‘Best decision ever’ - Woman with accounting degree starts beauty studio

After seven years of pursuing her accounting degree at the University of Technology (UTech) and spending 10 years working in a corporate job, 35-year-old Nekisha Baldwin decided she no longer wanted a nine-to-five and left her job to pursue her passion of being a make-up artist.

"The nine-to-five thing for me wasn't working, even though I do more work than a nine-to-five now, it's more fulfilling now because I'm doing it for myself and not anybody else," said Baldwin.

The Spanish Town, St Catherine resident worked as a production coordinator in a manufacturing company, but admits that despite her love for the job, she felt her calling was in the beauty industry.

"I liked my job, but when I started doing make-up I liked it better," said Baldwin, who was bitten by the make-up bug very early in her life.

"Back in high school I had really bad acne, it was all over ma face, ma arms, ma back, ma chest. I was a little (self) conscious of that, and so I ended up started using face powder just to cover the spots and stuff; and as I got older, I start using foundation and eye shadow. I had a friend who did cosmetology, she did my make-up and I had never done full make-up ... like highlight and contour ... and she did my make-up and I was like, 'Oh my God! this is how you look with your makeup?'"

"Since then, I always wanted to try and replicate what she did, and later I got into school. So, it was just the fact that she did my make-up and the fact that I saw how it really looks when you do your make-up professionally; and that's how I really started, wanting to do make-up," Baldwin said.

However, when the time came for her to continue her studies beyond high school, Baldwin chose to enrol at UTech, where she did her accounting degree as a part-time student. During that time she held down her steady nine-to-five job. But at age 27, she decided to pursue a career in the beauty industry.

"In 2015 I decided I wanted to do make-up professionally and I attended Face Forward and I got certified there, and then D'Marie (Institute Ltd.), they were having a competition, the I Dare You Competition. I won that and got a scholarship to go to D'Marie," Baldwin said.

Now five years after leaving her job in 2019, Baldwin is a two-time certified make-up artist who has her own business, Lejoun B Artistry, a make-up studio in Kingston where she prides herself on making her clients feel beautiful. She regards it as the "best decision mi eva mek inna mi life".

The gifted artist told THE STAR that making the switch from corporate was "really scary at first", but she knew she was doing the right thing. Still, Baldwin says if she could rewind time she would still pursue a degree.

"If I should start over, I would still do it the same way. I would still get my degree, but I might start make-up earlier," Baldwin said.

The entrepreneur stands on the belief that a skill is just as important as a university degree, and advises young women to do their best to get certified.

"I think being your own boss and having a skill is very important in terms of being a young person. If you just don't have a degree or yuh just finished high school and you just don't know what to do, if it makes sense, just get a skill. It don't have to be make-up, it can be nails, it can be hair, lashes ... skill is what is happening now. Skill is like the best thing," Baldwin said.