Friday Feature: Meet Jacqueline Menconi

One of the best things I have had happened in my career is meeting other beauty professionals.  I am fortunate to have made friends all over the WORLD with some of THE most talented individuals out there. Aligning yourself with others in your profession is powerful. It’s nice to be able to share each others ideas and success with one another.  I thought it would be helpful to all of you to introduce you to some of these wonderful people right here on my Blog.  After all, they are all about beauty too!!

Who is Jacqueline Menconi?

“Hi there! I’m Jaxx and I’m a traveling Makeup Artist & Wellness Consultant based in northern New Jersey, about 15 minutes from Manhattan.

​My two areas of passion are makeup artistry and health & wellness. My father owned one of New Jersey’s largest fitness facilities, which (since I practically grew up there) fostered a keen understanding of the impact that fitness & nutrition have on one’s health and one’s looks. My mother owned her own cosmetics line and, when I was old enough to start creating my very own “signature” look, insisted that I learn proper makeup application — and boy am I glad she did.

Fast forward to today, I’m fortunate to have built a strong and flourishing business that allows me to work with a variety of clients including TV production companies, celebrities, major corporations, bridal & personal clients, magazines, photographers, etc.

What you may not know about me is that after graduating from Rider University with a BA in Communications, I didn’t immediately enter the beauty industry. I went to college to be a television producer and that is what I did for several years. During that time, I worked with some truly phenomenal makeup artists on set, and became savvy as to how they modified makeup application to suit different lighting (as well as different client specifications). Their ability to turn plain and pretty actors and models into the exquisite icons we know and love fueled the urge for me to do the same.

And so I did.

I left the producing life to attend The Makeup Designory in New York City, along with numerous other pro workshops & classes at other reputable studios.

Here’s the thing… I love makeup and always will, but I still know that it should never be used in an attempt to correct bad health habits. This is why after years of attending health lectures & seminars, I help my clients learn how to create beauty from the inside out by teaching the importance of exercise, diet, and proper supplementation. I’m also certified to help physicians and health care professionals of all kinds implement a variety of customizable wellness programs, and I extend my teachings one-on-one with select clients.

What made you want to learn more and eventually partner with Motives Cosmetics?

I grew up in a very entrepreneurial-minded family and not only went to college for TV Broadcasting, but minored in General Business. Being a Video Producer after college, I worked heavily in the professional/corporate world. I had to be business savvy & needed to network efficiently to be good at my job. Once I decided to switch careers to makeup artistry, I carried those same values and skill sets I had learned with me. If you are a freelance anything, whether you realize it or not, you own a business and you need to treat it as such.

As a Makeup Artist, having a PROFESSIONAL QUALITY product line to retail to my clients was a no brainer. Clients always asked me what I was using on them and before Motives, I would instruct them to go to the appropriate stores where they would buy $50-$300+ worth of cosmetics. I was making the stores richer and totally missing the boat as a business woman! Also, the fact that Motives allows me to retail completely customized makeup that I create for my clients was an INSANELY BRILLIANT concept to me! I had wanted to make a name for myself as a luxury on-location Makeup Artist and being able to blend a high end custom foundation and/or powder was the exclusivity I was looking for. Even more, it’s exactly what my CLIENTS were looking for! So many have trouble finding the right foundation. The color could be ok, but the formula is too drying. The formula is good but the color is way too yellow or pink, so they buy 2 different shades to mix at home. That’s expensive and time consuming, especially if you’re not a makeup artist!

The only thing that I had reservations about before partnering was whether Motives/Market America was considered “one of those things.” I did my due diligence, truly studying the Motives/MA business model and compensation plan, and then comparing it to other direct sales companies out there. This was when I finally appreciated the immense difference between MLM direct sales companies and Market America (MA, the parent company of Motives). MA was so clearly not MLM and that fact coupled with the quality of the products had me chomping at the bit to register my business. MA is the real deal and unlike any other company I’ve ever researched.

In what way have you maximized your existing business as a Pro-Artist?

I partnered with Motives in 2012 when I had recently quit my job as the Laura Mercier counter manager in Saks 5th Avenue. I was still in the slow beginning stages of building my freelance business and finally getting some traction. When I partnered with Motives and started retailing their ready-made products and mixing up custom blends, that was when I noticed a HUGE burst in how busy I was getting. Word started to spread and I kept getting referral after referral from all industries- bridal, tv, commercial, independent film, corporate shoots, fashion photo shoots, etc.

Looking back, I can be certain that not only was it my hustling, “go get ‘em” nature, but it was my entrepreneurialism and posture as a business owner that made this boost in business possible. Motives helped me with that because of the exclusive luxury services I had added to my repertoire as well as the personal & professional development I gained by attending all of the company trainings and big corporate conventions.

Over the next few years my business grew in every aspect. Today, I am busier than I can handle with commercial, tv, and corporate video shoots. I recently tallied up the amount of jobs I had given away to other Makeup Artists (around the world) within a 6 month period… it was about $20,000 worth. That was money I did not make because I was ALREADY booked on other jobs and I attribute a good portion of this success to what I have with & what I have learned from, Motives.

When I am already booked and asked my availability to work for another production, I refer fellow qualified artists to fill in for me. The artists who partner with me in my Motives business are the ones that will always get first dibs on a job. I am becoming much more strict with this ordinance because I want to build a team with cohesive branding. When one of “my artists” fills in for me, I want the producer or photographer to notice the same branding throughout our kits. I want to know that artist is using quality products on my excellent clients and that whatever they are using will translate seamlessly on camera.

And can I mention the discount we get as distributors on all of these products? Jeez! That alone should be reason enough to look into partnering with the company.

How do you feel is the best way to build a team of professionals?

The best way for me to expand my team is to simply keep spreading the word and leading by example. I started two pro-centric campaigns involving beauty professionals who have already partnered with our great company.

The first campaign started back in 2016 with 7 Makeup Artists coming together and creating monthly looks for every day women on my blog. The looks are created with all Motives Cosmetics and are achievable to the average makeup wearer, as opposed to the majority of what we see promoted on social media platforms, such as Instagram. That stuff is intimidating to replicate and down right impossible because of all of the filter and Photoshop use. The goal of our collaborative blog posts are to give people fun and easy makeup inspiration. The first series of collaborations were such a hit that we decided to open the group up again to add more Makeup Artists! We had 12 in total and I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished. Love all of you, ladies! I’m so grateful for your efforts!

The second campaign I started with the ever so talented and beautiful, Master Cosmetologist, you, aka: Leigh Raeder. We had a webinar series called The Business Savvy Makeup Artist. We interviewed beauty pro’s varying in not only years of experience, but also in beauty specialties (ie commercial, salon, bridal, etc). These webinars recordings can be found at my youtube channel http://bit.ly/2fQWSHZ.

I would also like to mention that I train aspiring Makeup Artists in the NY Metro area, as well as offer business consulting video conferences globally.

What are you most excited about in regard to your long term goals?

I’m most excited about having a Plan B with Motives Cosmetics. As a freelance Makeup Artist, you are only as good as your last job. Sure you can have a busy spell, but sooner or later you will have a couple weeks off and will be sweating bullets not knowing when your next paycheck is coming. If you don’t have a Plan B in place to supplement your income during the slow periods, you’re not going to be successful. You’ll never be able to catch up on your bills and SURELY will never be able to save money for the future. Plain and simple!

I’ll add that as a freelancer, you do not get a pension or retirement plan that is being matched by an employer. If you can’t save money now doing what you’ve been doing, how do you expect to retire comfortably (or at all)? Do you want to be working this hard when you’re 60 years old? At what point will your pattern of having no time and no money change? What happens if you get in an accident, fall ill, or have to take care of a relative for a span of time? Can you still work with a broken arm or ankle? Can you still work when you’re taking a relative to five doctor’s visits a week for 4 months straight? This is all real life! It happens every day to someone new!

We all like to hope that none of that bad stuff could happen to us, but I invite you to take a look at the people in your life. Have any of them been through a hardship? How would you navigate through their hardship with your freelance career & income? Stop trading your time for money. Start thinking about working smarter and not harder. Do you research, study, ask questions, and get it moving. Only you can change your life! You can do it!”

Want to hear more from Jaxx & I?  Listen to an interview I did with Jacqueline HERE!!