Hidden Gems: Meet Ana Saldana of Faces by Ana

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Saldana.

Hi Ana, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
So, I started doing makeup in 2013 for some time while I was finishing school, and working full time all while caring for my toddler daughter at the time. It became a little overwhelming so I stopped doing makeup and started working retail beauty counters. I worked with several different brands and I really enjoyed it and got a lot of product knowledge. I ended up leaving after some time and I started working at Sephora. I was at Sephora for little over four years and I LOVED IT. I loved the girls I was working with, I still did freelancing on the side but because of the retail schedule with Sephora, I wasn’t taking on as many clients as I wanted to so I had to turn down a lot of business. So I continued to pray about it and I ended up taking a leap of faith and leaving Sephora and decided to freelance and it ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made. I started being booked consistently every single weekend with bridal parties, quinceañeras, events it was AMAZING!!! So then I got a message from a Los Angeles based makeup artist, she was looking for makeup artists for a body-building competition show. So of course, I jumped on board.

At first, I was a little skeptical because why would this MUA with over 30k followers want ME lol so I did the show and had an AMAZING experience. So here we are almost a year later and I’m part of her traveling MUA team for bodybuilder competitors. I am forever grateful for her and I’ve met some amazing MUAs and clients throughout the way. So when I’m not traveling, I’m back home doing brides and bridal parties. I also decided to add lash extension to my business so I took a lash course and now I’ve been doing lash extensions along with my freelancing. This all has been an amazing experience for me and I am so extremely humbled. Lastly, I have always wanted to have a cosmetic line and just with everything going on and life and being a mother and again LIFE lol I just didn’t know where to start, what to do, who to contact I was clueless! So I did my research (months of it) and finally took all the steps necessary to have my very own cosmetic line. It’s called Sapphire Cosmetics. The reason I chose Sapphire is because my daughter was born in September and the birthstone for September is sapphire and since she’s a huge part of my life and my journey, I wanted something that represented her so this is for my daughter Alyson. ❤️

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not, working retail was a rough patch for me because I felt like I couldn’t grow like I wanted to with my business. Then being a single mother has been so hard as well trying to balance my child and work and thankfully, my parents and family have helped tremendously with her. But I still have that mom guilt.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I offer makeup for brides and bridal parties and any event. I do LOVE LOVE LOVE doing weddings it’s my absolute favorite. I am just so honored that these girls picked ME to be part of their special day. I also do lash extensions this has been so new to me it’s definitely different from doing makeup but while doing lashes, it just really relaxes my mind and I’m so focused.

I am sooo proud of my cosmetic line Sapphire Cosmetic just because I had to do the research myself and I honestly didn’t get any help from anyone so being able to say I did this alone really is a proud moment for me. I honestly didn’t think it was possible. I just want my business to continue growing and travel not just for competition shows but for brides and maybe even celebrities one day.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I feel like just being very professional and having great customer service skills has taken me very far. I just have this upbeat fun personality that brings laughter where ever I’m at. I love making my clients feel like family.

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