As "Makeup by Rae Michele" I began doing makeup as a hobby for family and friends to practice what I had learned from countless hours watching YouTube. I began watching natural hair tutorials and saw that many ladies would do their makeup too. I failed miserably on the hair portion of the tutorial, but my makeup would look pretty decent LOL!

My first "real" client was this super-sweet photographer by the name of C'na whom I met at my cousin's wedding and maternity shoot. She saw something that I had no idea was there. She asked me to do her makeup for her bridal shower but little did I know it was a test! She called me later that day and told me everyone at her shower loved it and asked me to do her and her bridal party's makeup for her WEDDING!!! In the meantime, C'na would have me work with her on styled shoots so I could get used to being a 'makeup artist' and she made me begin creating social media accounts and a website. 

Pictured above is her wedding party and yep, I did all of those faces for my 1st wedding! No one knew but I was a nervous, sweaty mess because I didn't want to mess up, LOL! Her wedding was so awesome that it was published on Ebony.com and MunaLuchiBridal.com (even though my name is spelled wrong, sigh) and I felt so excited and accomplished!

It was then that I realized I wanted to brand myself/specialize as a makeup artist for large wedding parties, life events and basic everyday makeup.