shields.
Leesa: I agree with you.
I that's that, and that's a really important note for people that may not know how to set up their lights right now, especially with the face shields. So that's. Absolutely valuable information. And I mean, and I think like another tip is to try to wear black KN-95 masks or a black mask over it. And that, that really helped.
Vivian: No, you're absolutely right. Since you don't have the reflection, the black KN-95, but yeah, you could just put like little black cloth over the white KN-95 if that's what you have, but that reflection those two things. You know, the other thing that I've learned on the reflection is to, is to flatten that curvature out.
So that makes it a little closer to your face, but it becomes a little flatter. It won't be as reflective.
Leesa: It really is important. And I think, you know, when face shields came into play that with something that you have to think about is the lighting. And these are non-negotiable. My lights are not negotiable at all.
They will be with me everywhere. I mean, I've had them for. For, I think I want to say four years now. I think it's just up to everything that I do. So the lights, I don't adjust, I have to adjust to everything else. It's like, how could I make these work?
Vivian: It's it. It's true because I totally agree. It is true.
Well, we'll have, I'm going to, you need to, we got a new Suction Cup mount that you're going to have to just, Oh my God, it will hold my Meira. Have you seen it? So here it is. So this thing it's how do I show you this? First of all, it's got this crazy arm, so you could do well, I picked out further and they would put it, you just twist it and you can lock.
So, you know, And then you can move the ball and you could tighten it up. So it is so sturdy. It's crazy turn it back to take it off to make it work easy.
Leesa: I just am always excited. What, what you guys are going to come up with next? Cause TML just has been, I think, a step ahead of everything and you know, I think so many makeup artists, we we've become obsessed and we're just hungry for it.
And I mean, there's just so many amazing products. And now to have. Not just for makeup artists now. And that's the great thing is that because so many people ask me about the lights that aren't in the business. So now to have you know, the vanities coming out for, for just everyday people to have great lighting, it's going to only improve everything for them as well.
So not just for makeup artists people.
Vivian: It comes from people on the ground. That's, you know, like this is, you know, we listen to our customers, first of all, and I'm fortunate to be in the business. I mean, I don't own TML. Actually I really don't, but you know, I get to come to him with every problem. You know, and a good husband, he's like, you know, happy wife, happy life.
And that's kind of where it started. Like, what's it going to take for me to, you know, do my best. So that's, you're saying you want to do your best to the whole concept was, is I got tired of going to set, redoing the makeup, because I couldn't see somewhere else.
Leesa: It's a need and a necessity for all of us.
So what a beautiful gift that he gave to you, but in a way he gave it to the world because it really changed.
Vivian: So the lighting that was available, wasn't what we needed. First of all, we can't look at a bare LED because it'll burn your retina so that we had to get rid of that. And then if we're going to put diffusion in front of a LED, you're talking, the lights are getting far apart to be able to look at it.
So how are you going to mount that to the mirror? so then it went into the actual technology of how to diffuse it, keep it small and get it to project because I need it to project onto the actors. So he's hired the engineers. He works with the engineers, he works with the factory and all of the testing to create, this is what he's been doing.
So it's not something that you just go buy off the shelf. He's been pioneering that technology,
Leesa: but I hope that people take away from this is that they see that I genuinely love these products. I mean, genuinely, I just don't know. I'm so grateful for them being in my kit and it's worth the investment.
And I think people need to understand that if you have great lighting, it will save you in every situation possible that you think like, Oh, I don't know if no it's okay. I don't need to bring it. Production will take care of it. Like the lighting is still something that I need that is not being equipped by production.
So. It it's, it's a staple in my house and I have the lights set up there. I bring it for me when I travel just for my own self, because don't even get me started on hotel lighting and I, you know, it's like horrible lighting, horrible, horrible lighting. So I have to have it, but then obviously for, for business purposes, it's just a non-negotiable thing.
I'm just so thankful. Thank you so much for. For making this happen for us.
Vivian: Now, what light do you take with you for yourself when you travel? Is it a Key Light?
Leesa: Yes, I take the Key Light I do. Yeah. It's just perfect for, for traveling. And so and I always bring, so I had three key lights with me, so I had one for me in the bathroom for my own personal.
And then I have the two that I brought with me for, for my makeup set up.
I wanted to ask you what has been a favorite part of your journey as being a makeup artist?
Vivian: Two things, the people that you're around that you should spend your time with are some of the most incredible people in the world because they found the business.
They're entrepreneurial by nature. They they've traveled the world. They figured it out. They're very worldly. They're very down to earth because they have to be we're out in the cold weather. We're out of the wet weather where we're not living in a place of luxury at all. We're constantly in trying circumstances to, so you surround yourself.
You're surrounded by. People who have, as you said, the passion for what they do and are willing to, in all aspects of the word, suffer to do it because there is a decent amount of that shooting all night in the cold and rain doing the things you needed to do. And I think because of that, it forces you to build character.
It forces you to decide who are you going to be? Who am I going to be? Am I going to just do the least amount possible? Or am I going to keep trying, am I going to get through the 30 days or 90 days of this job and lose it on the last two? Or can I hold it all the way through? You get to work with some of the most incredible people because of the endurance it takes to get here.
I think you'd get to force yourself to become someone who really is somebody under pressure is everyday is pressure. Every single day is under pressure. And so I like who I have become.
Leesa: I love that. Ah, I think I just need a moment. That's like so beautiful. I love that. It really is because I think, you know, The fact that you say, I love who I've become, and that's such a powerful statement and that's a law of attraction and that is, you know, creating this beautiful energy around you to accept and, and be open to loving what you do.
And I mean, the fact that we do get to do something that we, you know, have dreamed about, have worked for, and it's fun, but it's also really hard. And it does make you a really strong person. I mean, so when you're surrounding yourself with people who are just excited to be there, working hard are great at what they do.
It does make you a better person and you get to absorb everything from learning from different departments, different types of people, different environments. So beautiful what you said. And I mean, you know, I'm so appreciative to be on this journey and, you know, to, to be able to have proper tools like the lights, but then also to have these connections like you and I are having right now is such an impactful conversation and it, it, it means something to me.
So thank you.
Vivian: Thank you. And thanks for being here at you, you will be quite successful. Because that, because you have your priorities where they need to be, you know, you have to be good at the makeup. The makeup itself has to be something that will flow out of you. And that's the work that you're always doing because the hard things you do or get up at three in the morning and find your way through and trudge through that.
And now with COVID for all these other rules to get in, to be put in a hurry under a bunch of circumstances where you're forced to make compromises the minute that the actor sits in your chair and then to get to set. And then to, you know, just to get into the van these days to get, to set it and to get there and get there on time.
Everything is a series of compromises in work. That's the work we'll work it and know it's the makeup part is the fun part. So anyone who would actually be listening to this to think that you have, how can make it be hard, you have no idea. It's not.
Leesa: Yeah. And that's going to come about because you're right. It is, it really, really is.
And I think, you know I think what you're saying is that I hope people really rewind this and listen to this a few times. And what you're saying is like, especially if they're brand new, because you're hearing real truth of the dedication, your livelihood, like the compromises that you make just in your own personal life.
I mean, it's. A blessing that we get to do this, but like you said, it's really hard and you have to sometimes, you know, you just have to go with the, the mental state that you're in. If you're tired and you have to just accept and be like, okay, I know I'm exhausted. I know that this is really hard. But then what is the outcome of that is that you still get to do what you love to do.
And there is someone that is always ready and willing to go. To jump right in. So you have to remember that it is a blessing to be where you are at. Because like I said before, I had dreamed about this when I was my younger self and would have done anything possible to let me do anything to get here. So now that I'm here, I'm like, okay, how do I stay here and do it in the right way?
Because at the end of the day for me, is that. I know that I'm never going to be the best makeup artist in the world. That title is just unachievable, right? It's like the best of everything. The most creative, the most, everything. I just want it to be talented, hardworking, and smart working, but just coming from a place of like kindness and gratitude and easy to work with and someone that is going to show up and do the job.
Those, I think those little things make up to being a great makeup artist, a great crew member because of how you perceive and then how you showcase your character. So.
Vivian: You create a culture of honor around you, my dear and that powerful it really is, you honor everyone around you. You honor the craft. You honor the journey and honor is something that we definitely need a little bit more of in this world now.
That you will succeed with that. And I can't wait to be clapping you the whole way
Leesa: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. This was a really, really beautiful conversation and just thank you so much for bringing light to my day to day. And I think I'm going to be smiling all day, it's going to hurt you made my day. I just love it.
Vivian: Okay, girl, I'll see you. I'll see you when I get back to LA for sure. Which will be spring.
Leesa: Perfect. Can't wait. Happy holidays. Bye, Thank you.