A first of its kind, hands-on make-up class hosted by Latoya Lewis of Glamour Art by Toya will unfold here next weekend. The activity will be held at Bay Gardens Beach Resort April 30th from 2 – 5pm. Glamour Art by Toya is a relatively new business enterprise that young entrepreneur Latoya Lewis says brings out her true passion and creativity. Latoya has been into cosmetics now for just over nine years, having worked with different companies and events. However, she recently took the plunge into the world of business and is not looking back.
“As a make-up artiste I have done work for weddings, commercials, graduations, photo shoots, campaigns, fashion events, Carnival and pageants,” Latoya told the STAR. She says she started off with Duty Free Caribbean where she gained hands-on experience and training working with Iman cosmetics. She later moved to the local MAC store before they eventually closed down.
“I continued to work for a while with other companies, but still did make-up artistry on the side until I woke up one day and told myself that this is where my passion lies and this is what I want to do,” she says. Armed with that sense of self-empowerment Latoya then registered the name “Glamour Art by Toya” as a business entity. Now, nearly one year later, she says she is beginning to see her dreams bear fruit.
“I knew that going it alone would mean that I would have to make tremendous sacrifices. No longer can I plan my spending around a guaranteed salary when I was employed by someone else. I have to prioritize and focus on the growth of the business,” Latoya explains. “But I know if I work hard it will pay off,” she says optimistically. And the clients have started calling on her. Look out for her work on the runway at Hot Couture May 4.
One of the greatest rewards so far Latoya says is waking up on a morning eager to start her day and looking forward to what new challenges her job will bring. “No longer do I wake up asking myself, ‘Do I really want to go to work?’”
Latoya Lewis is also very excited about next Saturday’s make-up class. “Clients have been asking me to do something like this for some time now and so the minute I left my job I said I have to do this.” And so companies she has either worked with before, or serviced as clients, were eager to come on board, including host venue Bay Gardens Beach Resort, Duty Free Caribbean and Barefoot Wines.
The hands-on, interactive class – as she describes it – will allow participants to use various products, learn techniques and a few tricks of the trade, and ask questions.Prizes and goodie bags, thanks to sponsors like Duty Free Caribbean and Digicel, will be up for grabs plus eats and wine will be served.
So with Galmour Art now taking center stage, has Latoya’s singing career been put on hold? “Not at all,” says the Saint Lucia Groovy Soca Monarch finalist. “In fact I am about to release a song for carnival,” she told us when we spoke last week. “I love carnival; it is a part of me and I enjoy combining what I do which is the make-up artistry with the music,” she says.
Over the last few years Latoya has done make-up for carnival band models, soca artistes and contestants for the national carnival queen pageant. In fact, for the past three years the carnival queen contestants on whom she has worked her magic have each won the pageant. With such a winning streak no doubt Latoya Lewis is well on her way to establishing Glamour Art by Toya as a successful business venture by a young talented Saint Lucian.
