My Guide Beauty supplies. Bring it on!
This is the English version of the post published on Con P de Párkinson. The original Spanish can be found here.
I’ve never been good with eye makeup. Actually, that’s too generous: I’m awful at using eyeliners, for example. I’m fine with mascara, but eyeliners, forget about it. And with Parkinson’s disease, I’d say I’m a lost cause. However, Terri Bryant, founder of Guide Beauty, was adamant: “No, you’re not!”
We interviewed Terri on Onda PK a couple of weeks ago, and the show is airing right when we’re kicking-off the month of April, Parkinson’s awareness month. We wanted to know everything: how and why she became a makeup artist, what happened after her PD diagnosis and how Guide Beauty came to be. The following is a summary of that conversation, which you can watch in English *or* Spanish on our YouTube channel.
When Terri was growing up, her mom would religiously go every season to the Chanel makeup counter four times a year, to find out about the latest trends in makeup. It was a moment for her: she was a busy mom, ran a business and took care of her family, but those days were for her.
Terri spent years playing with makeup, honing her skills. She always felt uncomfortable talking to people, but she realized that makeup helped her connect with the person sitting in her chair. She started working at that same makeup counter when she was pursuing a degree in special education. After her first training with Chanel, she knew she wanted to become a makeup artist.
Guide Beauty was born the day Terri got her diagnosis. It was an empowering moment, realizing that she knew the mechanics of makeup artistry, and now she understood also the disconnect that the people sitting in her chair would mention. She took her makeup kit and her husband’s toolbox and started working on her own prototypes. The lightbulb moment was: Wait, this makes it easier for me, but it’d also make it easier for anyone who says they can’t put on makeup!
Later, Terri started working with a design team, and they taught her about the concept of universal design. She hopes to achieve a prospective shift with Guide Beauty, widening the lens of inclusion. The idea is to include and represent everybody in products and design. In doing so, the products become better for everybody, brushing off the need to design for us AND for them.
Before her diagnosis, Terri was experiencing a shift but she didn’t know why. Once she knew, she found an opportunity to figure out how to proceed. If she couldn’t be the makeup artist she had been before, who did she want to be? She knew some beauty could come out of it, and she went to find out. Now, being able to recognize life experiences outside of her own, she knows that Guide Beauty can be the tool to bring more people to the table and help with those designs.
Terri is convinced about one thing: engaging with other people and connecting with a community makes us all stronger as we go through life. She’s looking forward to continuing with the process at Guide Beauty, to continue applying the concept of universal design to makeup, and, in short, creating something better for the widest group possible.