Life & Work with Kiera Sanders of Cincinnati

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiera Sanders

Hi Kiera, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started in 2013 right after a rough relationship with my ex, and I really just wanted to learn how to do my eyebrows. Next thing you know I was doing a whole full face. I was out at the store when a woman approached me and said hey, I like your make up who does it? I said I do my own she said oh how much do you charge? I said I don’t charge anything and that small conversation was the start of a whole new journey for me! After that conversation, I literally looked into everything that I could to find out. How could I become a make up artist I started practicing on family members church members friends until I booked my first wedding, and I actually still do this client and this was 2014 and now it’s 2024. I have absolutely fell in love with my artistry my clients my salon I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. After booking my first wedding in 2014 business begin to pick up quickly. I was taking appointments at my mother’s salon seven days a week and also working my full-time job at a nursing home. I finally got to a position at the nursing home where I was able to come and go as I needed to and make up just kept pulling me away from that job and so in 2016 I finally took the leap and left and went full-time with my make up and I’ve been full-time since 2016 and it’s now 2024 so all together I have been doing make up for 11 years and full-time for eight years uninterrupted through a pandemic, and I am still fully booked with my clients. I opened my own suite in 2018 I was there until January 2019 when a bigger space became available and and then a bigger space became available and I opened a full service salon. I have three hairstylist, a nail tech and a massage therapist and myself as the makeup artist we are called Glam Chixx makeup and beauty bar located in the Evendale area of Cincinnati Ohio! I am so truly grateful for each mile stone for what happened in the past relationship that led me to wanting to do some make up on myself to the woman, I met at the store to my first bridal party, and to everybody else, along for the ride of this journey, I would have never imagined that this is what I would be doing. I actually was in college to be a history teacher, and so this pivot was totally out of nowhere and I’m just so grateful to wake up and do something that I love every day.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has absolutely not been a smooth road with anything in business you are always going to run into something there have been relationships lost there have been moments of uncertainty and financial gaps. The beauty industry is up and down, and I always tell people business in general is something for someone who is built Ford tough you deal with so much that old saying the customer is always right well the customer is not always right however, you do have to treat the situation correctly because when you are a small business word of mouth goes along way and one person whether it’s your fault or not can damage to your whole reputation of the business!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
So I would say, my artistry style is more of a natural glam with the pop always tell people you want that full Glam look but not over done! I pride myself on being a diverse make up artist I can go to the most extreme make up as far as colors and contour lashes, to the light as of the light I don’t however, do Halloween make up anything scary I’m not gonna do it I’m just not into that lol. A lot of my clients book my natural for full Glam I do a lot of brides, so I do a lot of bridal Glam and traveling so far I’ve been all over the Ohio Kentucky Indiana area, as well as Georgia, Alabama and Florida

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
You know, I tell people all the time that I might not be the best make up artist, which in fact, I actually think I am pretty good lol but my make up is consistent. You can tell in the details that I really take pride in what I do and it’s not something that I do for likes or social media that I really enjoy what I do and it also comes out when you come and sit in my chair. I want people to feel comfortable when they come and sit in my chair and most of the time they do I end up hearing a lot of clients full life stories in it because they feel comfortable enough with me I like to set the environment I have candles. I have a waterfall in my suite room, good music and I tell them just treat me like a girlfriend let’s just talk while I do some Glam 9/10 clients tell me that they just love coming just to talk and get their makeup done. The love my work and then it comes with conversation and so they keep coming and I like to also keep my prices affordable because my thing is I love doing this and so as a full-time make up artist I want you to come every day if you want I want you to be able to afford that versus you only being able to afford to come on your birthdays anniversaries etc. a lot of my clients come just because and that’s great for me because that means that I’m consistently bringing in income from doing make up and I love what I do so much I tell people even if no one paid me another dime to do it, I would still find someone to do it on! It’s truly one of my happy places!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://WWW.StyleSeat.com/beatbykee
• Instagram: @Kee_themua
• Facebook: Glam Chixx Makeup