Turning a hobby into a career

Unsure what she wanted to do when she left school aged 17, Natasha found work at a local salon. Little did she know, this would lead to a career she loves as a make-up artist.

Admiring a fresh palette of shades and some new brushes, Natasha (19) feels inspired and creative. “I absolutely love my job,” she says. Being a make-up artist is the perfect career for Natasha, who is moderately to severely deaf, but one she discovered by chance.

“I was really into dancing when I was younger and did shows and competitions,” she explains. “I loved wearing the costumes and getting glammed up with the make-up and big lashes. I think that’s where my love of make-up started.”

She didn’t imagine then that she would later find herself in a job doing something she found so much fun.

At school, Natasha hadn’t thought much about her future career, instead focusing on overcoming the day-to-day struggles she faced as a deaf student. Despite the difference her bone-anchored hearing aid makes, concentrating at school wasn’t easy. Listening to the teacher, if there was any background noise, was difficult and group work was particularly challenging. “The only way I could concentrate on what my group was saying was if we left the room to work somewhere else,” she remembers.

"Talking about my hearing aid can be an icebreaker with clients."

Natasha didn’t let her deafness stand in the way of finding a job when she finished school aged 17. She started work at a local salon, but that too had its challenges. “I was helping out with cleaning and general assistant duties to support the running of the salon,” she says. “It was a brilliant experience but a challenging workplace – salons are noisy!”

Natasha recalls how the background music and near-constant hum of hairdryers made it difficult to hear people talking to her. “I’d often approach a number of clients to check if they’d asked me something,” she says.

Despite the noisy environment, Natasha thrived. “Working there was so much fun,” she says. “I enjoyed being around people wanting to do something nice for themselves to look and feel better, with everyone chatting away happily.”

Natasha earned her Level 1 Diploma in hairdressing during her time at the salon, but it was make-up – something she’d enjoyed from a young age – that really captured her imagination.

"Each job is like a blank canvas and it's very creative. That's what I love most about it."

Watching the salon’s make-up artist at work became a guilty pleasure for Natasha. “I was captivated watching her and I knew that it was something I wanted to do,” she recalls. “I’d always found that putting time into my own make-up gave me more confidence as a person, and I knew I’d really enjoy a job that helped boost other people’s confidence too.”

Realising a hobby could become her career, Natasha was determined to pursue it. She wasted no time and found a local college course in Fashion Make-Up Artistry run by a private make-up school. Six months of intensive learning stood between her and the start of a career in make-up.

Although she was passionate about the course, it wasn’t easy for Natasha. Being in a learning environment once again had its difficulties. “There were only 15 of us in the class, but if several people were talking at the same time, I’d struggle,” she says. “I really wanted to do this, though, so I would always ask the tutors if I needed extra support.”

With another qualification – this time a Higher National Certificate – under her belt, Natasha was eagerly looking to the future. Though she’d learnt a lot at the salon, it wasn’t an environment she wanted to work in long term so she explored other options. She decided to set up on her own as a freelance make-up artist, and started pages on Instagram and Facebook. “It was nerve-wracking,” she says. “But other people do it successfully so I thought, ‘Why not me?’”

Buoyed by her success on the course in a variety of make-up styles – bridal, special effects and make-up for occasions – she ordered business cards and started spreading the word in her local area. Clients soon started to come. “Word of mouth was important to me to get started,” says Natasha. “My mum told all her friends and they told theirs, that really helped.”

With the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak putting a pause on her business just a few months in, it’s been a tricky start for Natasha’s dream career. “It’s not the kind of job you can do at a distance and I’ve been really looking forward to getting into the swing of things again,” she says. “Each job is like a blank canvas and it’s very creative. That’s what I love most about it.”

Now, Natasha doesn’t find that her deafness holds her back. “When a client is talking to me, I need to concentrate on what they’re saying so it can be hard to continue doing their make-up at the same time,” she explains. “But I just stand back, chat to them, and then pick it up again when we’ve finished talking.”

In fact, Natasha uses her deafness as a strength that often helps her interact with clients. “Talking about my hearing aid can be an icebreaker,” she says. “If there’s not much to talk about, I’ll drop it into the conversation and clients are always interested. It helps get us talking and increases deaf awareness, too.

“I would tell other deaf young people: you’re unique and amazing, but your deafness doesn’t define who you are.”