All of It, All the Time: Beauty, Business, and Being Seen

The Illusion of the “Boss Babe”

There’s this idea of what it means to be a beauty entrepreneur. People picture glam, freedom, a flexible schedule, red carpets, publications and pretty things. And trust me, sometimes, it’s that.

But it’s also pressure.

Being a beauty professional doesn’t just mean being good at your craft. It means being the entire business, a full corporation. The brand. The backbone. The face. The fixer.

And for Black women? It means doing it all while being watched and judged a little more closely, a little more harshly, a little more unfairly. It’s not just lipsticks and logos. It’s spreadsheets, stress, and smiling through it. It’s looking like success even when you’re scraping things together behind the scenes. People see the highlights. They don’t see the holding. And let’s be real, this doesn’t just apply to beauty, it applies to anyone trying to hold it all.

What No One Preps You For

Nobody really tells you what this life will demand. They tell you to market yourself, to stay consistent, and to always show up. But they don’t tell you what it feels like to keep showing up when you’re exhausted, grieving, scared, or even broke. They don’t tell you how hard it is to need to eat it out but being told “you chose this, you could always just go get a real job”.

In our industry, we are the ones clients come to for calm, the one other artists come to for guidance. In a “glamorous” career, we are always the one our friends think is always doing fine.

They don’t talk about the nights you refund a client and eat the cost because you had an unexpected emergency and couldn’t find a replacement. Or the days you’re fixing broken systems, no one even knows are broken. It’s a silent battle on the mornings you glam a bridal party holding back tears in your eyes because you are carrying something you can’t afford to deal with yet.

And if you’re a Black woman in this industry, there’s an added weight. You’re expected to overdeliver, be twice as polished, twice as prepared. You’re expected to be professional, gracious, grateful, and quiet. You are expected to be the brand, the boundary, the booking system, the safe space all while looking camera-ready. Because don’t forget this is a visual industry. That comes with pressures to look a certain way, present a certain way and always be as polished as possible.

Present or Performing: The Artist’s Tug-of-War

It’s one thing to carry the weight of your business, it’s another to compare that weight to someone else’s highlight reel. When you're already doing everything from glam, to bookings, scheduling, prep, packaging, content… it’s easy to look around and feel like you’re still not doing enough.

You start comparing your artistry to someone else's camera angles. The final look you created with care and intention… suddenly doesn’t feel good enough because you filmed it on an iPhone instead of Sony’s newest camera. Or maybe your lighting wasn’t absolutely perfect. Maybe you didn’t get the reaction shot, the time-lapse, or the viral sound.

And now something that used to bring you joy feels like a missed opportunity. There’s a quiet pressure to always be “on.” And honestly, the pressure isn’t so quiet nowadays. You feel the push to constantly post the content, capture every moment, to make every service an aesthetic production.

But how do you do that when you’re also trying to be present?

When you’re holding space for someone else’s big day, big shoot, big emotion? You feel the tension between wanting to show the world your work, and not wanting to turn every moment into content. People always say, “well just make content when you’re not at work.” That can be tough if you’re not comfortable on camera, or don’t have much down time due to life, or maybe you’re just that booked in real life that you don’t have time to create “content moments” outside of your daily schedule. You feel the guilt of choosing presence over performance.

And if you’re not outsourcing?

Now you’re the videographer too.

The editor.

The strategist.

The caption writer.

The one trying to find time to post when you haven’t even eaten.

Sometimes you wonder if you’re falling behind. Not because your work isn’t strong, but because your production value doesn’t match what’s trending. Than can become a dangerous space to live in.

Where your actual impact gets buried under the pressure to prove it online.

Why You Still Show Up

You’ve questioned it, you’ve considered quitting. You’ve stared at your kit wondering if this is still for you. But you still show up. You do it because of the people who trust you with their most important moments, because of the artists who look to you as proof that it’s possible, for the clients who sit in your chair and finally see themselves reflected.

You show up because you built this… with your hands, your heart, and your whole self.

But not all of your reasons live outside of you.

You show up because you’re an artist. And when you’re a true artist, creating is not a task, it’s a truth. When art is your life, when it lives in your body, you don’t just choose to show up.

You need to.

Even when it’s heavy.

Even when it costs you.

When art is your heart, you can’t exist anywhere else.

Your soul needs to create.

Your life needs you to make art.

This work may not always feel soft

But it is sacred.

And every time you pick up a brush, you're reclaiming something.

Power. Identity. Peace. Joy. Voice. Presence.

You show up, because something in you needs to.

If you’re carrying it all, the brand, the weight, the work, just know you’re not alone. You don’t have to perform your way to worth. You don’t have to do it like anyone else. You’re already doing more than enough.

Keep creating.

Keep showing up.

But most of all, keep choosing you.

Where the magic begins. The lights, the mirror, the kit… it’s more than makeup. It’s the making of every moment, every face, every feeling.