We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lizzy Polanco a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lizzy, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I get my resilience from my parents. From a young age, I saw first hand how my parents were faced with so many odds. They immigrated to the states at a young age fleeing war and came to a country were they didn’t know English, had no family or friends here yet they worked very hard to make their American dream come true. Growing up, my parents would take me with them to their evening English classes and I saw how determined they were to excel in their ESL classes. They would work hard during the day at their factory jobs and then would go straight to class and then come home and study.
I always saw how hard my parents worked to put a roof over our family’s head despite all the hardships they faced, yet they remained resilient.
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 I came into my young adulthood, I knew that a traditional career and a higher education was not the road that would fulfill me. I always loved the arts and was always drawn to makeup. I would spend hours studying makeup books at my local library and bookstore trying to absorb all the knowledge and tips that were available to me at the time.
I started getting hired to do makeup for friends and that brought me so much excitement. I decided that being self taught was not enough for me so I enrolled in a makeup course to further develop my makeup education. I enjoyed going to class and learning as much as I could about makeup application, techniques, and the makeup industry. I knew that my path was to pursue a career as a working, professional makeup artist but at the time, a career as a makeup artist seemed so impossible.
I started teaming up with photographers and models that were also starting out so that I could build my portfolio. There were so many times that I would get turned down for trade for portfolio work because I was so new but I didn’t allow that to deter me. I applied to a beauty retailer in hopes of getting hired so I could further myself in my makeup skills and knowledge of products. Little did I know that being hired at this place would change my life. I began to get booked for make overs and started to build clientele. Eventually, I began to get recommended to makeup jobs in the film and tv production world.
I fell in love with working on set and it was then that I knew I wanted to do that for a living. I was met with so many challenges. From not having sufficient production experience to working very long hours for low budgets -the list was never ending. I stayed resilient through it all because I was determined to break through the doors that wanted to remain close because I always remembered that my parents never gave up even through the greatest of odds.
Fast forward fourteen years and I’m happy to say that I’m still doing makeup for a living. So much has changed and evolved in my industry but I enjoy my career so much. Whether it’s working on set or teaching a client how to apply makeup one-on-one, if it involves makeup, I am in my element.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities that were most impactful in my journey were: be professional, be kind, and get out of your comfort zone. The advice I would give to folks who are early in their career is to definitely get out of your comfort zone because you can’t grow where you are comfortable. Staying in your comfort zone will pigeon hole you and won’t allow you to grow and learn.
There is always room to continue learning and improving your skills.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
My biggest area of growth these past 12 months has been trusting the process. My industry was forced to shut down due to the writers strike and SAG strike and it was very difficult not being able to work.
I knew deep down that I had to trust the process because I couldn’t control what was going on. I adapted to my new reality and changed my perspective. The writers strike has since ended but the actors are still on strike and I continue to trust the process that all will work out as it’s supposed to.
Contact Info:
- Website: Lizzypolanco.com
- Instagram: Lizzy_lawless
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzy-polanco-32b8a794?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
