Anyone who works in beauty will tell you that it’s a fun, inspiring place, full of creative ideas (and the occasional free sample!), but exactly how do you break into the beauty industry? In this series, we’ll be chatting with beauty industry insiders to find out what their jobs involve and the paths they took to get where they are now.
From makeup artists and beauty editors to social media assistants, brand founders, and web developers – these stories are proof that you can enter the beauty industry via any career path.
Meet Hannah Renée, beauty and fashion influencer.
What did you want to be when you were younger?
I wanted to be a singer. I still love music now; it was my first love. I did both singing and drama at school and loved them.
What attracted you to the beauty industry?
The creativity! As I said, I love music and I’ve always been a creative person. But just being able to create whatever you want and having the freedom to create whatever you want with. The endless opportunities with makeup, that’s what I love.
What did you study and did this guide you into your current role?
I did very academic A-Levels. I did History, Psychology, and Biology which always makes people go ‘really?!’
But the reason behind that was that I wanted both sides. Even though I was doing YouTube and Instagram at the same time, I had a second path if I wanted to take that. Everything that I did in terms of makeup, YouTube, and building a brand, was all self-taught, I guess.
But I wanted to make sure I had those A-Levels there if I ever did want to go to university and change my path completely. So, it was nice to have both options.
What path did your career take after you left school?
I went to college, did my A-Levels., and then I took a gap year. I was going to do marketing at uni, which is what would have tied in with my job now.
I started with YouTube as a hobby, and me and my mum thought it would be good to do marketing on the side. But luckily my YouTube took off and here I am.
What skills and experience do you need to succeed as YouTuber?
Creativity is very important. I think good communication skills, being able to talk to brands, being able to put yourself out there, and self-determination because you’re doing this by yourself. It’s technically a self-employed work path. You need to be able to get yourself up in the morning and push yourself to do what you want to do.
And passion! Audiences really relate to you when they can tell you’re really excited about something. Like with my Shane Dawson video, people loved that because they knew it was something I was really excited about.
But also learning how to embrace your personality!
What does your day-to-day entail?
I try to get up fairly early. So, I wake up at about 8am, that’s not that early for some people! I’ll have my breakfast; I’ll maybe go to the gym. I’ll do my emails in the morning and any sort of admin and accounts, just to get them done!
I try to film earlier in the day because I use natural daylight, so it’s quite hard when it’s darker outside. Then I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon editing and doing other jobs like clean around my house. But it really differs from day to day and that’s what I like about this job. No day is the same!
What are some of the common misconceptions people have about your job?
That it’s easy! Or that I don’t do anything. A lot of people think you do nothing, everything is handed to you on a plate. They’re definitely the things that I disagree with, because you do have to work really hard.
You have to be consistent. You have to push yourself through the hard times when you’re not doing as good. It takes a lot of time to create good content! If it was easy, every single person in the world would do it. It’s difficult and I think people should get more recognition for that.
What is the best part of your job?
Being able to engage with so many people all around the world. When I started growing my following, I was in quite a difficult place and I was quite isolated because a relationship that I had been in was quite toxic. So, being able to connect online with so many different people who have the same love for makeup, fashion, and lifestyle was great.
Being able to meet new people and possibly inspire some people is really cool too. I have made some amazing friends too and that’s definitely one of my favourite things.
What has been the most surreal moment in your career so far?
I used to host a Christmas party for my subscribers, and I think just moments throughout those days were surreal. People used travel from all sorts of places to come to it. I had a girl come from Ireland; she got a plane over and she didn’t even have a ticket because they sold out. But she still came. We let her in, obviously! But people making the effort like that to come and see me, that feeling will never run dry.
What deskside essentials are vital to you doing your job?
I always have my laptop to hand because I do pretty much all my work on it. I like to have a notepad and a pen, even just to put in my bag because even though everything is online, it’s nice to write notes. A diary is my essential for staying organised. I like to keep it simple!
What’s your top piece of beauty advice?
Just embrace yourself! Do what you want to do with your makeup. Do what you love and what you feel like fits you as a person. Don’t worry about what anyone says, everyone has different styles of doing makeup, but you have to show who you are.
