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also loved styling all my friends’ hair. I
graduated from college with a Bachelors
degree in Psychology, but I needed a job. It was
always a process for me. Through my friend
Ricci deForest I got an opportunity to assist
several photographers. Then I started working
with a modeling agency and even taught some
classes there. I started interacting with more
photographers and talent agents and then I
started my freelance work. I worked part-time
at the modeling agency, and was a substitute
elementary and middle school teacher. It took
me about three years before I was able to be
stable financially.
What were your first film and tv jobs?
When I first started doing makeup there weren't a whole lot of black make up artists doing
“mainstream” work. And it was really clear that
black folk weren't getting a lot work, and
unless you were doing makeup for everyone,
then you might not be able to pay your bills. So
I was clear early on that I had to do everybody.
People assumed that because I was African
American, I could only make up African Americans. So what I did was only include Caucasian
people in all the pictures in my portfolio with
maybe one African American.
attitudes” or insecurities, and it shows.
Carroll O’Connor was a kind, gentle, friendly,
and reasonable person. He was very special.
The show was progressive for its time and
the experience was definitely an example of
how a set can go well.
The National Democratic Convention was held
in Atlanta in 1988. There were about 8 makeup
artists in town who did most of the print, commercial, and movie work and I was one of a
handful of African American makeup artists at
the time. During the convention, I was the first
admitted into the NABET (and subsequently
the IATSE 798) makeup union in Georgia.
I started do makeup for talent at Georgia
Public Television (now Georgia Public
Broadcasting) during their 2nd fundraiser
and that was a great experience. The first
movie I worked on was “Fast Food.”
Another one of my early television jobs was
day playing on the series, “In The Heat of the
Night” starring Carroll O’Connor. They
filmed in Covington, near Atlanta and I
absolutely loved it. Sometimes you work
with people in this industry who have
different energy, big egos, or a “showbiz
How did you begin your work with
actor/director Tyler Perry?
When I first started working with Tyler, I had
no idea who he was. I worked with him for 4
years doing his makeup and as his personal
groomer for media events before he did
anything in television. It was a good
professional experience and he shared a lot
of his dreams and aspirations. “Diary of a
Mad Black Woman” was the first film of
Tyler’s I worked on. For many years, I was
fortunate to set up his makeup department