Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Georgina Mendiola . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Georgina , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
A big part of where my resilience come from is from the people around me who are constantly supporting me and believing in me. My close friends always remind me of my talent and are my personal cheerleaders .My mom reminds me about how nothing is permanent and how strong I am and my dad , always showed me with example to roll with the punches and to always get back up.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am a Makeup artist and hair stylist who started off in her hometown of El Paso, TX. I was always into being artistic and in a way somewhat competitive, I like challenge and being on my toes while working with others. . As I got older I developed this way of mentality of just going for it and jumping at things. With this attitude, I on a whim moved to Los Angeles , CA on my own and that’s where I really started seriously with my career, went after what I wanted and started shaping myself to who I wanted to be. During the Pandemic I made my way to the east coast and moved to Miami, Fl . which has been quite a ride. I’ve been loving the people I’ve met along the way, the direction of my career and my life so far. When I am working with models or at home services , I get excited when clients trust me to try different things outside their own regular routine , new shapes , colors , products . Another moment that I absolutely love is when the person I am working with feels beautiful, and confident after sitting in my chair. If they feel good about themselves and are happy, most likely it’ll be a great day / night .
I like to think that the reason I’m special in what I do is because I like to keep things as genuine as possible. I believe in treating everyone the same with respect and no matter who you are , still with VIP treatment . I like having people still feel like themselves with just a little extra push. I also pride myself with my work so I always try to top myself with my last job. I compete with myself which at the end of the day helps me grow so much more. I also just absolutely love what I do , It makes me so happy so I think I sometimes can spread that happiness on to others.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Qualities that impact me in my journey is being open to take criticism. It’s going to happen no matter what , especially in the beauty and fashion industry. Try not to sit on it for to long and ponder on it but rather look at it, see if their is any room to correct it or improve to help you grow, and then let it go. Also, is it someone who you look up to ? or is it someone random ? There is a big difference of who It’s coming from, pay close attention to that. Learn to be able to adapt and do at least a little bit of everything. It will take you further than you may think. If you’re able to adapt to different tasks or places gracefully , people remember it. If you know how to jump from makeup to hair to sewing a button, to even holding a reflector for a photographer for all you know , just that tiny help you do , you could save the day.
Be always learning. This industry is constantly changing and rapidly. New products or classic ones to try out , techniques that are brand new to you that can help make your life easier to accomplish a look. Skin types is a big one, learn how to do all shades of skin tones, color theory helps a lot for this one. Hair textures , learn how to do a wide range of it. With that said ,grab your friends and practice with them, make learning fun.
The advice I would say for people starting early or want to do this career is start now. Start as soon as you can. Practice as much as you can to build up that skill , do as many test shoots as you can. It helps improve the skill and build that clientele. Don’t be scared to try new things you’ve never done before, sometimes doing something new creates a signature style of yours, a lesson to see what doesn’t work, or even a masterpiece.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I’ve had multiple people help me be where I am at. If it wasn’t people teaching me new tricks in makeup and hair, how to move and read people , or even just with taking a chance on me was helping me. Again it narrows down to the people you surround yourself with that genuinely want the best for you, believe in you, and want to teach you. I will say, I have some specific people that do stand out in my mind that I am very blessed to have had in my life that helped me incredibly in my career. First my dad. He was a self made business man who set the example to me of how to work hard, from the bottom and work your way up. He created a successful construction company that is still very successful today. He set the example to me of doing excellent customer service , negotiating , and how to set my goals. Construction and being a hair and makeup artist are two very different things but as far as the business aspect of it, my dad taught me how to do that. I like to believe that I have some of that business mentality like him in me. I am very fortunate to have had a dad that kept it real with me of how it goes in the real world . The second person that comes to mind is a brilliant hair and makeup artist from London, UK named Alisha Bailey ( instagram handle : @alishahairmakeup ) She moved to Los Angeles. CA , around the same time I did. We met on a job and we got along right away. After about two or three jobs together I saw how talented and experienced she was and I one day got the courage to just flat out ask her if I could be her assistant. She took the chance on me and really , and I mean REALLY taught me the ropes of the actual industry. She taught me everything I know when it comes to production. How to pack my kits, how to be on top of everything, Lighting, Angles of the talent on camera , Planning ahead on jobs , anything that had to do with what hair and makeup does during production she taught me. For that I am always so grateful for her and my experiences I had assisting her.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.geomendi.com
- Instagram: Geomendi
Image Credits
Sasha Luisada Simply Adri photography Victoria Innocenzi Aj Calloway
