How Lenses, Lashes and Storytelling Intertwine

I’m in a hotel room in San Francisco trying to perfect my geisha makeup for Halloween 2006. I’ve already made many DIY attempts, and it’s just not working out. I resemble Batman more than a geisha, so I decide to let a professional makeup artist do it instead.

Off to the mall department store I go and my husband Mark comes along to see me undergo this transformation. And I swear, once the pro is done with me I look like I could’ve stepped out of 1800s Japan.

We have an epic time that night and arrive back to our hotel room around 2 am. I’m looking at my phone when I come across something surprising. Unbeknownst to me, Mark posted a behind-the-scenes picture of me in the makeup chair on Twitter. And I don’t look good at all! In fact, I look like a frightening zombie.

So I ask him to take the photo down immediately. But remember: this is back in 2006 when Twitter is still new. You can’t delete photos off it yet. Mark is trying to tell me this as I’m panicking. There has to be a way to remove this picture. 

Three hours later, after countless phone calls, desperate google searches and email threads everywhere, the offending zombie photo is gone. (And the marriage is saved!)

Now, my guest today may or may not have a few dramatic stories of her own. Violeta Meyners does impressively create real-life modern day beauty through both the lens and lashes and helps women feel and look beautiful at the same time. In this episode, she answers questions like:

How does she do it differently than other entrepreneurs? What was the narrative that she, as a woman in her industry, wanted to change? And how can you establish a connection with clients?

• What’s necessary to capture the story of beauty within images
• Why over-curating curbs your ability to uplevel your storytelling
• How perfection brings out your imperfections

The beauty business and dreamy ocean living wasn’t always the case for Violeta Meyners. She came from next to nothing, arriving in the U.S. from Romania with no friends or family and less than $500 in her pocket. All she had was big dreams, a burning desire to turn them into reality, and a will to do whatever it took. While going to school, she worked four jobs, transmuted back-on-forth from jobs to school by foot, and ate for nearly $1.25 a day.

Violeta freelanced as a makeup artist for a decade until six years ago when she considered how her approach to makeup artistry made women feel. She wanted to capture their beauty, freshness, and empowerment in a permanent way, using the lens. That’s when she took her passion for photography and turned it into a full-fledged career where she now helps women own and celebrate their beauty and worthiness. You can learn more about Violeta at her website.