Faiza Shaikh: Living the dream

In my childhood, I used to apply my mom’s makeup products and create various makeup looks. The idea of becoming a makeup artist fascinated me since a very early age. Surprisingly, academically I became an optometrist which was never my plan. Sometimes the never-ending desire of becoming a makeup artist drifted me apart because this is what I always dreamt of becoming and I was doing a completely different thing.

Makeup artistry is my passion and the greed of turning it into a profession always kept me working. I didn’t know how to start as getting the right clients was a big task. So initially I did a lot of makeup absolutely free of cost, few being very minimally charged just to display my work with a larger population. Thankfully, I succeeded in attracting the right clients. I even started working as a freelance makeup artist and bridal stylist. Eventually everything aligned but then this pandemic arrived which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Only in pandemic, I acknowledged that makeup can be taught and explored online too. I collaborated with ALIPPO an online platform in pandemic which turned out to be the best job. Besides that I have even collaborated with brands like myglamm, belora cosmetics, wow skin science, a chemist at play, St. Botanica, nature’s essence and lba cosmetics. I have trained over 75000 women across India and globally in the field of makeup artistry, self grooming and beauty aesthetics.

Encouraging and empowering people has been my greatest motivation, it gave me a sense of confidence and belief that I can be of some help. From struggling to achieve a dream to practically living it is a delightful journey and I feel if we do something that we genuinely love then work doesn’t really feel like work. In my case I blindly ventured my dream and I’m glad I did.