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makeup to go blog tania d Russell makeup educator Los Angeles San Francisco behind the scenes

Tania D. Russell...

Tania D. Russell is a career media makeup artist of 25 years and counting with a career that has run the gamut from early hip hop videos to print advertising. Her work has appeared in magazines such as Elle Sweden and Runners’ World, on TV shows for clients such as BET, MTV, and HGTV, and for more commercial fashion and beauty clients than she can remember.

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makeup to go blog tania d Russell makeup educator Los Angeles San Francisco

Let's talk about the time I was booked to do celeb

Let's talk about the time I was booked to do celebrity men's grooming and then the day before they asked me if I could also apply six bald caps to kids?

Yep this is a real thing that happened.

"Scope of work" refers to what exactly is it that you are being hired to do. You must not assume that you know. You absolutely must ask questions before agreeing to a job.. Needless to say thinking you're gonna be doing grooming on one man and being asked to do bald caps on six kids is a significant change in the scope of work.

This is why you need to ask the right questions before you give a rate and then once you do give a rate and you do sign contracts your contract absolutely must state the scope of work. That way you have recourse when the scope of work changes.

But if you're too happy scrappy and just throw out a random number and that's it now you're stuck when the job changes.

In my case I did ask the right questions, the answer just changed. But was working with a great producer and a great client they understood we re-negotiated it was totally fine.

However I see stories all the time online of artists thinking they were doing one job and being roped in to something else entirely and then trying to figure out what to do after the fact.

Any legit client will respect the fact that you are a professional and that you will have questions before saying yes on the dotted line. If a client runs to the Hills at the first question that you ask, that is deflection being protection. Just let them go.

Do you have any stories of a job turning into something other than what you thought it was going to be? (dealing with these types of scenarios are another type of actionable skill that we help artists develop in the Five Small Things membership. Need a Confirmation Agreement for your media clients. I have that available too 👍🏾)

This is what community looks like. When I first s

This is what community looks like.

When I first started Five Small Things, one of the challenges I heard from newer artist was how difficult it was to connect with other artists. Newer makeup artists aren't doing themselves any favors by not getting to know - or worse being adversarial with – other makeup artists. To poorly paraphrase the old expression: You can get there alone, but you will get there faster together.

So it was exciting to be a part of what Fab union make up artist @makeupbyshannonmarie is doing with the Hair Makeup Artist Study Hall. I had heard about it for a minute and it really it seemed great but it seemed like it was more union oriented, I saw a lot of classes on various forms of FX and the like which is awesome, but not my world.

Turns out it's not it's open to Union and non Union and different study halls have different topics that would appeal to all artists.

I was invited to speak to this one because this one was all about the business of the business and how to keep working how to expand your career different avenues you can take within your career, etc.

I was totally mesmerized by @biancaappicemakeup and what she is doing in particular because that is so far away from anything that I do or have done and I learned so much from listening to her. (she and her husband own a special effects shop so how they bid for jobs and their whole process of contracting and the whole thing is different. Fear not I am definitely going to try to get her on Makeup to Go 👍🏾)

If you are in the greater Los Angeles area I strongly encourage you to come out to one of the Study Halls. And if you are not in Los Angeles start something like this! There is nothing stopping you from creating and building in your artist community. 👍🏾

Are there community building/networking events for the makeup artist community where you are?

Even if a client is interested in you, there is al

Even if a client is interested in you, there is always another makeup artist else available waiting in the wings.

Fam, in a slow economy where everyone is hustling now is not the time to take your sweet time in responding to inquiries. Do yourself a favor and get in the habit of replying to your inquiries as close to immediately as humanly possible.

NOW - replying to inquiries does not always mean answering the questions specifically right off the bat. It just means that you're acknowledging that this person contacted you and you are interested in keeping the conversation going. because not answering looks like a blow off and they'll just move on.

For example often times when if get an inquiry while on set I'll email (or text or whatever appropriate) back – "Hey thanks so much for contacting me, I'm at XYZ right now, do you mind if I get back to you in about an hour or so?"

The answer is invariably yes because people know that you're doing things, that's why they're contacting you is because you're doing things. However just leaving people hanging is like "OK I don't know what's going on let me see who else is available."

You never know what someone else's urgency is at the time they contact you, we've all been contacted for jobs that take place the next day. Don't lose a job just because you didn't take three seconds to respond to someone. 👍🏾

What is your turnaround time for responding to job inquiries?

One of my good friends is a "talk to anybody" kind

One of my good friends is a "talk to anybody" kind of person. They can enter any room and strike up conversation with anyone, they can work the phone and sound engaged in any situation...

That's not me lol.

Emailing, calling, going out and talking to people etc. is very much a learned behavior in my life. It's gotten easier as I've gotten older and I'm a bit more secure, but it's still not my default setting. Ironically it was realizing this about myself that made it easier to start doing it. I could not do it the way other people did it or that some folks suggested to me how to do it. I had to find a way that worked for me and my quirks in my temperament. So here are a few suggestions for the more shy folks like myself;

1. Be Genuine: Don't try to put on a façade and be someone else just be you so you can attract the right folks for you.

2. Listen More: Worried about striking up conversation? Don't, be the one who listens more. Folks love having someone actually listen to them and then the conversation becomes more genuine.

3. Stay in Service: rather than a hard sell. We aren't used cars sales persons, we are looking to align with fellow creatives. Frankly it would be nice if many used car salespeople would calm down. 🤨

4. Mitigate Overwhelm: by realizing you don't have to be everything to everybody nor do you really need to meet everybody. One on one connections often go deeper and last longer.

5. Do What You Can: and leave the rest. You don't have to be "on" all the time if that's not who you are. Faking that funk is the expressway to burn out.

With pretty much anything we would wanna do in career-life we have to create connections and get to know other people and have them get to know us. It's not always the easiest but it is always highly rewarding when it works out. What are some of your techniques for reaching out and making new connections?

OK this is my first talk to camera video so be gen

OK this is my first talk to camera video so be gentle 🥹

But seriously though I still see too many wild rate quotes happening from makeup artists. And not always from new or emerging artist either. 🤨

Listen we are all feeling it one way or another. Either working less frequently, werkin on a pivot, or just the craze cost of living nowadays or what-have-you. But a race to the bottom is never the right answer.

It hurts you individually in terms of your reputation as an artist and it can also hurt all of us cumulatively by lowering rates overall in a given market or even in the industry as a whole. (Pepperidge Farm remembers when you could easily get $1500-1800 a day for a Lookbook)

Research and mathematics will do a lot in terms of figuring out a dollar amount. But if you're too scared to ask for it nothing happens. Check out the blog post where I give practical exercises for overcoming objections and changing your own mindset towards asking for your rate. Comment RATE below and I'll send it to ya. 😊👍🏾

All images copyright of respective photographers | Many thanks to Sonya Bowman Photography, Saryn Christina Photography, and Together in Wellness RN for BTS and Portrait Images

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