One face at a time- do we make a difference?

I am the youngest of five siblings. The other four have all had prestigious careers – lawyer, banker, writer, high level marketing executive. I have spent my career in the beauty industry. Most of the past few decades I have felt like my industry was frivolous at best except for those early years when I interacted one on one with customers. Those days, when I could make a difference in the way someone felt about themselves when they looked in the mirror, were magical. I remember a recently widowed, middle-aged woman, Irene, when I was working as a Chanel counter manager. I always worked the late shift on Friday nights and Irene would come to me after working a long week for a bit of pampering. She would sit in my chair as I touched up her makeup, and we chatted about her job, her almost grown children, and life in general.

When I finished, I would hand her the mirror and she would smile, sometimes a little teary, and thank me for making her feel special. Often she would buy an item I used but not always and that was okay. We both felt better because of the time we had spent together. Another customer impacted me similarly. A young girl suffering from serious cystic acne came to me for a makeover for a big event. I had also dealt with serious acne as a young woman which is likely what led me to the beauty industry in the first place. I became a really good makeup artist specializing in disguising breakouts because of my own experience. This young girl was so shy and self-conscious when she sat down in my chair that my heart ached. After I gave her a quick facial soothing her skin before applying makeup, I played up her beautiful eyes and gave her a happy lip color. When I handed her the mirror she became a different person – smiling and tilting her head to see herself. We were both thrilled, so I taught her exactly what I had done and what I recommended for her. In my career I moved on pretty quickly into management roles and certainly there have been gratifying experiences along the way. Still, I have struggled to think of the beauty industry as anything truly important until I had the great good fortune to attend a Sephora Education Summit a number of years ago. The speaker, a senior executive in Education, had a similar career path having started her career “on the floor” as I had. She found her way to the industry also seeking solutions to her own skin issues and had flourished as her expertise was recognized. As she spoke, she also acknowledged that, at times, she felt that the beauty industry was not seen as a career choice that was going to improve the world; but then she said something that has stayed with me. “We may not be solving world hunger, or curing cancer, or finding world peace BUT we may just empower the person that does.” Drop the mic…. (do we still say that? )