Meet Mira Scirica

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mira Scirica a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mira, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

For me personally I find that my journey with mental health has been a long battle to get where I am today. I have struggled with my mental health on and off over the years and consider myself to be very open about my journey with mental health from issues ranging from addiction to OCD and trauma. I find it to be more helpful to myself and others to be candid in nature to break the stigma around these topics. When you are open about it, there becomes a better level of understanding for others and in my experience can help others feel less alone in their own struggles.
When it comes to prioritization of mental health, I think we as a society have come a long way in terms of understanding the importance of knowing how to take care of those needs and balancing that with work along with knowing/communicating your triggers in the workplace which is so important as it gives a better awareness on how to communicate your needs in those situations. Mental health issues don’t care about what time it is. In any professional environment you ideally want to “leave your problems at the door”, however, it doesn’t always happen that way. Maybe you’ve been on back to back sets and you’re feeling super burnt out, maybe you’re feeling sleep deprived, or maybe something distressing happened the day before a job so you are not feeling 100% and that’s okay! The important thing is KNOWING you are feeling that way and coping properly with those feelings in the way that is both best for your needs while not pushing yourself to a breaking point that makes you inevitably crash out. You have to use the skills, resources, and support systems around you to really work through those times and continue growing as a professional in this industry. As I’ve grown into myself and in my career, I hold more value and less hostility to some of the things that I’ve experienced in life because those experiences made me into the person I am today. I do feel like they have given me a push of resilience and overall drive to succeed, fueled by knowing where I have come from previously and this desire to really make a name for myself – which can be both a positive and negative in this line of work as I find that sometimes I can put a lot of pressure on myself. However, this is just another aspect where I am learning to have a level of compassion with myself to say “okay let’s take a pause, its okay if this doesn’t work out the way you envisioned it”. We’re all human. Humans fail and they learn, so when things don’t go as planned – you need to be kind and have self compassion for yourself. I think at the end of the day, I am able to overcome the mental obstacles that I encounter today by having compassion for myself and better understanding/prioritizing what I need from myself in those moments. Sometimes the best thing is a change of perspective, rather than judgment or comparison and just thinking to yourself “wow, look how far you’ve come, you got this”!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

As a professional film and fashion makeup artist working in New York, I wholeheartedly love what I do and the creativity I get to express in all of my work. I have the opportunity to work across a variety of makeup styles, including commercials, camera-ready looks for film and television, editorial looks for print, fashion week, and my personal favorite: SFX and character design in film. The industry is constantly evolving, so as someone who loves to learn, I’m always excited to try new ideas and techniques!

This year, I had the chance to work in many different industries, but the majority of my time was spent on film sets, creating horrifying monsters and graphic injuries to bring the director’s vision to life. Reflecting on my accomplishments this past year, I’d say my top two moments are: Having the opportunity to key my first NYFW show as Lead Makeup Artist for three shows in one day, where I also designed all the looks for my team of 25 artists who worked on over 100 models. The second proudest moment was the opportunity I had to be Key Makeup Artist (alongside my Co-Key and friend JD Kramer) for our “Stranger Things Mashup” at this year’s I Put A Spell On You: ALiiVe event at Webster Hall this October.
Overall this year was fantastic, full of many career and personal milestones with many more to come in the coming new year and I am so excited to share those moments with all of those who have been following my journey!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

There is truly so much more to being a makeup artist than what most people expect, both on and off set! Some of the areas of knowledge I believe every artist should have include things like color theory, sanitization protocols, set etiquette, product knowledge, and in terms of SFX makeup: proper education / training to understand how to safely work with materials. I think my top three areas of knowledge and skills to have for me personally would be: Color theory and being able to make skin tones from primary colors to be able to match any skin tone that may be in the chair, how to safely use and sanitize products, and time management whether on set or off set prepping for a job.
My advice to those early on in their career journey would be to take the time to educate yourself on as much as you can and honestly, never stop learning and growing your knowledge base. There are so many great makeup education programs out there that are either all encompassing or are focused on certain niches in the makeup industry, alternatively there are always classes led by big name artists or brands that are a great opportunity to learn and network. Networking is your best friend in this line of work so don’t hesitate to reach out to other artists for assistant opportunities to learn from them and get more set experience as well, some of my favorite jobs have been due to networking connections and I find them to be an invaluable asset to getting your name out in the world!

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

In the past 12 months, I believe I have grown and improved immensely, both in my career and personal life. I’ve seen significant growth in the types of jobs I’m doing, how quickly I can work on set, and my ability to problem-solve and act swiftly in high-stress environments. However, I think the biggest area of growth I’ve noticed is in my ability to recognize and manage burnout. While it might seem like a personal issue, burnout for an artist definitely becomes a professional problem, as it affects your drive, mind, and even your body.

I’ve always struggled with working myself to complete burnout, ignoring the clear signals my mind and body would send me, not realizing how much it impacted my creativity and the quality of my work. This time last year, I experienced the worst burnout spell I’ve ever had and realized I couldn’t let that happen again. So, this year, I made necessary changes to prevent it, such as prioritizing self-care, taking off days, and giving myself permission to turn down a job when my body needed rest.

I still had my moments of burnout this year, but with these strategies in place, it was mild and short-lived, allowing me to recover quickly. Fast forward to today, I’ve taken on a greater number and more high-profile gigs this past season compared to last year, yet I feel miles better, both physically and mentally. I believe prioritizing this balance between work and life has been a huge part of my growth this year and realizing that when you can better manage that balance, you’re able to be the best version of your creative self.

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Image Credits

Paris Ruiz, Seth Miranda, Phocusd Views, Wtf.Fares, Annesha Dasgupta, Nick Bright

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