Meet Tucker Makeup Artist: Shana Delalla

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shana Delalla.

Shana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
From a young age, I was interested in all things creative. putting makeup on myself and others was one of my many creative outlets. I mostly practiced on myself and my mother. Never actually thought I’d make it a career. It wasn’t until I was about 4 years into college and no closer to a degree and I came to a crossroads; either I narrow in and focus on an actual major leading to an actual career or figure out another way to build a career doing something I love. I then decided that I was going to put all my focus and energy into becoming a makeup artist. Specifically, I wanted to eventually work on film. More than anything I want to be part of creating something bigger than me and after watching hours and hours of behind the scenes footage of movies (mostly lord of the rings..nerd alert) I realized those are my people! I began my YouTube education and practiced everyday. I started immediately marketing myself on Facebook at $35/per person for a full makeup application for brides or any occasion. Also free exchange work for portfolio pictures. I decided to call my business “Yurfayce” because I loved the idea of having a website called Yurfayce.com. And if people asked what I was up to I could say “I’m super busy working on Yurfayce.” Obviously, my sense of humor is at the forefront of my personality. My first studio was in my parent’s house they let me set up a studio in their sitting room and I had about 2 clients that came there. After about two months I moved out and got a job doing makeup at a department store and started to network. It was at Belk that I met Gianncarlo, the News Director at Univision 34 Atlanta. he said they were a small station and needed a makeup artist for their evening news. I’d never done makeup on a man nor for TV but I didn’t hesitate and I told him absolutely yes. I started immediately and went during my lunch breaks at Belk since they were both in Buckhead. Doing makeup for tv was a huge learning experience for me and I learned quickly that it was very different than in person. I fell in love with my job immediately because I could watch my work on tv and see what I could tweak or change for the next day.

I became close with Amanda Ramirez, their main anchor and she hired me to do makeup for her wedding in Puerto Rico! Still to date one of my top jobs I’ve ever done. After a year of doing both jobs, I decided to leave Belk and open my own studio (Yurfayce Studio) and pursue my freelance career. I found a space in sandy springs about 300 sq feet split with an artist friend I had. It was pretty cramped. To drum up some business I put a boudoir photo session groupon up. It worked for sure! it was a lot of work and the money wasn’t great but the experience was and the referral business was steady. I decided to go even bigger. We found a 1200 sq ft space and I decided to focus on boudoir photography. It was the bulk of my freelance business and I wanted to see how far I could take it. I was doing makeup, hair styling, wardrobing, photos plus editing. It was a lot of work but I loved it! I was working about 5 jobs and 7 days a week. I was waitressing, Yurfayce, Univision, Woo skincare, and cosmetics, Smoke show App (mobile makeup and hair) sometimes up to three jobs a day. I did all of this for about six months and decided that I needed to scale down and focus. While the larger space was nice to have… I wasn’t getting enough business to pay for both the space and my living expenses. So I left the large space and went back to the smaller one. After about six months of this My husband and I got married and then pregnant almost immediately. So I had to cut back on working. Also since 90% of the time I was traveling to my clients the studio was an unnecessary expense and it didn’t make sense anymore. I was then 100% mobile. After 3 months of maternity leave, I was back at work. Now all of my business is a referral and I do about 4-7 weddings a year and work at Univision mon-Friday and the Saturdays I don’t have an event I work at Woo Skincare and cosmetics.

This year I’m sending my work into the Emmys so hopefully, that will help boost my reputation and definitely my confidence. I focus mainly on freelance but will continue to educate myself and build my portfolio. My biggest weakness is documenting my work and updating my website. So my current status is a freelance makeup artist who’s working on her weaknesses and pushing to further her career in the tv and film world!

Has it been a smooth road?
Most of my struggles are listed in the previous question but one of my main obstacles is getting into the union to be able to work on film sets. Because of liability, it’s required to be part of the union! And there are only two ways… The hard way which is the application process and the preferred way of being “grandfathered” in by someone in the industry. I’m working on the hard way. But I’m open to the preferred! 😉

Who, or what, deserves a lot of credit for where you are today?
Of course! If it weren’t for my close-knit team at Univision I would have never been able to gain the experience, knowledge, and relationships I have now. Amanda Ramirez, Gianncarlo Cifuentes and Mariela Romero and three important people at Univision that helped me move forward with my skills and career. Also, YouTube! I owe my education to the many makeup artists who took the time to upload videos to help others learn and grow! Too bad they don’t have certifications through YouTube eh? Maybe I just invented that 😉

Do you have a favorite type of client or project?
Any client is a favorite client. I love variety and challenges. But I do love doing makeup for tv and film the most. So I’d say talent is my favorite because it’s part of a collective and creative whole; A finished product you get to watch and enjoy and admire afterwards. I would love the opportunity to work on a film set.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were just starting out?
Gone to school!!! Education is so important for knowledge and for networking. I would have gone to film school and then taken additional makeup courses for certifications and access to building a diverse portfolio. I am working on that now, but sort of backwards!

Pricing:

• Bridal makeup includes trial $125
• Day rate $150 + $50/hr
• Makeup for all occasions $75
• Boudoir shoots includes makeup,Hair styling, Photoshoot and 25 edited photos ,
• (Venue charges may apply to photoshoots) )

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yurfayce.com
• Email: shanafayce@gmail.com
• Instagram: Yurfayce