Click the READ MORE link to find out about Ayinde s celebrity clients and a homophobic incident on a video shoot!
AE: Who have been some of your celebrity clients?
AC: Vanessa Williams, Mariah Carey, Mary j Blige, Beyonce, Cassie, Veronica Webb, Ne-yo, Jamie Foxx, Tatum O’Neil, etc.
..
Model:Supreme.
Photo by: Itaysha Jordan
AE: So you ve done some work on hip-hop videos. And a lot has been said and written about homophobia in hip-hop. What s your experience like as a gay man on a hip-hop video set?
AC: The first job that I was offered in hip-hop was for a b-lister, he ll go unmentioned. While setting up my makeup table, which I take great pride in, I was approached by his management (male) and I was told: yo homo none of that faggot shit, okay, just lotion, nothing else..
. so I gave his manager a tube of lotion, packed my stuff and left the set..
.
I began doing more hip-hop, R B and reggae music videos and my experiences have all varied from client to client and from set to set.
I’ve had to hire female assistants to touch some men while I was behind my artist instructing them in precise detail.
.. I’ve had amazing experiences with some male artists who are incredibly diplomatic and respectful.
.. and I have a huge dancehall artist that s incredibly homo-phobic, but only allows me to make him up.
..and when I say touch I mean make-up.
AE: So what s next for you? Where is Ayinde headed?
AC: I’m currently working as Creative Director for Fiberwig Mascara, and formulating my own line of cosmetics for the savviest of makeup divas.
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AE: Now that there are so many style shows on TV and whatnot (Top Model, Project Runway, What Not to Wear, etc.
), how has that changed the status of makeup artists, who were previously unknown to the larger public?
AC: It s given us a better platform to express the behind the scenes aspect of our jobs..
. our status really happens within the celebrity/industry underground..
.I was recently featured on ABC s Extreme Makeover and it s not changed my status..
.it s just given me a bigger platform from which to say hello.
AE: Gotcha.
AfterElton has readers from all across the country. What advice would you give our younger readers who may want to get into the industry as a makeup artist?
AC: My advice to younger readers that want to get started in the industry is to really study the industry and the marketplace, to immerse yourself in a business course—it s not all just a painting game.
Some people can really take advantage of you when you re not looking and you should always be looking...
never drop you career onto anyone else s lap (agents). Remember, you work for you - always..
. on the art side of things, never apologize for your work and develop you signature style ASAP!
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