00:00My name is Melissa Hibbert Brumfield. I am a celebrity makeup artist, TV beauty
00:05expert, and beauty entrepreneur. I was born in Kingston, Jamaica on a kitchen
00:11floor to a single mother and you know we we didn't have quite much you know to
00:18say we had a modest upbringing is an understatement. My parents immigrated
00:22here in the 80s and wanted to give us a better life. I grew up in Portland, Oregon
00:26and I went to college down south. I'm a proud HBCU graduate of Bisk University and
00:33right after college you know I decided that I needed to move to New York and
00:39you know pursue corporate America. All along though even throughout high school
00:44and throughout college I always had a fascination with beauty and I always
00:49felt like it was really a part of me just to be able to you know look good and feel
00:54good and I wanted to share that with other people but for some reason I
00:57always I put the corporate career and the corporate journey you know ahead of
01:01everything. I had a distinguished career and 14 years of work with some of the
01:05biggest brands and some amazing companies in the world and I'm grateful for that
01:11experience and having done that there was a pivotal moment for me around in 2012
01:17where I felt like there was something more for me to do and so I took a
01:21sabbatical and went to my parents home and spoke to them and prayed and fasted and
01:27did everything that I needed to do to understand I was living this great life
01:30I had a great career I was you know I had a great income I had a good
01:34lifestyle so why was I unhappy and you know I understood in that moment that I
01:40needed to figure it out because if I didn't it wouldn't work and so having a
01:46conversation with my mom and you know in the midst of doing a makeover that was
01:50just impromptu on my mom I had the sense of feeling and freedom that I never had
01:56you know before or hadn't had in a long time and it was sort of that answer that
02:01I needed and so when that light bulb moment went off I knew that I had to make a
02:06decision to walk away and invest everything that I had in starting my career in beauty
02:13so once I made that decision the opportunity started to open up I you
02:17know pulled money out of my 401k and spent a few thousand dollars on building
02:21my kid and spent another few thousand dollars on putting together a portfolio
02:25so I can actually show my work because I you know went back to the basics and did
02:29everything that I needed to do LA is a market where there's no shortage of hair
02:34and makeup and wardrobe and people for beauty professionals in general so I knew that I
02:38needed to to be here and to do it in a way that would allow me to stand out I've
02:45had the pleasure of working with so many beautiful and amazing women both regular
02:50women as well as celebrities I have you know two companies a makeup line as well
02:56as an agency there is no other african-american agency in LA doing what I
03:01do I employ probably more beauty professionals of color in this business
03:05helping them get jobs than any other company and you know and in working on
03:09my own way of reaching women through my own content and events and speaking
03:15engagements and I want to you know continue to be in front of the camera in
03:19front of people to understand that you know beauty is power and that's really you
03:24know really my mantra and my legacy is to empower others through beauty
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