TBT: A Makeover of Life: The Struggles and Triumphs of Maleigh from MLA Artistry

TBT episode: Prepare to be inspired as Maleigh from MLA Artistry shares her moving journey from a turbulent upbringing to a thriving career in the beauty industry. With a blend of vulnerability and creativity, Maleigh explores her path as a makeup artist and hairstylist, discussing how her experiences shaped her artistry. Throughout this episode, she emphasizes the significance of embracing your individuality, highlighting that our struggles can often fuel our passions.

Maleigh candidly addresses the challenges and misconceptions surrounding hustle culture, revealing how it can divert focus from personal healing and fulfillment. Her stories illustrate the complexities of navigating life as a creative entrepreneur, particularly as a single mother balancing her professional pursuits with raising a child. Through personal anecdotes and reflections, she inspires listeners to appreciate their unique journeys and the distinct narratives that accompany them.

Throughout the conversation, expect to gain valuable insights into the beauty industry, tips on self-care, and encouragement to embrace your true self amidst societal pressures. Maleigh's passion for her craft shines through as she shares her story, ultimately challenging the audience to reconsider what success truly means. Join us as we delve into creativity, resilience, and the real stories behind artistry. Don't miss this empowering episode—be sure to subscribe for more incredible insights and inspiring interviews!

Follow Maleigh here:

https://www.instagram.com/maleigh.mlaartistry/

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Episode Background
• 9:36 [Ad] PodMatch
• 10:13 (Cont.) Introduction and Episode Background
• 11:57 Throwback to Mally from MLA Artistry
• 23:03 Interview Begins: Meet Mally
• 34:36 Mally's Creative Journey Through Rapping
• 43:05 The Makeup and Hair Journey
• 1:03:50 Overcoming Challenges as an Entrepreneur
• 1:54:32 The Balance of Life: Business and Motherhood
• 3:38:36 Hustle Culture: Insights and Reflections
• 12:00:36 Closing Thoughts and Thank You

Transcript

Johnna: 0:00

What is up everyone? Welcome back to another episode that is a Take Me Back Tuesday episode this week because I decided to take the week off from recording just because work has been crazy and I have been recording a lot lately. But we will be back with some new episodes either next week or the following week, but for this Take Me Back Tuesday episode, we are playing the episode from Mally from MLA Artistry here in Huntsville. She is a makeup artist and a hairstylist, but I'm going to go ahead and play the whole clip for you. So if you have not listened to it yet or you already have, go ahead and give it another listen. All right, guys, we're going to get started.

Johnna: 0:34

I'm super stoked to have our guest Mally from MLA Artistry here on the podcast today. She is a makeup artist and a hairstylist local to Huntsville. We obviously talk about hair and makeup. We get your Instagram questions answered, but what I loved most about this interview is that she allowed me to just ask her whatever, whenever, and she was very vulnerable and opened up about her background and her story, where she came from, how she got where she is today, and it truly is just an inspirational story. So I really think you're going to like that. But before we tune into the interview, I stupidly forgot to ask her to share where everyone can find or follow her if you're interested in following her or booking her services. So if you're on Instagram, you can go to malimlaartistry. That is m-a-l-e-i-g-h dot m-l-a artistry. Go, follow her, book your services, do all the things and, of course, let me know what you think about this interview.

Johnna: 1:53

All right, what is up? Everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the babbles nonsense podcast I am here with. I was about to call you malia again. We were just talking about your name, mally, from mla artistry. I'm super excited to have you on, also super nervous, because you're like a local celebrity around here. So well, thank you for coming on and doing this. I know you're super busy and time is valuable, especially being a business owner and a mom and doing all the things which I kind of want to get into. Obviously, I started my podcast a while ago and it was about highlighting businesses, but I'm kind of transitioning to find out about people behind the business because, I'm just think different personalities are just really cool.

Johnna: 2:33

So and obviously I started following you on Instagram and then you were like doing this whole rapping thing and I was like wait you have to be an OG follower. She raps. How cool is that? So we'll start there, okay. So how did the rapping come about?

Maleigh: 2:50

So I've always been really attached to music and like when I was in eighth grade, I was obsessed with Eminem. I think a lot of that came from, like my traumatic environment as a child, like it was very chaotic and just an unhealthy household environment as a child, like it was very chaotic and just an unhealthy household environment as a whole.

Maleigh: 3:08

And I'm saying that my parents did their best but you know, same same yeah um and so from there it was kind of like it was mostly therapy for me, and also through a lot of his songs it was nice to feel like there was someone else out there in the world who's going through difficult stuff right making something of their life, and for me I do. I tend to write a lot more like eloquently than I speak in general, everyone's always like.

Johnna: 3:38

Your letters are always so good. I'm like because I talk like if it comes to my brain, it's out the mouth and it can get very jumbled in there I don't know about you, but I like to marinate my thoughts because I have so many thoughts in my head all the time. Yes, all the time.

Maleigh: 3:53

And the reason I chose rapping is actually because I cannot sing to save my life. I cannot carry a tune. I'm extremely tone deaf. It's bad, people will die if I try to sing. Okay. So I was like well, I guess I could learn to write in a format where I could rap and deliver it, because I'm a creative well.

Johnna: 4:12

I mean it's very poetic, like rapping is poetry so I like to.

Maleigh: 4:16

I wish I could be one of those people that, like I work on something to get like release and it's like a personal experience, and then I don't finish it but like, for me it's start to finish, it's like, okay, I experience, and then I don't finish it but like for me it's start to finish, it's like okay, I wrote it, but now I have to share it.

Johnna: 4:28

Does that make sense?

Maleigh: 4:29

But I have learned as I've gotten older that you don't have to share things. Some things it's probably better to keep to yourself. But especially at that stage of life and going through high school and then moving here at 18 by myself, I felt like I never had a voice, so that from I got kind of loud in that department of life that's cool, though I mean because you, coming from that background, like did, did people like?

Johnna: 4:54

were they instantly like, oh wow, you're really good at this? Or did you get made fun of when you tried to rap?

Maleigh: 4:59

I never tried to rap in my hometown, never that was.

Johnna: 5:02

That was after I moved here, and then I was like you know what?

Maleigh: 5:05

I'm just going to try it.

Johnna: 5:06

My life was.

Maleigh: 5:08

There was a bunch of stuff in my life that was extremely chaotic and confusing and I don't know. I was just very lost and that was something that I could cling on to and feel like, okay, I'm making an effort, I'm putting something out into the world that I feel like is a good part of me, if that makes sense.

Johnna: 5:26

Yeah it does Um because, like when I, when I try to get creative, like I, when I interviewed that skinny and I was just like she was like you know, you are a creative, you do a podcast, I was like oh no, I didn't think this was creative. And she was like no, that's, that's being a creator and I was like oh, I guess I am.

Johnna: 5:43

When she told me that I was just like well, that makes sense, because I go through lows too Like, where sometimes I'm like I don't even want to podcast, I don't want to talk to anybody, I don't feel like I have anything in my brain that can just come about. And then I'll get in moods where I'm like I want to talk to everybody what's in my brain, because I do have all those circulating thoughts. I'm like everybody needs to hear them.

Maleigh: 6:06

Yes, yes, like you said they don't. But also, though, I do think, because for me, I, when I put something out into the world, I want it to have value, I don't want it to just be about me, me, me, me me.

Johnna: 6:17

Yeah, like.

Maleigh: 6:17

I want it to actually add value to other people's lives, whether that's just like them not feeling alone or having inspiration or whatever. So like when you go through those phases because I go through those where I'm like super out there. Yeah, I'm on social media, I'm present, but it's because at that time I feel like I have a lot of value to add.

Maleigh: 6:34

And then you know, as a creative, we have highs and lows right and we'll go through a season and your season could be two days or it could be two months, you know. But then you get in that season where it's like okay, I think especially for me and I would assume this is probably for you too that the reason you don't want to do stuff during that time is because you're like I'm not putting my best self forward. I'm not my best right now, so I don't want to just throw stuff into the universe.

Johnna: 6:58

Right, and I will say this I had a very chaotic childhood as well still kind of as an adult and I noticed that I actually thrived in the chaos. And I recently started working with my therapist and my energy healer and she was just like, because when things get boring, I don't feel like I can be as creative. And that's a weird like dynamic in my brain. Like when things are good in my life whether it be romantic with a partner, whatever works, going great, I'm like, yeah, I don't feel like I'm creative. It's boring up in the brain and then as soon as like I'm dumped or I'm not dating or something goes on traumatic with my family, I'm like I have all these thoughts. I'm like, oh, I could do this, I could do that, I could do that, and it's crazy.

Maleigh: 7:36

But it's because you learn how to thrive in that chaos, and so that becomes your comfortable. So when you get uncomfortable, because that was a transition for me, as well as like peaceful moments and peaceful relationships. For a while, I was constantly waiting on the other shoe to drop.

Johnna: 7:51

Yes.

Maleigh: 7:52

And I'm like this can't, this can't be happening, like this is not normal. Is this what normal supposed to be like? And it was until, like multiple moments of exposure to that type of okay that I realized. No, everything I experienced prior to this was abnormal. It just felt normal because it was every single day. I experienced the same thing for so many years, and these are through crucial child development years.

Maleigh: 8:14

Like we're learning how to interact with people, like how to be social, how to have boundaries, how to have a voice and be able to communicate. And I don't know about you, but growing up I was not a strong communicator because we didn't have like open communication. It was like you don't, you're not, you don't speak until you're spoken to yeah and well.

Johnna: 8:37

I don't, I would say I wasn't. But then I have this problem where I don't say how I'm feeling at that moment and like I was always the quiet child, Like it's funny if people are listening to this and they know me because they're like what? No, but I was like at home because my sister was in trouble a lot, so I was just very quiet, I didn't want to stir anything up, Like my mom was going through a lot with her, and so then when I didn't feel like I was being heard, I would get loud and scream like angry, yes. And so now it's kind of transitioned into my adult life, where I now try to put up this void of I'm a bitch. No one can break me, but I'm actually still that very sensitive quiet person. And so all these people that have known me as being quote unquote loud when I do get quiet, they're like why are you acting different? I'm like, actually this is who I am at my core so yeah, I get that 1000%.

Johnna: 9:27

But, speaking on your creativity, you do hair and makeup. How long have you been doing hair and makeup and, like, how did you get into that?

Maleigh: 10:05

so I have. I went out on my own for my own business, started MLA artistry in 2016. Okay, before that, I'd been at an Aveda salon for seven years. Oh, wow, okay, I did not know that and I'm thinking of, like a quick way to summarize how I got into hair and makeup because I never, ever thought I would do that. I moved from my hometown at 18 here by myself. I had like $50 to my name.

Johnna: 10:31

Wow, I'm 18. When I was 18 too.

Maleigh: 10:33

Like year, I think I didn't have a bed, like I was struggling.

Johnna: 10:38

Wow and.

Maleigh: 10:39

I had no family support, it was just chaotic. At that point I was trying to like break up with everything that I knew, in the hopes that there was something out there and I could find a different version of myself and like the life that I wanted, version of myself and like the life that I wanted.

Maleigh: 10:57

But I didn't have those fundamental skills that you can get from parents, like teaching you how to like see certain signs and crucial critical thinking and things of that nature. So when I got here I really just had to figure everything out on my own and in a lot of ways I love that, because you are truly, to the core, self-made.

Johnna: 11:15

But yes, I'm from from the trenches, but I'm just like you're truly from the core, like you literally like came from the ground.

Maleigh: 11:23

Yeah, Like there were multiple periods throughout my life where I was one circumstance away from being homeless.

Johnna: 11:28

Wow.

Maleigh: 11:30

So yeah, very much from the bottom. Um, so yeah, very much from the bottom. But when I moved here, I was, like I said, just desperately. I had experienced things through my childhood and then traumatic loss, and there was never any form of therapy whatsoever, that was not even spoken of. So I definitely went down this like very lost path.

Maleigh: 11:50

So when I moved here, I was very up in the air. I had moved out when I was 17. And then, when I graduated high school, I got a presidential scholarship to our community college and so I just knew okay, well, I've always heard you have to go to college in order to have a better life and the opportunity for better jobs. So I started going that route and about a month into that first semester, I had a girl that I met one time, who lived in Decatur, alabama. She called me and she said hey, girl, I remember you saying you really wanted to get out of your hometown, and I happen to know someone who needs a roommate. I know this is so random, but what do you think? And I was like OK, I'm at this. I'm at the point in life where I'm barely holding on, like I literally don't care if I live another day.

Johnna: 12:33

So I have nothing else to lose.

Maleigh: 12:37

Yeah, but it's okay. Sometimes you just have to laugh about it.

Johnna: 12:40

It's like this is sad, but it's also like it made you who you are 100% and so anyway.

Maleigh: 12:46

So I was like, okay, I want to be impulsive, but I'm just let me sleep on it. And unfortunately I was not guided to know that your presidential scholarship is only for first time, enrolling freshmen. So I'm thinking, oh, I can withdraw from here, move to Alabama, go to Social Security Department, change my state of my state of residence and then get back in school, and that is not how that works.

Maleigh: 13:11

So when I got here, so I called her back the next day and I was like hey, you know what I'm going to do it. Um, if you promise, this girl's not a serial killer. She didn't find her on Craigslist.

Johnna: 13:20

She's like you know, right, Okay, cool.

Maleigh: 13:24

So I ended up moving down here, started waiting tables immediately and then I went to try to get back in school. Like I started making phone calls Again. I had no guidance in this department, so I was just doing the best you could, girl Best I could.

Maleigh: 13:45

And I quickly found out that well, actually, how I found out this exact information is because I was thinking, what can I go to school for right now If I can't enroll back into a college? What else could I do? And I was like, okay, well, I'm great, like, with anything creative. I'm also really good at math, or was I don't use it anymore, so probably not so much, don't put me on the spot, but I that used to be a strong suit for me. So I was thinking, okay, let me get creative. What can I do with math or something creative? What's out there? And then, obviously, on my search, I was like, oh, there's a hair school here.

Maleigh: 14:20

So I went to the Paul Mitchell or I probably shouldn't say their name because I don't have very nice things to say, but I went there and there was like a hundred dollar application fee at the time. Keep in mind, I'm super broke. Right, you said like that is grocery money for me, for sure, sure, um, if not bill money at that time. So I filled my application, I tell her my whole circumstance and I was like, listen, I can't lose a hundred dollars right now. Like I really need to know that this is an option for me.

Maleigh: 14:46

This is a possibility before I turn in this application. She reassured me it was there wasn't going to be an issue whatsoever. Well, there was an issue.

Johnna: 14:54

I already knew that was coming.

Maleigh: 14:55

I had a feeling that was coming so she ends up getting to the point of the financial aid discussion and she's like okay, well, your parents need to fill this out, and I clearly told you that I have nothing to do with my parents. Well, and you're 18 but you have to use their tax information for your financial aid. So unless I I was emancipated, which I was like, I've lived on my own for over a year at this point.

Maleigh: 15:18

I moved here by myself I don't have anyone paying my bills, Like what do you mean? I can't, I can't do this.

Johnna: 15:23

I can't apply.

Maleigh: 15:25

Obviously I didn't have money to go to court to be emancipated, so that kind of bit the dust. And in Alabama at that time you had to use your parents tax information on your on your financial aid applications.

Johnna: 15:36

I remember doing that until you were 24. Yeah, I remember that when I was in college.

Maleigh: 15:40

Yeah, so that would have been six years of me working a minimum wage job, not being able to pay my bills or get have really any progress right.

Maleigh: 15:48

So ever, and now it's different. I know jobs are easier to find now, but back then our city was much smaller. Now it's different. I know jobs are easier to find now, but back then our city was much smaller. I started waiting tables in Huntsville because I realized very quickly that Decatur was similar to my hometown in some ways. So then I had to get extra creative there and I'm like, okay, well, what can I do now? So I started searching and I found an apprenticeship and learned through that that you could basically work under an established stylist. It's double the hours of cosmetology school, so cosmetology school is 1500 hours, so an apprenticeship is 3000.

Johnna: 16:23

Oh, wow.

Maleigh: 16:24

So I was like, okay, well, maybe if I can find a salon who would be open to an apprenticeship, even if it's down the road if it's a couple years. What am I going to lose? I'm stuck for six years at least. Well, uh made a cover letter to my resume Cause it was so bad, like my resume was non-existent for real. Um cause there was only like a hostess job in my hometown that I could have done at that stage of life.

Maleigh: 16:48

So I was like this is not going to impress anybody, so I made a cover letter and basically it was like hey, I think I have interest in going to cosmetology school. Due to my circumstances I cannot, but I would love for the opportunity to work the front desk and get grounded in the environment to see if this is a good thing for me and you've got a job out of it too, If they yeah.

Maleigh: 17:07

So I ended up having two places that got back to me and were open to an apprenticeship, and having two places that got back to me and were open to an apprenticeship, and I ended up going to one of the salons. I worked the front desk for two years and then they opened a new location and allowed that master stylist to have an apprentice.

Maleigh: 17:23

So, it was like free education, still getting paid minimum wage. So seven, 25 an hour, I'm pretty sure is what that was and then the course of 3000 hours before I could take my state.

Johnna: 17:34

How long did that take you?

Maleigh: 17:35

I think it was like two years. Okay, I was gonna say that's a lot of hours.

Johnna: 17:38

If I'm not mistaken, I don't even think nurses do that many hours. It was a lot of hours. Yeah, I think it was. We do 160 clinical hours a semester, so four semesters. I'm not good at math anymore either. Yeah, so I think it was a while. Like hairstylists have more hours than nurses Probably the problem of nurses these days.

Maleigh: 17:57

It felt like forever. I actually got this tattoo which says conquer adversity, because there were times I wanted to quit. So bad because where I did my apprenticeship I was the very first one, so they didn't have a structured system at all.

Johnna: 18:12

Gotcha.

Maleigh: 18:13

Basically, can I cuss on this? Yes absolutely, I was basically a shampoo bitch. Okay, everyone who didn't want to shampoo their clients was like hey, now come shampoo my guy. So I really hated it in that regard.

Johnna: 18:25

But you're like this is what a hairstylist does. No, thank you. Yes.

Maleigh: 18:28

But I did have to take the initiative to and luckily I'm a visual learner so I would go watch people formulate and like mix things together and like see what the how the client started and how it ended yeah so from that exposure I did pick up a lot that I don't feel like you would really pick up in cosmetology school, because it's real life circumstances and then it's also from people who've had continuing education outside of cosmetology school right, so it's people have figured it out.

Johnna: 18:53

They've gone through their learning curve and they're doing things to the because I had several high school friends, because I'm from a very small town I'm not from here either, I'm from Winchester, tennessee, okay, um, and our high school had like a cosmetology class that you could start at the beginning, like 10th grade to 12th grade, and if you did all your hours then you didn't have to go to cosmetology school. You had to do like like so many hours, because I remember my friend amy did so many hours and she stayed after school to get more hours. So I wonder if it was the same like thing apprenticeship, but they did it at school, more like a tech school, yeah, yeah, but it was.

Maleigh: 19:25

It was during high school, well, and when I moved here, I heard there was somebody who was like yeah, we do that at my high school. I don't know which one, but I was like, seriously, yeah, there was like, and we had welding well, we had.

Johnna: 19:36

We had that too and, shockingly, we only had one high school, but it was a huge high school for multiple counties and I guess because it was such a small town, like maybe they were like these kids need jobs. I don't know yeah.

Johnna: 19:48

I don't know, but I know she didn't have to go to cosmetology school, she just just did it throughout high school, but she like because they only had one period for it, so it was like an hour, two hours, and she had to stay after class, I remember, cause she would stay from like three to six and people could make appointments like in town, and so I remember she used to like practice on me. Yeah, Cause she would practice on me with perms and stuff. So I was like love that for me.

Maleigh: 20:11

Probably probably. You probably don't have those photos anymore, do you no?

Johnna: 20:16

they were like weird perms. It was like this perm that was like not supposed to be permanent and I can't remember what she called it. Like she put these rollers in and it wasn't like a solution. It was like a heat perm or something. I don't know, it was weird, but it sounds very similar to what you went through.

Maleigh: 20:30

Yeah, so you, so you started makeup first or sorry, hair first, I started hair first and then when did you transition into the makeup portion? So working at the salon? Because at the Aveda salon they had a makeup counter but makeup has never been the focus. The focus, well, at least at that Aveda salon, it was just a thing there with products that people could buy really like the Jane Ardell or whatever.

Johnna: 20:52

No, it's Aveda.

Maleigh: 20:53

Okay, they have makeup yeah, you can't use it for any of what, at least not then. It was very powdered sheer like the pigment. It didn't have a lot of pigment payoff. Um, it was not event makeup it was. I want to just look super natural, maybe with a hint of color somewhere, um, but that's how I was able, because I had access to that, because, again, I'm still super broke.

Johnna: 21:20

Yeah, and makeup is expensive.

Maleigh: 21:23

Yeah, so that was how I started getting into it a little, and then I realized that I enjoyed that so much more than hair.

Johnna: 21:30

Okay, because of the creative aspect, hair is also a creative thing, but I don't know, I guess because I love to draw and paint, that was gonna be one of my questions for you, because every single makeup artist I know every single one of them draws or paints and I'm like it has to be something like right, like I was just like, and you know colors and you can like, figure that out, like, but everyone I know and then my friend who is an actual artist, went to school for art school does her own makeup like, um, like, and we'll just do all these different crazy looks, and I'm just like every single person I know that draws or paints does really good makeup.

Johnna: 22:06

That definitely makes sense, yeah, it does make sense Cause you're using that artistic side of your brain which you already had. Going back to what we talked about at the beginning of the podcast, you were already formulating that artistic side of you very young at rapping and did you ever make that connection like later and say, you know, I knew I was artistic, like with writing?

Maleigh: 22:24

Oh, I know, I was artistic from the very beginning. I was the kid that which, for other reasons, I probably just stayed in my room a lot but I was thinking that would be in there talking to herself drawing as a kid I did not need. I didn't need people. I just learned what's probably also suffering silence. Right, this probably. Maybe it would have been different with a different environment, but I loved staying in my room in my little safe space and drawing, and I would draw every single day.

Johnna: 22:50

That is awesome. That is amazing. So, going from that creative side then. So you did that and then you opened up. You said MLA in 2016 on your own. Were you more? I know you started out with nothing. Were you more at that time? Like I'm self-sufficient, I've got this going on. I know what to do because I started. I went from a W2 employee job because I'm in healthcare to a 1099 contract and, even though it's not the same as like a business owner, I get a little glimpse of it and it is terrifying.

Maleigh: 23:17

Yes, so I never had in I actually never had plans to go out on my own. I've never wanted to run what I had never wanted to run a business. Um, I never wanted to have employees, which is actually why I don't. I haven't scaled my business, because I don't want to babysit adults, I don't have the patience for it and I have very high standards. In that I feel like a lot of people probably wouldn't meet, not because of them, just because I have very specific expectations yes, and the reason I actually ended up going out on my own.

Maleigh: 23:51

so I wanted to start doing a lot more makeup because at that point my niche was I was really great at color services and I always got like the big color clients. But what would happen is I'd have these color services that took like four hours because they were making transformations and at the salon I was at you, you made 45% commission and you couldn't get to the next tier unless you had not. What was it like? 90 clients a month, I believe.

Johnna: 24:18

I'm pretty.

Maleigh: 24:19

I'm pretty positive. That was the number. It was a specific number of clients. Long story short, I got frustrated because there's some stylists who their niche was men's cuts. Well, that's a 30 minute service versus a four hour, like I'm with one client a lot longer for transformation.

Johnna: 24:34

If you're doing an eight hour day, you've got two clients.

Maleigh: 24:36

Exactly Um, and they did double book there. So there was working around that a little bit, but it definitely put me in the space where you know I had great online reviews, I had high client retention, but I couldn't grow past a certain number because my hours did not allow me to do so. So I couldn't get to the next tier where I'd have a higher commission rate and I realized that I'm kind of plateauing at this point and I also really wanted to get into makeup. But and there was actually a room in the back of the salon that I'd asked I was like, hey, can we turn this into like a private makeup studio? Because I have to bring, when I started doing clients actual makeup clients that they were paying for services. I was bringing in my own products, which again cost a decent amount.

Maleigh: 25:19

Okay. So I'd asked I was like well, since I'm bringing in my own products and stuff, could I rent this room and do services here? I can add them on and like make something that way. So basically like my own business, but not, I'm still here. I'm doing here, but that gives me opportunity to like grow what I actually have found that I am very passionate about. I loved it and that was that was a no, so I was like, okay, I can't go any further here.

Maleigh: 25:44

And through my stint there I also became a single mother to my daughter and I had her the. So I just finished my apprenticeship program going into pregnant pregnancy and I was pregnant towards the end. I get those two years, kind of I was either pregnant or just had her when I finished my apprenticeship, I think.

Maleigh: 26:08

I think I was pregnant and passed state boards and then had her, if I remember correctly, but it's kind of all blurred. Um, there was a lot going on during that time too. But long story short, I had her and I didn't have a clientele bill, so I went from hourly pay to commission pay with no clientele. I literally made eighteen thousand dollars that year.

Maleigh: 26:31

I was gonna say that is as a single mother with no family support, no financial backing. I have been abandoned by her biological father. At this point I tried to get like assistance through the state and that was a whole nother podcast yeah, a whole, yeah one. Um, let's just say it was comical, yeah, okay my sisters have had that.

Johnna: 26:53

They've talked to me about their issues when it comes to that, because they were single moms and stuff too, and I was just like y'all make me never want to have kids, ever it was.

Maleigh: 27:01

That sounds terrifying it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Johnna: 27:05

Well, she is gorgeous, by the way like she needs to be a little child model and you could be rich off of her.

Maleigh: 27:10

I think God knew what I could handle at that stage and he was like I'm gonna give you a little you and she is gorgeous, and when you post her pictures.

Johnna: 27:17

I'm like, oh my gosh, like she just needs to be on a magazine somewhere like seriously, oh, she needs to. She really does. Um. You're saying like you, um how you went out on your own, you did the apprenticeship and you started doing makeup with the studio okay.

Maleigh: 27:32

So at this point where I realize I've plateaued, I have a kid that I'm providing for completely by myself, and daycare, rent car insurance, car payments, bills, all the things.

Johnna: 27:44

Right.

Maleigh: 27:45

It's a lot, obviously, in caring for a child. So it was kind of a I was kind of my hands were kind of forced because I knew that I was. I didn't want to stay like that for 10 more years, right that? Is not the life that I want to have. So then I was like I actually went and interviewed in Atlanta because my aunt lived there.

Maleigh: 28:06

And although we had never been close, she was seemed like the one person from my family I could probably relate to in the sense that she was welcoming, so I felt safer with her in some way.

Johnna: 28:15

So I have a great aunt. I have a great aunt that we didn't become close to later in my life and now I gravitate to her all the time.

Maleigh: 28:21

Yeah, um, I think she's just a good person. So I went and interviewed up there. She was totally okay with me and Kagan staying with her until I got on my feet and killed the interview. Hated the whole process of finding the salon, finding where to park.

Johnna: 28:39

Right.

Maleigh: 28:39

And I'm like I have a small child and I'm already I don't want to say paranoid, because they are very real occurrences that can happen and because of things I was desensitized to as a child, I know about a lot of ugly stuff in the world which makes me not oblivious and some people could probably view it as being kind of paranoid, but I'm like no, I know it 100% happens.

Maleigh: 29:02

No, yeah, and because I don't have oblivion in that regard. I'm hyper aware of situations, circumstances, environments and I did not feel like I would feel safe there right my child as a single mother yeah so I was like, okay, nope, that's not gonna work.

Maleigh: 29:20

So I came back and literally did not even put thought into it because I knew I would. There were so many things that said this could go really badly. So when I came back from that interview they had just opened up solo salons. Now the reason I said I know it could go really badly is because the price point as a single mother with no child support and making 45 of my commission earnings at a salon, I was not.

Maleigh: 29:47

I was not thriving right right um, and the rental rate at that point for the space that I rented was 350 a week a week, yes, so how do people just start out of school then like they probably have family to support okay, I was just like that's crazy, like someone's like okay, yeah, well, it's cheaper than paying for college, right?

Maleigh: 30:07

well, okay, if you, if you put it in that, so maybe we'll support you for the first year, if I had to yeah, I don't know, it's like that's yeah, that's a lot of money yeah, so then I literally went in, viewed the space, got the numbers and I went back to the house and I wrote a check and then I took it up there the next day, cause I was like, if I don't do this now, if I don't commit, I'm going to talk myself out of it.

Maleigh: 30:28

I have to. This is that stage of life where I have to jump, Just like when I moved here. I had to take a chance on myself, because if I don't take a chance on myself, no one else is, no one's coming to save me, Okay. So I was like I can either jump and fall or I can jump and fly. So I was just determined that whatever I had to do, I was going to make it happen. And I was there for a year and two months, I believe, At the end of my year lease. I had found the space to rent that I'm currently in now. So I've been there. What is that? Six or seven years, I guess? Um, and I will say the rental rate at Sola prepared me for going out and not having a closet that I'm paying 1400 plus a month for which is crazy.

Maleigh: 31:15

But I don't know, maybe pricing's gotten better since uh, probably not.

Johnna: 31:20

Have you seen Huntsville growing? I doubt it. Yeah, it's probably like triple what you were paying at the time, if I had to guess.

Maleigh: 31:25

Yeah.

Johnna: 31:26

I mean, I don't know how people do it, but they seem to do it. Now, I'm not a TikToker. I like to use TikTok for research only. I really wish I could get into TikTok. I'm still an Instagram OG reels person, but I see all the trends like in makeup and hair. Trends like in makeup and hair and like they go from like the class. Someone said on a podcast the other day that the classic style is out and mob wives is in. Have you heard that that's a trending thing? I actually don't have.

Maleigh: 31:53

TikTok. And then the whole thing came with, like the privacy and all of that. And my husband is in some groups with, let's just say, people that are really, really, really successful, and they have people that you have to pay a lot of money to give you good advice, and so when he was like they will not have TikTok and have deleted it, I was like you know what?

Johnna: 32:15

I'm just gonna take this as a sign?

Maleigh: 32:16

I don't know, but I'm gonna follow the lead of people who have better resources than. I do and I'm just gonna delete it, and because I have everything on my phone do and I'm just going to delete it, and cause I have everything on my phone.

Johnna: 32:26

Yeah, so I was just like curious, like what is a mob wife look?

Maleigh: 32:30

Uh well, it's like the fur coat and the earrings, like, have you ever watched like gangster movies?

Johnna: 32:37

Yeah, but I was just like, but I didn't like, cause they were talking about the makeup itself, like how people were going from like you wanted to look, like you had no makeup on at all, to a mob wife and I was like I'm thinking New Jersey it's Boulder.

Maleigh: 32:48

Okay, is it like a New Jersey statement?

Johnna: 32:51

yes, I'm like I don't know how to do makeup. Olivia taught me one time and I still don't know how to do it, so I just don't even try and she gets mad at me and you're probably going to be grossed out by this. I still have my first eye makeup thing that I bought. When was that? That was 2010 do?

Maleigh: 33:06

you don't use it though do you?

Johnna: 33:11

yes, I do. I was like, well, they need to make them smaller or something.

Maleigh: 33:14

I don't know what to say soak it in some alcohol or something. I clean the brushes, yeah, but the brush touches your face and your skin.

Johnna: 33:23

I wear makeup like twice a year, so I was just like I'm not buying new makeup every time I want to put makeup on.

Maleigh: 33:28

So I don't blame you it's gross.

Johnna: 33:29

I know out there everyone, I'm gross.

Maleigh: 33:31

I mean as long as you clean it. But it'd be different if you said it was a cream product that you've had since 2010. I would be like girl.

Johnna: 33:37

No, it's just one of their max little, uh, four little eyes, because it's the only one I know how to apply. Yeah so, but I do have some questions from you, from the gram, so let me pull these up. Let's see how do you feel about hustle culture, like working seven days a week and then not working or picking your own time?

Maleigh: 33:57

So I was very much in the hustle phase of my life, well, literally since I moved out on my own, and what I can say about that is, to a degree it can be admirable, because you're fighting against exhaustion and all the thoughts that say, you know, tomorrow's going to be awful or whatever it may be, and you're showing up and you're delivering. I do think that there is something that says a lot about your character if you're able to do that and push through and persevere. But I am against hustle culture because through all my years of hustling and trying so hard to prove my worth as a person and an artist and all of those things, it kept me distracted from inner healing. Yeah, there was like, yes, I got to the point where I was like I'm gonna prove everybody wrong and I did. But guess what? When I did, it still wasn't enough, right. And then what I started to do is attach my accomplishments to my worth and think about it.

Maleigh: 34:59

You have a kid, right? You? You birth a child. It's a brand new baby, or you know, you're watching your friend's kid. Okay, brand new baby. This baby can't do anything, it lays there, it eats, it poops, but you know that you're going to protect it with everything in you, because that child has value. Right, we all entered this world with value and worth, and the world has a really tricky way of making us feel like we have to prove that.

Johnna: 35:24

Right.

Maleigh: 35:25

And that's through accomplishments or material things, or you know all of that.

Johnna: 35:29

I agree, one thousand percent.

Maleigh: 35:32

I feel like the hustle mentality and well, not the hustle mentality but the hustle culture it keeps us from being able to take the time to heal, because and I actually didn't realize that until COVID happened and then you had to sit with your thoughts yes, so when my business was shut down for six weeks which I wasn't necessarily stressed about the money aspect because of my circumstances I know that I always need a reserve. So, like, when you own a business, they tell you, no matter what, always keep at least three months of operating expenses in the bank. Like, don't touch it. It needs to always be there, um, for situations, life situations that happen three to six months ideally, but three months minimum, um, so I wasn't too stressed about that aspect because I was a lot more settled in life. But that was when I had to sit in my thoughts and I realized, like after not being able to do stuff, like not being distracted with services and clients and not seeing money come into my account, that I started to realize how much I had not healed.

Maleigh: 36:37

And there was a lot of things, like my inner child that was just so hurt and bruised and damaged and felt so unworthy, and all these feelings started coming like rushing back to the surface and in that moment I realized I have to focus on healing. I have to. It doesn't matter whose makeup I do, what events, I'll work.

Maleigh: 36:56

And that's also part of what's kind of tricky in the beauty industry is because we all fall into this pattern of chasing significance without even realizing it Right, Like we feel like we have to work a red carpet event or we have to do this, we have to work music videos, we have to do New York fashion week, which I worked in 2020, but To try to get to that next level Cause, like you said said you feel like you start plateauing and then you got to step up and you got to do this, but it's never. It's honestly, when your mentality is like that, it's never going to be good enough oh, one thousand percent.

Johnna: 37:28

One thousand percent, and that can you, could. We could say that about anything like because beauty in itself and aesthetics. Like I go in and get lip filler, I go and get Botox, then I'll get this done, and I and I've got my eyes done. When is it going to be enough? When am I going to say, okay, you're fine the way you are, yeah, you know. So that's an anything. And I like the way that you explain that, because I to like work, work, work. All the time.

Johnna: 37:49

I came from nothing, grew up in a trailer park and I was like I'm never gonna live that way again. So now I'll always have worked two jobs, because I'm always scared, like what happens if one? The one time I didn't have two jobs, my doctor left the facility and then they were like hey, you got seven weeks to find one. The one time I didn't have a backup job and I was like, never again, I'll always have two jobs. But then I noticed when things go wrong in my life, like if I go through a breakup or something, I'm like, oh, I'll just pick up extra hours.

Maleigh: 38:16

I'll just pick up extra hours. I'll just pick up extra hours. You're back in the hustle mentality, and part of that comes from survival, but it also comes from, I think, a way that we feel like we have power and control to some degree.

Johnna: 38:28

Yeah, no, I like the way you explain that, because I don't know if I've like I felt that way, but I think you just articulated it better than I can. Okay, the next question I have is your lip gloss. Somebody asked how did you create your? Is it lip gloss or it's lip?

Maleigh: 38:42

okay, lip gloss line so actually that that was one of those things, one of my little projects that I did when I was like you know what I need? Something new, and then the online orders got a little overwhelming.

Maleigh: 38:54

So after I finished the last batch I had, I made there was a whole, I made a whole, nother one, and I never even like redid my inventory and they were doing so good I know, because then I got back really big and busy into wedding season and all that and I was like I can't keep up with this. And then I have a daughter too, so there's picking her up from school certain days and her events and basketball games and softball games and work.

Johnna: 39:18

Was it coming back? Are you going to bring it back, girl? I?

Maleigh: 39:21

need to bring it back, because I actually went and got one of the tubes. I need to make, obviously, a whole fresh batch because I'm a perfectionist and we're not.

Johnna: 39:29

She's like we're not doing that 15-year-old Mac makeup that you got. We're not doing that, we're throwing that away.

Maleigh: 39:35

But I did start using it and then I was like this this is really great, I need.

Johnna: 39:39

I remember when you posted it and I was like I was going to get one and it sold out. Yeah, so, because they were like flying off the shelves.

Maleigh: 39:45

So it was, it was great.

Johnna: 39:47

I loved it. So, y'all hear that. Whoever asked that question?

Maleigh: 39:50

it may come back. It's coming back, it's just, I just have to get my life together a little bit.

Johnna: 40:01

And then the next question I have for you is do you have a favorite makeup brand for um professional that you do professionally and then that you do for?

Maleigh: 40:05

personal, or is it the same like just the whole?

Johnna: 40:06

yeah, just like a brand like do you prefer one than your professional kit versus, like, if you're using it at home?

Maleigh: 40:12

honestly, I'd say my two go-to makeup brands are NARS or Dior okay those are my two favorites.

Maleigh: 40:20

Uh, nars is one of those that's been a favorite of mine from the very beginning of my career and the consistency with the quality of their products has maintained all the way through Um. So I just feel like I can trust their new products too if I want to try something new. And then Dior I actually started trying their products through Nikki Wolfe, who's a makeup artist out of London who I really just love her style of makeup and also who she shows up as on social. Obviously I don't know her personally we feel like we know them.

Maleigh: 40:51

I know we very much do um, but those two okay, would be my go-to and then do you have specific makeup colors.

Johnna: 41:02

How do I word this? I should have word like they. They're basically they're asking for different color assets. Do you have different colors that will make their eyes pop more? Do you have recommended, recommended colors?

Maleigh: 41:13

um. So I have all my palettes are separated by like tonal values. I have like my neutral shades, I have one that's like blues and greens, and then I've got purples and blush colors. So I'll have separate palettes for everything and I don't ever pick out an eyeshadow color until one. They show me their inspo, which I make. Every client show me an inspo to some degree, or they have to show me what they normally do for their makeup. So I know a comfort level, because you can do a killer application and they can look like a million bucks, but if they don't feel comfortable in it, it's like if a red lip look great on you but you think, oh God, it's too, much and you walk out.

Maleigh: 41:52

you're not going to be confident in that Right. So I definitely make people show me photos at this point, and I don't ever pick a color until I know all of that okay, yeah, that makes sense.

Johnna: 42:02

Yeah, and do you have a look like, do you have a signature look that you like to do on people that, if they're comfortable with it? Like, do you like doing more glam, more classic or my style, a mix of it?

Maleigh: 42:14

I would say, my signature look like what I would love to do all the time is a full face that's well blended so that it photographs softer. Um, a lot of times people come in and they're oh, I want, I really like this look from your page. You know, just keep it natural. I love how natural it photographed and I'm like baby. That is a full face of makeup. Um, and I the reason? I have a very strategic system that I use, where I strategically layer products for the longevity aspect. Um, because, for me personally, I don't ever want to touch up my makeup, I don't want to touch up my lips, I don't want to have to touch up my brows, nothing, okay. So I want it to be locked but not feel heavy, okay, okay. So, uh, strategic layering. For sure, I am a huge fan of just the neutrals, natural tones. I just feel like it's such a classic look and I will never be over, like the bronzed yeah natural neutral tones.

Johnna: 43:08

I like to when the classic look comes out because, number one I already don't wear makeup enough because I don't know how to apply it and if I do go out, it's a tinted sunscreen and mascara. That's what I know how to do and I'm like at least this is the look that's in. Everybody's trying to look like they're not wearing makeup with makeup, yeah.

Maleigh: 43:23

I mean I think even in my neutral tones and all that is very clear, I have a full face. I love a solid contour.

Johnna: 43:31

I mean, if I knew how to do it, I would. But like I'm not artistic over here trying to draw, not, not, not my jam. Let's see what is our next question. If someone doesn't know where to start with makeup, where would you tell them to start? Is there some products to only choose? Maybe a brand that works better? How would you tell them to start learning If it was?

Maleigh: 43:54

someone really new with makeup. I would actually ask two questions. First One, what is your favorite feature? And two, what is your least favorite? Okay, because obviously when we do makeup, it's because we want to feel a little bit better about ourselves right Like not better about ourselves like we need it, but just like enhance, right, Right.

Maleigh: 44:12

So, for example, if someone's concern was pigmentation issues, well then I would say lock down a foundation, like learn how to color correct and have an even foundation, if that's what's going to make you feel better. So it would be like a. That would be a case by case.

Johnna: 44:29

Yeah, I mean that makes sense. I like that Because if, like, if I, if it's me in front of you, because I've told you I don't know how to do I'm like, I really like the color of my eyes. I think my eyes stand out when I have makeup on them. How, like, where would I start with that?

Maleigh: 44:42

Yeah, so if you wanted your eyes to pop, but I also like to start small because we can always add more. And I think a lot of times and this is actually part of why I don't do a lot of lessons is because I feel like it kind of needs to be a layering process, because you don't want to be overwhelmed.

Johnna: 44:59

Yeah, because you're going to walk out the door and you'll forget.

Maleigh: 45:02

Yeah, even if you have a product list, even if you have a step-by-step instruction, it's a lot more to take on when you're doing 20 steps first two steps. So if someone came to me and was like, hey, I want to start getting into makeup, I do not wear makeup. I would start with like a very like for you, just a very natural eye line, flick up, application, get you to master that and then work on the next thing.

Johnna: 45:25

Okay, that would be my like little mini courses. Yes, why don't you do that? Why don't you like put together like little mini courses and sell them?

Maleigh: 45:31

yeah, I've thought about it.

Johnna: 45:32

I'm just like because I would buy them, because, like Olivia, like she taught me that one time and like I said, I walked out the door and I was like how?

Maleigh: 45:39

did she do that again?

Johnna: 45:41

She told me I don't remember.

Maleigh: 45:43

Yeah.

Johnna: 45:44

I mean, I have a good memory but I was like I tried to go home and I was like, screw it, where's my old Mac?

Maleigh: 45:49

makeup, yeah, and. But I will say, if you do go for a full makeup course and you're brand new to it, make sure that one thing that I recommend, if I do a one-on-one, is to lay out your products on the counter in the order of what you're going to use them, leave them there and I tell people. So if you let's just say you did a lesson today, okay, tomorrow morning, I would say, take the time to sit down and try to do your makeup, just as I did, while it's fresh on your mind and do that for the next three days, because if you wait three days you're like, oh, I just don't want to do it today, I'll do it.

Maleigh: 46:26

Then there's little information, that's going to completely leave your brain, but if you repeat the steps, you do remember that makes sense. Those first three days, you're more likely to retain the information.

Johnna: 46:36

I think I tried to repeat it like a month later. Well, to retain the information.

Maleigh: 46:39

I think I tried to repeat it like a month later. Well, yeah, that was probably a little problematic.

Johnna: 46:43

All right, you're stranded on a desert island. You can only take three products with you. It could be hair or makeup.

Maleigh: 46:49

Oh, it's definitely gonna be makeup. I don't care about my hair. Look I should.

Johnna: 46:53

I don't. Clearly it has not been washed in Sunday.

Maleigh: 46:57

No shame in the game. Three products, one one. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate my eyebrows why, 100%. My eyebrow product has to come with me, and moisturizing lip gloss for sure, yep.

Johnna: 47:11

And then I feel like I should say a tinted moisturizer with SPF, but if that's not your product in your bag, this is all. Just, this is random. Questions that were submitted via.

Maleigh: 47:22

Instagram, yes, but actually in my purse. That that is three things Before I have my tendon moisturizer, which actually Maybelline really came through with a tendon moisturizer yes, and I use shade 120 in theirs and I love it because it's got SPF 30 in it and I'm one of those people that people are going to judge me right now, but I don't wear SPF like I should and it's because your skin looks really good oh well, thank you, I'm like you look like you wear SPF all the time no, um, but there's certain SPFs that I've used on my face that are for your face, and I'm talking like nice brands yeah and they cause these like little dots.

Maleigh: 48:02

So it's not like acne, it's not a breakout, but it's. I know what you're talking about, yeah and I'm like I'm not using that, I don't my face was perfectly smooth, and now it's not so uh, but that is one of the products that has SPF in it, and it's Maybelline, and also, dior has a foundation that I use that has SPF in it. So let's say I'm going to a pool day and I want to look kind of put together. Um, that one has more coverage too.

Johnna: 48:25

So you would wear something like that. So it's just a tinted sun. When you say tinted moisturizer, is that?

Maleigh: 48:30

the same moisturizer with sunscreen in it.

Johnna: 48:33

Okay, okay, that makes sense. All right, let's see how. Oh, you already answered that how to make, how to make makeup last all day. You said strategic layering strategic layering.

Maleigh: 48:44

Yeah, when I so people it's funny, cause like proms or whatever the event may be, I'll go. Oh, I only have like an eight 30 in the morning left. Oh, we don't have pictures till six. Will it hold up? And I'm like, yes, girl, I do not ever recommend sleeping in your makeup, but I wore my makeup application 26 hours. When I worked fashion week 26 hours, I had the last, so I had the last two shows or the last show and then the first show the next morning and it was also New York.

Maleigh: 49:14

So I'm paranoid and I'm one of those people that, even if it's me meeting someone at a gas station off marketplace to drop off something, I have to be early Because I have anxiety about being the same and that's also part of why I decided to cut back on weddings is because it's if I have to be there at 9am and it's an hour drive means I need to leave by 8am at latest, but then I always am 15 minutes early to set up and then I need an extra 30 minutes to buffer because I'm that person that if I have a blowout and it's someone's important day, I need time to call Uber, right stuff transferred and be there. But I don't communicate that with clients so they don't know. That also comes with my price point too, and I'm just like the anxiety with right it's just not worth it anymore.

Johnna: 50:00

Well, I want to go back for just a second. How did you even get into New York fashion week, like? That's like really bad-ass, um so this is in the industry.

Maleigh: 50:08

You, you have to just shoot shots. Okay, a lot of times you're going to be ignored, sometimes you won't, um, but so a guy that I used to do that used to do hair at the salon I worked at. He moved to New York and.

Maleigh: 50:22

I had already started referencing. So if I let's just say I wanted to work New York fashion week or I want to work Miami swim week, I'll look at the designers that were there last year and then I'll look up in the articles who their makeup artists were, so I know who the lead artist were because there is a possibility that they're going to work the next fashion.

Johnna: 50:42

Oh, that's smart.

Maleigh: 50:43

So I did start doing research in that regard as to like, okay, what artists? What were the lead makeup artists? Cause a lead artist has a team of makeup artists, and um so I was on Ramona's team for that, and Ramona actually worked with this male stylist that I had been friends with before he moved to New York, so he had told me to reach out to her.

Johnna: 51:04

Okay, so you kind of already knew someone on the on the inside a little. I didn't know her at all, so you had like a um.

Maleigh: 51:11

So I was like hey, do you have any names? Like when I was doing my research on my list, I was like do you have any names that I could could possibly reach out to? So he, he gave me her name because they had worked like a photo shoot or something together, I think, and I ended up reaching out to her on Instagram. I shoot my shot on Instagram. Oh, I did.

Johnna: 51:28

I do too. I've obviously reached out to you. Oh, I reached out to nobody. Nobody knows Case Kenny, but but, like in the podcasting world, case Kenny's pretty big like he's been on NBC, abc, all the, all the things.

Johnna: 51:38

his podcast blew up and I was at Disney one year when I first started my podcast. Had no business asking this man to be on my podcast, like he always tells people to comment on his photos and he'll respond, and I was. I looked at my friend, I had margaritas at Epcot and I was like I was feeling myself.

Maleigh: 51:52

I was like I said I'm going to ask him.

Johnna: 51:55

I said because you, I mean, this could be really big for my podcast, like you know, whatever. And she was like do it. And I said do you want to be on my podcast? And he said DM me, literally immediately. And I said I DM'd him. I said so like I just started a podcast. Would you like to come on? He was like I would love to. And I was like what, wait, wait?

Maleigh: 52:10

wait what.

Johnna: 52:25

Like you're supposed I did, because I hadn't. I should have waited until I like like you obviously weren't gonna shoot your shot to go to New York Fashion Week when you first started you. You want your skill to be perfected. I should have waited. That was probably. That was the worst interview ever. Like I was asking questions and going okay, next I was just, but he also was not giving me any conversation and I was like to be a podcaster. You really should have taken this over. Yeah, but he was also very hot and I was just very like intimidating all the way around, yeah.

Johnna: 52:43

I was just like and he canceled on me like three times so yeah until we finally did it. But no, I get that yeah but I mean it did.

Maleigh: 52:51

It took her a couple of months to respond yeah um. So if you don't get a response, just shoot your shot again. There is no shame in it no sometimes I even joke about really not trying to be an IG creeper. But what?

Johnna: 53:02

do you think about this? Well, I mean that, yeah, you're never gonna get somewhere if you don't. I mean, that's how I feel like people if you don't know someone, how would you get in?

Maleigh: 53:10

or work your way.

Johnna: 53:11

Yeah, yeah if that's your ultimate goal, yeah, like.

Maleigh: 53:14

I think the best way to go about it, though, is because like well, like you said, I did have a lot of experience like that was visible online, because I had been really on top of my Instagram account, like my business Instagram, and then I had a website. I had, you know, a lot of client reviews all five stars. They were written reviews, so it was like, once she opened my message, she wanted to click on my page.

Maleigh: 53:38

She could see my work and then she could click on my website link and be like oh, okay, well and then choose to respond or not. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I do think, just really preparing yourself for those moments because sometimes it happens completely out of the blue, yeah, and as long as you have enough evidence out there that says, hey, like I'm pretty good at what I do.

Johnna: 53:57

Or yeah, yeah, I was not.

Maleigh: 53:59

I had like five episodes out had no business shooting my shot no, it was a lesson learned. It wasn't a loss, it was a lesson so then I just stayed local.

Johnna: 54:08

I was like, let's not reach out to celebrities. How about we don't do that yet anyways? Um, somebody did ask a question. Where was it? Because I'm trying to bounce around these. Um, how to do, or do you have any tips for hooded eyelids when it comes to applying eye makeup?

Maleigh: 54:26

tips for hooded eyes always carry. I don't even really worry about the eyelid in that moment. I carry my eyeshadow there but I bring it up into the crease. That's my focal point with a hooded eye, because when they look straight ahead you can't see the eyelid itself at all. I usually keep that pretty monochromatic just because you also get a lot of transfer on eye shapes like that. And if their eyes so hooded that you can't do eyeliner without it transferring, then I would do eyeliner on the under part of that lash line.

Maleigh: 54:59

So, yeah, but that way when they open their eyes it's not transferring. Um, because we also live in Alabama, I know we have, you know, waterproof eyeliner and all these things, but when you're you have a lot of skin friction from your eye opening and closing and then we have like a lot of humidity you know, uh, that's, it's all over your face, even if you do all the right steps, there's still the possibility of it transferring, even with proper priming and all of it okay.

Maleigh: 55:24

So I try to avoid those circumstances, like those possibilities. I'm like no, we're gonna do.

Johnna: 55:29

Eyeliner on the waterline that makes sense, yeah, and then I may play up their lashes.

Maleigh: 55:36

So typically, if their eyelid is, you know, when they close their eyes they have a decent space, but when they open it it's very small, like it goes all the way back. I usually do lashes that go just above the crease okay, and that the length of that would decide on.

Johnna: 55:50

You know, obviously, their how their eyes is this really is an art, like sitting here listening to you talk. I'm like, wow, this really is like you have to look at like face shape color, the hood, the hood and the lid. I'm like, wow, this really is like you have to look at like face shape color, the hood, the hood and the lip.

Maleigh: 56:02

I'm like, damn, this is a lot. This is a lot, it's a lot of illusions.

Johnna: 56:06

And then, yes, so that's so do you believe this is a random question? Do you believe, like when the Kardashians say, like all their stuff on their face is makeup tricks?

Maleigh: 56:19

is there a certain?

Johnna: 56:19

celebrity. You know how celebrities will say it's just a makeup trick yeah okay, probably not. I was just like because I you can do a lot of crazy stuff with makeup you can do a lot, but probably not.

Maleigh: 56:31

Not plastic surgery probably not okay, you know, and if someone doesn't want to answer that question, i'm'm all for it, just, but just don't lie about it.

Johnna: 56:41

Yeah, that's my thing. Yeah, just say no comment. Yeah, like, yeah, like don't say it's makeup or just completely redirect the conversation, like you know what.

Maleigh: 56:49

That's a great question, but what did you think about this that happened the other day.

Johnna: 56:53

Yeah.

Maleigh: 56:53

Just redirect it, because I've never that either.

Johnna: 56:56

yeah, like because I so I I mentioned this on the podcast I've mentioned on my line. So I had my eyes done um, the upper and lower eyelids, um, but it was. It was too little. I had filler under my eyes that I probably should have never gotten and it went bad and we tried to dissolve it multiple times. So then I was left with like like creepy skin and it like stretched it out and then malar mounds like old people have.

Maleigh: 57:21

And I was like 24.

Johnna: 57:24

So then I waited till two years ago and I was like this is still really, really bothering me. I had tried everything laser therapy, dissolving it, you name it. I tried it, it wasn't going away. So met with Dr Yates and he was like yeah, you, you definitely need surgery. So I was like okay, and then I didn't speak about it for a really long time and then I was like, why am I hiding this?

Maleigh: 57:45

Like but I think part of that comes because you know that we live in a society where everyone thinks that their opinion should be spoken and there's no filter anymore. People don't care about hurting your feelings now, maybe in front of your face, but that I think that's why like yeah just knowing that, yeah, this can be good for some people, but there's just a lot of really nasty people who hide behind a keyboard and it's like do I really want to open?

Johnna: 58:13

myself up to that criticism right do I?

Maleigh: 58:15

because I don't know if you're like me. It's like I can know that they're probably just an idiot like honestly, who's insecure, and they're trying to place their insecurities and judgment on me because of something they feel about themselves.

Johnna: 58:27

Yeah, I've started learning that.

Maleigh: 58:29

Even knowing that, though, if you have like a kind heart you're, it's still gonna hurt a little. Yeah it's because you're for me, it's like why.

Johnna: 58:38

Right, why? And?

Maleigh: 58:39

even if I can tell myself what, like all the things that I think it probably is, it still does, we're human. It's gonna hurt our feelings a little bit.

Johnna: 58:46

I agree. I agree Luckily for me at that time, like it was actually a very good thing. People reached out, was like, oh my gosh, like that's happened to me. I didn't think it could be fixed and all this stuff. So I was like, okay, I'm glad I spoke out about it. It worked out for that. That is all the Instagram questions I have from so. Thank you for answering those for everybody who submitted a question. And do you want to leave us with any valuable tips, tricks, anything when it comes to makeup, hair, being a professional in your career, coming from the ground up, being a mom, all the things? What would you leave us with? Some advice in?

Maleigh: 59:23

2024 is probably. It's a natural occurrence like we'll find ourselves comparing our journeys to others, and I think that is the biggest waste of time and emotional energy, because nobody's in nobody's journey is going to be the same. We all have different backgrounds, different different upbringings, different circumstances, different personalities, different ways we view things. So I would say like, for example, if someone was 20 going into makeup, they become really successful and then in your thirties you're like well, I really want to be successful with makeup, but she started in her twenties and she's killing it. Like I feel like I'm too late.

Maleigh: 59:57

Don't compare journeys at all, because all that's going to do is hold you back, and I think truthfully that our journeys make us different. And that is our power. There is power in that because, although someone might be able to go to, let's say, two people have the same skillset makeup, wise, right. And they provide a very similar service. Those two people their makeup's not going to be what separates, like what sets them apart. It's going to be who they are, who they show up as their personality how they connect with their clients.

Johnna: 1:00:29

Right.

Maleigh: 1:00:29

So I think using your journey to your benefit and like really latching onto what makes you different is a power that a lot of people may overlook when going into the industry and navigating through it.

Johnna: 1:00:41

I like that and I think I needed to hear that today because, like long story short, I was dealing with tax accountants and I was just like I just don't think our personalities are vibing.

Johnna: 1:00:50

I was like you got a skill, but I just don't.

Johnna: 1:00:52

I just and it was came down to the personality, like when choosing between somebody.

Johnna: 1:00:57

So I really, like I think I needed to hear that, because I was very angry before you got here because I was emailing my tax accountant. Anyways, that had nothing to do with makeup, but no, I want to thank you so much for doing this and thank you for letting me get to know you because, like, obviously we think we know people when we see them on Instagram, but, like I had no idea about your background and your upbringing and to me, that just draws me a little bit more closer to you, because I resonate with that, because I went through that as well and I was just like wow, like I would have never thought someone as successful as you went through the same things that I did, yeah, and so, just like you said at the beginning, like you heard someone like Eminem going through what he went through and it made you feel that way. So, like hearing that journey, I think that's going to resonate a lot more through people. Like, obviously, your makeup speaks for itself.

Johnna: 1:01:39

You're beautiful in yourself and all your work is very beautiful but like just hearing your background is kind of the icing on the cake. So I want to thank you for just sharing that in general and coming on the podcast. Yeah well, thank you for having me this was fun absolutely come back anytime and, guys, until next time, as always. Bye you.