Job: Makeup and hair artist, Atlanta
What I do: For all of the gorgeous actresses on television and celebrity faces on magazine covers, there's someone like Cynthia Johnson Bailey making sure they look their best.
Bailey is a makeup and hair artist, the owner of Intentional Image Institute and a speaker on beauty, image and nonverbal communication.
She works mostly in television, especially on reality shows. She is on the set to apply makeup and style hair, then retouches it throughout the taping.
"Before we ever shoot, I touch it up so they always look perfect," said Bailey, 40.
Cynthia Johnson Bailey applies makeup to Vern Yip, host of "Deserving Design," before taping begins. She said it takes about 20 minutes to do makeup for a man.
She is working with designer and television host Vern Yip on a new show for HGTV, "Deserving Design," which premiered
Sept. 9.
She also has worked with notables such as former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, NFL great Joe Montana, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal and comedian Dana Carvey on photo shoots or television appearances.
Makeup isn't just for women, Bailey said. Almost anyone who appears on television or is photographed for a major magazine cover needs makeup.
She said preparing men for the camera is quicker (about 20 minutes vs. 45 minutes for women), because they primarily need skin care and grooming. Makeup consists of blending skin tones, controlling shiny spots and covering up blemishes.
With women, makeup is more obvious and is designed to "enhance their best features and minimize their not-best features," Bailey said.
What got me interested in this: "As a kid, I saw the movie 'F/X,' " in which the hero transforms himself with makeup and wigs. "I wanted to be a makeup artist."
After going to college and working in a different field for 10 years, Bailey took a chance on her dream and attended night classes in skin care.
She registered as a makeup artist with a film bureau and got a call. The director liked her work and passed her name along. "It kind of rolled out, and I had a business," starting in 1998, she said.
Best part of my job: "I have so much variety in my life. I do a different job each day," Bailey said. "I meet fascinating people" and hear their discussions on topics such as medicine, politics and even their personal lives.
Most challenging part: "Adjusting to the freelance lifestyle." While she enjoys the freedom it gives her, as a contract worker, Bailey doesn't have a regular paycheck, employer-provided health insurance or a 401(k) plan.
When work is slow, "it's a little hard to enjoy the downtime."
What people don't know about my job: "You become the buffer between the actor and the set," she said. "You're the first person they see before going on."
She said that puts her in the position to hear confidences as the actors prepare emotionally. She sometimes finds herself working to improve their moods as well as their looks.
"I'm almost like a bartender," she said.
What keeps me going: Bailey said she is inspired by being part of a show like "Deserving Design," because the show's subjects "are doing selfless and wonderful things." The show rewards people who do good works with design makeovers.
Preparation needed for this job: Makeup artists do not need to be licensed, Bailey said, and most get their training on the job. However, a person providing skin care does need to be licensed as an esthetician, and people working with hair need to be licensed as cosmetologists.
Bailey said several schools in the United States and Canada teach makeup techniques.
She said a person going into the job needs an eye for makeup, a professional and positive attitude, and the ability to keep confidences.
Bailey is a licensed esthetician and cosmetologist in Georgia and has certificates in hairstyling and in runway, special effects, film, television and casualty (when a person is made up to look injured or dead) makeup from Complexions International in Toronto. She also has an associate's degree in psychology from the former DeKalb Community College, now called Georgia Perimeter College.
Before her career in show business, Bailey was a corporate event coordinator for 10 years, provided skin care for patients of plastic surgeons and for clients of a local spa, and did makeup for weddings and other special events.
She now works out of Atlanta and Los Angeles, depending where the jobs are.
- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.