Several years ago I begin watching YouTube videos on make up and skin care. It was clear to me that they were many different kinds of people providing content.  As we all know most of us gravitate towards people with whom we feel we have commonality. This was the case as I narrowed my interest list on YouTube.  One person who consistently drew me back to their site was Lisa J Makeup. She is a highly trained make up artist whose positive demeanor makes watching her videos a pleasure.  Additionally she is somebody who looks for ways to give back to her community which is also something I greatly value. When I started my blog I knew unequivocally she was someone I wanted to interview.

Lisa is a busy entrepreneur, wife, and mother.  She runs a YouTube site, along with an very active Facebook community and is developing her own product line this year. 

Below is my interview with Lisa.  I believe as you read through her responses to my questions you will see what a genuinely kind and interesting human being she is. She brings an element to the beauty community that is unique and enjoyable. I hope you enjoy the interview as much is I enjoyed working with her on this article.  I’m sure we will hear more from her on BK beauty in future articles. 

Tell me a little bit about your career. How did you find yourself hosting a VERY popular YouTube site (100+k subscribers!) well as an active Facebook community (almost 6K members!)?

I have always had a passion for makeup and for teaching women makeup. At 19, I got a job working part time at a MAC makeup counter. What I thought would be a part time job that I worked through college, ended up being the foundation for everything I have done to get me here. I worked for MAC for about 6 years, working my way up to a Regional Trainer. When I left MAC to find a job that offered me more of a 9-5 schedule, it wasn’t long before I realized how much I missed doing makeup. I started a side business doing wedding makeup on the weekends while working in Advertising during the week. That business started to grow and I had to hire more artists to work with me. At the busiest of that business, our team included myself and 5 other makeup artists and we were doing anywhere from 15-30 weddings a month on the weekends. I was still working in Advertising M-F so as you can imagine I was pretty busy! When I had my first daughter Brooklyn, I knew I wanted to be a stay at home mom so I quit my job in Advertising, and my plan was to do a little wedding makeup here and there, just enough to get me out of the house, practice my passion and make a little extra money. By the time I was about to have my second daughter Kate, I knew the schedule of 2 little girls was going to keep me much busier and I started to feel the tug away from doing makeup. I started watching YouTube videos around this time and had the simple thought that YouTube could be my way to still practice my passion of makeup, and teaching women makeup but could be 100% around my schedule. I would film at night after the kids were asleep and edit when I had time. I was only uploading every couple of weeks at that time, I had no long term plan or strategy into growing a channel and was pretty naive to the whole YouTube space. That was the start of my channel and years later I would find myself part of this community that I truly feel is the most amazing, supporting and encouraging group of women. I wanted to start the Beauty Chit Chat Facebook Group page, because I was reading all these amazing, supportive comments from viewers that filled up my cup every single day. But they were all directed at me… there was not community amongst one another. I wanted to create a place for these women to support one another and I wanted women to feel all this love and support and kindness that I was feeling. The group has become one of the most rewarding aspects of this whole journey for me. 

You recently announced plans to launch a new product line, BK beauty. Tell us a little bit about your vision and what we can look forward to in 2019.

Yes! I am so so excited and terrible at secrets. I can say that we are working on our first big launch with hopes for mid to late Summer. The heart of BK Beauty is Inspiring Kindness in the beauty community. We chose to donate a portion of our proceeds to the Kindness Campaign which is a non profit that creates curriculum to teach school aged children about kindness, empathy and self love. This was a perfect fit for me because I worry about the world my girls are growing up in, the pressures young girls (and boys) face today have multiplied from what I grew up with and I remember the struggles I even had with self confidence. Social media compounds these struggles and as a social media “influencer” I feel like I need to use this platform for something positive, something I feel proud of at the end of the day and at the end of it all. When I was thinking of name, I knew I didn’t want to use my name but rather something of meaning to me. It started first from my daughters Brooklyn and Kate, then I built off that of what I want to teach them and that is that True Beauty comes from Kindness. And that’s what BK Beauty is all about. As far as our first launch… 🙂 Lets just say it will be a collection of tools to help you apply your makeup 🙂

I understand you just made the semi-finalist list in the 2019 Sephora Squad search! That’s pretty exciting! What can you tell me about this?

Yes! I was so excited to learn about the opportunity, Sephora is my favorite place to shop for makeup and it has always been a DREAM to work with them. I did just recently land my first collab with them which oddly enough went live the morning I found out I had made the Semifinalists!! It was a very exciting day for sure! What makes the Sephora squad different and special is you get to be a true ambassador and partner to the brand. You are able to collaborate on a year long basis. At 36, it would be a dream to be able to represent women in my age demographic and older to seek out and share the best products for our skincare needs and our lifestyle. I also hope to represent the makeup lover who has an everyday approach to her beauty routine, simplified and easy to achieve. They should announce the finalists at the end of the month so cross your fingers for me ?

Think back to five years ago. Did you envision this is where you would be?  

Not at all. I actually remember the conversation I had with family around the time I started my channel. We were at my in laws for a family party and I remember my younger cousin, saying something to the effect of how people actually made money on YouTube. I remember thinking that sounded so ridiculous to me. I actually didn’t even monetize or try to monetize my channel until 3 years into it. I uploaded videos for 3 years without making even a penny, and I loved it. To see that this has become a business, and I was able to leave a job outside of the home because of my channel, makes me truly feel so fortunate and so so grateful. I NEVER would have imagined this is where I would be when I started and I still feel like I’m just starting. I’m grateful for where I am for sure, but I also don’t feel much different than I did from that first year. 

You’re  a busy person. Mom, wife, entrepreneur. How do you measure success while achieving work life balance?

My definition of success has changed over the years. I can look back to my first job in advertising sales, and I was making barely anything. It was stressful job and I wasn’t even taking home much of a paycheck at the end of the month. I remember so vividly looking at the more senior reps who had been doing it for years who were making a lot of money and I remember thinking to myself, “Gosh, I would love this job so much more if I were making what they are making.” Fast Forward to my last year in Advertising sales… I was making what they were making…and yet I was still very unhappy. That’s when I first realized that money does not define success for me. I have reminded myself of that lesson from time to time when I find myself trying to take on too much. For me, I don’t really know that I pay attention to success so much anymore. Before becoming a mom, I think success was probably more focused on material things and being able to acquire them. Today I think success is more about managing my time to take care of myself, spend good focused time with my family, maintain my YouTube schedule of 2-3 videos, continue to grow my channel, and continue to improve my content. If I stat to feel overwhelmed or anxious about work related tasks, this may sound silly but I literally remind myself that I am not saving lives over here…lol..I”m just uploading videos. And its not the end of the world if something has to wait. My sanity, and my ability to be a better more patient mom overrules everything else. When I am stressed or anxious, it directly reflects in how I parent and that’s something I try and focus my priorities on. Once we launch BK Beauty’s first launch I expect to make my first hire to help, because I know I cannot do it all. 

What has been the most surprising positive of where you are professionally?

Hands down the community. I remember watching YouTubers that would tell their subscribers how much they loved them, and they would get so sentimental. And I remember thinking that was so odd because how do you connect with strangers like that online. I also set out to be very private and didn’t want to share much about my personal life or children online. As time has gone on, I have shared more and while my girls are not in many YouTube videos I share some of that on Instagram. And I do feel a true connection with my subscribers, I feel a true friendship with everyone who comments or who I chat with in DMs.

What has been the biggest challenge since starting your various businesses in 2014?

I don’t know yet if this will be a challenge but one thing I want to maintain is a separation between Lisa J Makeup and BK Beauty. I of course will share and promote the brand when it launches and use the products in videos, but I want my channel to remain a place that reviews all brands and I don’t want it to become a channel that pushes my new brand. If that makes sense. I still want to keep so much focus on my channel and continuing it as it has always been, I don’t want it to suffer as a result of launching BK Beauty. That’s something I am already focused on and since I haven’t really crossed that bridge yet, I”m aware of how much a new brand will require. That’s why I plan to hire someone to help fulfill orders etc. 

What brings you the most joy specific to your business?

Gosh so many things… First and foremost the community. Getting comments from women who share that a tip I mentioned has helped them are my favorite to read. As far as content, videos that I do that are very simple and educational are my favorite. I really try to make it simple to follow and attainable. 

What advice do you have for others who might be interested in following in your footsteps?

First, find your niche. What is it that you are passionate about and excited to share with others? Second, focus on your content being focused. Don’t upload content on random unrelated topics. Be consistent with your content. Shoot for at least 1x a week, but if you can 2-3 is wonderful. Be authentic and be yourself. Don’t imitate others… be yourself, people will connect with you. Be honest, share what you like and share what you don’t and don’t worry about who or what brand might be offended. Trust you build with your audience should always be your #1. 

Having good role models is very important to women (and men!) today. What do you feel we can offer each other to ensure that we are good role models to each other? What figure has influenced you the most in your life?

My mother has been my biggest role model. So much of who I am is because of her and we are also very different in a lot of ways. I remember as a kid, my mother always taught me to be kind to other kids. She is also probably the most sentimental and sensitive person you’ll meet (next to me :). My mother also made me feel like the most loved and special child growing up. She was and still is always doting on me and telling me how proud she is of me. I couldn’t have had a better role model on how to be a great mother. My Father was my role model for hard work. He and my mom were very young parents when they had my brother as teenagers. The got married and my dad worked very, very hard to provide for his new family. They purchased a home and started a life. I came along 5 years later. As long as I can remember, my dad has worked very hard, and he always made me work for the extra things I wanted. He made me earn the things I wanted. I actually couldn’t wait to work, and got my first W2 job at 14 years old bagging groceries. For those few years I was working a full time job in Advertising and running Austin Wedding Makeup, I was working 7 days a week and I really thrived in those years. And I know that all came from my dad. 

When I think about what kind of role model I want to be and how to be that for my girls, I think I do that by being kind, living with integrity, following my passions and going after what dreams I have. Its pretty simple for me. I feel like everything falls into that. 

What are the top 1-5 things that we can look forward to from you in 2019? 

BK Beauty is definitely #1. I am SO SO excited to be able to share with you what we’ve (Paul and I) been working on. And as far as my channel goes, I plan to continue focusing on educational content, improving my video quality some and maybe sharing a bit more health, fitness on my channel. 

Please include any sources that people can use to purchase from you or connect with you.

Instagram @Lisajmakeup

YouTube @LisaJmakeup

Facebook @Lisajmakeu

http://www.bkbeauty.org

I f you are interested in helping Lisa join the ranks of the Sephora Squad please leave your testimonial for her using the following link: https://www.sephorasquad.com/testimonial/lisajmakeup

I’ve left mine already. What are you waiting for? Click that link.

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