#FellowshipSpotlight | Pretty Much

Backstage at the Kimberly Goldson show at New York Fashion Week 2018

Pretty Much Academy

@JamayaMoore / jamayamoore.com

 Jamaya Moore is a makeup artist and for the past three years, she's been helping other women and artists learn how to develop their own makeup skills. Pretty Much Academy is a subscription-based online platform to help these women master not only their makeup but also their business skills within the industry. This platform is an ongoing and growing library including makeup tutorials, business videos, and webinars.

What brought you to the creation of Pretty Much?

Well! Like a lot of things in my beauty career, it started out by chance. I started out my career in finance, working for Morgan Stanley as an analyst. One day, I went on a photo shoot with a friend and I was totally captivated by the work of their makeup artist. That was the beginning.

Being a makeup artist now with a corporate background, I found myself increasingly attracting clients with similar stories to myself. Women looking to branch out creatively - women who just wanted more. Increasingly, women would ask me for advice, ask me to teach them what I knew. Honestly, I was scared! I was really hesitant at first. I didn't think I could teach anyone anything.

Sometimes it's hard to recognize the amazing skills you possess even with people telling you otherwise

Yes! That's exactly how I felt at the time. But I kept having people come to me for advice about business and makeup and I found myself becoming a resource. I started giving makeup lessons, kept having conversations, kept giving advice, and eventually realized that, "Wow! This is a thing!" So that's where Pretty Much Academy came about originally. But... I fought it. I fought it for a while. I was hesitant.

So what's that journey been like since then?

Crazy, tough to balance my unpredictable schedule with in-person events and tutorials. That is actually where the online platform came out of. I needed a way to balance my work-life with providing these educational resources. But being patient and being consistent pays off. It really does. People think it's supposed to happen overnight. But it takes a while!

Where are you going from here?

Short-term, I'm working toward being a Union makeup artist. At Pretty Much Academy, I want to grow to having 1000 subscribers and helping my moderators on the site build out their own brands. I also do a weekly Facebook Live show called The Business of Beauty which is growing tremendously. Our tenth episode is October 10th which will also have a live audience! It's amazing how that show has grown too. We kept showing up and things kept happening. That's how I feel about my other projects as well. I just keep showing up, keep growing it. You learn from your mistakes... and then you make other mistakes. But you learn!

What has BCAN brought to the table for you?

Being a fellow at BCAN,