Okere Chisorom Favour; My Parents dealt with me for carving my eyebrows; Since then I haven’t looked back

Youths are gradually taking over and breaking new frontiers. In this brief interview, Okere Chisorom Favour talks about her journey to becoming a makeup artist and a decision to help makeup artists and hair stylists on the platform BEACE.

Can we meet you?

I am Okere Chisorom Favor. I am the fourth child in a family of five, my Dad is late and my mom is a fashion designer.

How did the passion for makeup start?

At age nine I had a weird flare for makeup, my elder sister had her way with makeup at that time. I always watched her do makeup and I wished I was old enough to do same.

So you are saying that at an early age of nine you were already interested in makeup?

Yes, I was. When I was ten, I asked my sister how it would look like if I carved my brows. Little did she know I was on a mission. She told me that she would help me out when I became much older but gave me a short tutorial and left the house.

Guess what I did?

Immediately she left I did it myself until I messed up my brows. My parents noticed and dealt with me. You know proper African parents now. Since then I haven’t looked back. I would always carry one makeup product to school that I had taken from my mom’s bag or my sisters so I could practice. My parents were stunned at the level of interest I had at that tender age.

Tell us about your stay at the University, did the passion for makeup die or it grew?

I attended Covenant University and while in school I continued my makeup. My friends were very supportive. They joined me in turning my room into a makeup room.

Interesting! Tell us more

I did my makeup for matriculation, dinners, birthdays and convocation. During my convocation, I made up more than fifteen people including myself.

Some of Chisorom’s work –

What did your parents think at this point?

My parents watched how my passion grew in makeup so my dad before he passed on to glory paid for me to learn makeup at MakeupByORSELA owned by the famous rapper Eva Alordiah.

How was it like training under the tutelage of Eva Alordiah?

Training at MakeupByORSELA helped me gain more skills in makeup. It was a fun experience. Afterward, I went for NYSC I taught all the ladies in my lodge how to do makeup now most of them are already good makeup artist in different states.

Tell us about life after NYSC?

Life after NYSC felt boring because I wasn’t pursuing what I was passionate about. I had worked for about six months but I felt like I was missing something. I knew makeup was where my passion was. I felt like I was being dragged to work. I finally quit my job as an online content writer/editor for Iconway Media and I decided to focus on makeup fully.

That was a bold step to take. Did you have any plans when you quit your job?

When I quit I decided to pursue what I was passionate about. I decided that if I was going to be the best I had to intern under a top makeup artist to brush up my skills. I didn’t want to become obsolete, I wanted to be up to date with the latest trends in the industry and what better way than to learn from one of the best. My training in Oshewabeauty was a great adventure…I learned a lot and I became better. January 2016 I decided to start my own business. I registered my company Beautified Glam and it has been a great journey so far.

What challenges do you think the makeup industry faces?

In my short sojourn in life, I have met a lot of upcoming makeup artists and a common challenge I discovered is that they do not know how to market themselves. The ones that know how to don’t have jobs to post on their social media platforms, some have studios but no jobs. I became very worried about this situation and thought of what I could do to help out. I don’t believe in just pointing out challenges, I believe in being a solution to challenges.

So I felt with the rise in demand for a makeup artist in Nigeria it won’t be fair for customers to look for a makeup artist to make them look beautiful and they don’t find and also it won’t be fair for upcoming makeup artist not to have jobs as well. So I and my friends realised these issues and decided a platform that both the customer and the makeup artist/hairstylist can be satisfied. That is why BEACE  was created.

What is BEACE?

Beace is a platform that connects people to their beauty specialist. The idea behind this is simple, you book with us, we send a makeup artist or hair stylist and in less than one hour either makeup artist will be at your doorstep. The stylist only has to work at their convenient time and location.

When do you plan on launching this great platform to the world?

BEACE is launching by the end of this month and we have close to 100 stylists signed up already Majorly from Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. We have a few In Accra, London, San Francisco and Cape Town. We would be running test services in countries outside Nigeria for now. The Intention is to scale fast.

What is the future like for BEACE?

The future for us is to see Clients get beauty related experts at their doorstep in less than 5 minutes after placing an order.

How can makeup artists/hair stylists be a part of these?

Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists can sign up via this form

How can the public be involved?

Everyone else should watch out for us here and sign up for early access.