Skillr Profile: Memory Lane-Coleman
SKILLR Social Media and Influencer Manager Mariama Hutson spoke with Makeup Artist and Skillr Memory Lane-Coleman about her passion for makeup, Black History Month and more. Catch the interview in the video below or read through the transcript.
Mariama Houston:
Well, this is very informal. It's not nothing really structured just me and you having a conversation. At SKILLR, we really wanted to open up these conversations for Black History Month and also just get to know our Skillrs and get to feature them. So I guess you can just start by telling me a little bit about you, how you got [00:01:36] and how you ended up with SKILLR.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Well.. It started my love for color and makeup started when I was really young. I used to take my allowance and I would go to the grocery store. They would have those little makeup kits and I would put them on me and my cousins. It started a long, long time ago, how infatuated I've been with makeup and it just, it's never gone away. But professionally, I started, this was 2012. 2012, I started working at Clinique. Skincare is a great foundation for any makeup that you want to do in the future so that's kind of why I took the job. I was there for three years, kind of working my way up. I got hired at Mac. Mac was basically my other gateway. Mac is pretty much the gateway for a lot of makeup artists because they kind of, they teach you the skills. They teach you the timing. They teach you about color. They actually operate off of the color wheel. It really gives you that artistry base and foundation. And from there, I kind of worked my way up through management and then.
Mariama Houston:
You're breaking.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I, I started working after three years with Mac. I started oh, yep. Let me see. I'm on WiFi right now. Let me see. WiFi is better.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Is that better? Oh, now you're breaking up.
Mariama Houston:
Hello?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Says I have all, all bars. Oh no, Oh, there you are.
Mariama Houston:
Okay.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Is that better?
Mariama Houston:
I'm sorry about that.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
No, it's okay. It was just breaking up. I can't even hear what she's saying.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
No, I had it on WiFi now. It's awful WiFi. Is this connection better for you?
Mariama Houston:
Yeah, it's a lot better.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Okay. Okay.
Mariama Houston:
Might also be my WiFi. I don't know.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Sure. I doubt it. I have bad reception over here.
Mariama Houston:
Where do you, where do you live?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I live in North Minneapolis.
Mariama Houston:
Are you originally here?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Yep. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, born and raised. Still trying to figure out why I'm in this cold.
Mariama Houston:
I'm not going to answer that too.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I went from working at Mac, like I said, working up my way through management. And then I started working for Urban Decay, straight for the brand. Through Urban Decay, it really taught me a lot about teaching people about makeup, not just the doing of makeup. I used to, I was on their events team so I taught master classes all over the U.S., went to their events, taught people one on one. It was a lot of, it was a lot of teaching, a lot of being in front of people, a lot of teaching our partners. We partnered with Ulta. Eventually they started partnering with Sephora. We would teach their people about our products and things of that nature. And now I'm working for Ulta. It's kind of throughout those years, I've also just worked on the side and done makeup as well, whether it be for photo shoots, for weddings, any events, processes that people had to go through. It was, it's been a journey, a long journey throughout makeup. That journey's been a little over 10 years now.
Mariama Houston:
I'm sorry. I had to switch to my phone because it was still acting crazy.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
That's okay.
Mariama Houston:
But this is a lot better. I'm guessing it was probably my connection. So you do make up professionally.. Do you do photo shoot makeup? Is there a specific area of makeup that you really like doing?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I am venturing into special effects makeup now. I've been doing beauty makeup for so long. So, so, so, so long. I'm just starting to get my feet wet with special effects. Special effects makeup is definitely something that we've ventured more into with Mac because we always had Halloween and stuff like that. We'd make leg zombies and different scars and things of that nature. I've had a little bit of experience with it now, but now I want to experiment with bald caps, prosthetics and things of that nature. That's the area that I really want to focus on.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I feel like there's always something new happening with beauty as far as trends and things like that so I keep up on it. But if I had to say what my favorite thing to do is right now is just to really experiment with color and the pairing of different colors, opposites and things of that nature. So I really, really aspire and look up to people like Danessa Myricks because she experiments so much with bold, vibrant color and that just catches my eye. So that's, that's really the kind of makeup that I'm doing or I like to do.
Mariama Houston:
I feel like those bold colors look really great on darker skin.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Yeah.
Mariama Houston:
I do. I have seen that. What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started in the makeup field and how would they go about doing that?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Do it now. That's the only thing that I would say. For so long, I feel fear held me back from doing what it is that I love to do. I feel like makeup is a skill that can be learned throughout time and it might take some people more time than others to master that skill. Or people might have different levels of interest in how they do makeup or who they do makeup on. But if you are trying to do it, just do it now. The sooner you start, the quicker you can get to where you want to be.
Mariama Houston:
And are you self-taught?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Yeah. Self-taught and then also just trained through all the places that I've worked with.
Mariama Houston:
Nice. Well, Happy Black History Month. How are you celebrating Black History Month this year?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I am celebrating Black History Month by sewing more into myself. I feel like Black history is infinite. I feel like it's always ongoing. It's not just a thing that I celebrate in February. It's something that I'm trying to celebrate 365. So when I talk about Black history and me being a part of Black history, I really want to focus on my legacy and the things that I want to do with my life. Making my mark doing what I love to do and furthering that so that I can also have something to pass down to my daughter.
Mariama Houston:
How old is your daughter?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
My daughter's 19 months old.
Mariama Houston:
Congratulations.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Thank you. Thank you. She's my pride and joy.
Mariama Houston:
I love that. Most people that I have spoken to.. because for us, we are not Black 30 days in a year, it's every single day. I totally get what you're saying about this is something that is ongoing and it's everyday and it's every day celebration of who we are. I totally get that. This year the National Black History mundane is Black health and wellness. What comes to mind for you when you think of that?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Health and wellness? Personally, for me, I always think about making sure that I'm mentally healthy. Making sure that I'm eating the things that are healthy for me. When I first became a mother, it doesn't quite hit you right away just how much you're responsible for. It's not just your health, it's the other person's health. And if you are focusing too much on their health, you're not necessarily focusing on yours and you don't think that is, is it as is important, but it really is. It really is because if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of your baby.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
There are times, especially for me in the beginning, because I had postpartum depression, it was taking care of myself and making sure that I was taking care of what I was eating and how I was sleeping and how much sleep I was getting. I really had to gather my tribe to be like, Hey, I need help. I need help. That's what comes to mind when I think of health and wellness is [crosstalk 00:12:14].
Mariama Houston:
That's great..
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Just taking care of yourself.
Mariama Houston:
You were able to ask for help. Because what that just brought up for me is one, postpartum depression is not something that a lot of people speak about. A lot of mother speak about. It's this silent battle that you go through alone and then being Black on top of it, always being expected to be strong and to hold it together. It's beautiful that you could reach out to your community and ask for assistance there.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Absolutely.
Mariama Houston:
I think that's what it's all about being able to lean on each other and not feel like you have to do everything.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Also, I feel like just with millennials and Gen Z, there's more conversation happening around mental health and the things that were kept from us, from knowing about it. The things that nobody ever talked about, the taboo subjects. I really have to be thankful for my friends too, because it's always a constant conversation about how are you doing? Because I had my baby in the pandemic so when all that was happening, there's a lot going on in the world. We don't know how this is going to end up. We don't know how to navigate this. How are you doing today? Is there anything that you're feeling that you want to tell me about? Those were the conversations I was having with my friends. You really do need to have the whole village around you and not just during those times, but just any through anything that we're going through nowadays.
Mariama Houston:
I can only imagine in the pandemic, what kind of added difficulties do you think came about for you as far as just being pregnant and navigating that whole space of giving birth?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I could only have one person with me when I gave birth and her dad is not the most levelheaded person, so I took my mom and I really wanted everyone to be there for me, but I couldn't have that. And that's just a moment that had to be recorded. It's just so many different moments that were just taken through the pandemic. I couldn't have a baby shower because, well, literally the very month, the next month after we all shut down, that was when my baby shower was supposed to happen. And so it was different resources, right. Things that people would've brought to me that I didn't, you know what I mean?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I would say the loss of connection when working because working in cosmetics and retail is a very tight knit community of people who all work in the same industry. You all know what it takes to be there. Everyone that's been there for a very long time. And so just having that network of people that I normally talk to and having that separation was odd for me. It was very odd. There are people that I still have not come back from the pandemic, people that lost their jobs and just kind of close themselves off because not everybody deals with it in the same way. When you see somebody two years later, you're just, oh girl, what happened to you? I haven't seen you in a couple years. How are you?
Mariama Houston:
The pandemic has made it easy. Who is this? Someone's calling.. Made it easy to close yourself off. Being [inaudible 00:15:57] That's why I know a lot of people were struggling, mental health wise, not used to being alone by yourself for so long. You're forced to confront certain things that come up for you because now it's just you and you, you have nowhere to go nowhere to be. [inaudible 00:16:20] conversation.
Mariama Houston:
Did you go back into makeup after- currently working there?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I'm still currently working in retail cosmetics. I'm the co-manager of Ulta beauty. So even though was-
Mariama Houston:
Are you good? I don't know, your eyes were watering for a minute.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Oh no! No, no, I'm fine. Sorry, allergies girl.
Mariama Houston:
Oh, okay. Just want to-
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I went back into cosmetics because working full time for the company, even though we didn't go right back into having people into the store or whatever, they still made sure that we had something to do. I came, I went back in September of 2020. We weren't allowed to obviously touch people, but, or anything else like that, we didn't even have testers for a long time.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
AS far as freelance work, it took me a long time to get back into freelance work. I feel like you just, I heard stories of people catching COVID from doing weddings and things of that nature. And it was just not, it wasn't something that I could afford to bring home to my family. Because my mom and my baby, they both have severe allergies. They're not able to take the vaccine. So it's if I bring home something and get them sick, it's a huge, it's a bigger risk. So I just didn't do that but I've started to venture more and more out to it now. As of the last four or five months, which has just been, it's been nerve wracking. It really has been.
Mariama Houston:
What would you say are some of the biggest changes you see since 2020 happen in your industry?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I would say that people are not as apt to sit down and talk about the makeup face to face. There's a lot of people who are very hesitant and I get it, which is kind of the reason why I joined SKILLR because it's a contact free way to consult people on makeup and skincare and whatever it is that they want to learn as far as technique goes, because in person you just don't get that same vibe anymore. There are some people who have never really felt the effects of the pandemic. When I say that, in their mind, it wasn't something to fear. I run across those people every now and again. For them, it's not that big of a deal. You can do this, you can do that. But everyone's level of comfort is just different surrounding makeup, getting makeup done, pandemic post or in pandemic.
Mariama Houston:
Because we're still here.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
We're still here. Definitely still here.
Mariama Houston:
Hearing what interests you about SKILLR and that you like the idea of being face to face consulting people via the phone. How do you think skill sharing can help our community?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Oh man, I'm so excited to take a few of those classes because I want to learn about cryptocurrency. I want to learn about 401k and retirement things. There's so many different areas of life that can be shared on SKILLR. I think that it's going to be a huge benefit because people are expanding their mind. They're expanding their vocabularies. They're trying to build in and lock in the things that weren't necessarily passed down. Having conversation about credit cards was never something that happened between me and my mom.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
And that's a lot of people's experience. I had to mess up my credit, then find out the information, then fix my credit to get to where I am now. And it's that whole process takes years or can take years for certain people. It's being able to sit across from somebody instantly and talk to them about a situation that you're having. Something that you want to learn is huge because especially now we're very, we're a culture of right now. I need this information right now, so I can do something about it. At least that's how I feel because I sometimes I don't have time to read a 900 page book on how you can. I just don't. So having somebody across from me that I can instantly get that information from is key. I think SKILLR's really onto something with that.
Mariama Houston:
I think it'll definitely.. just the access. People like access. I think it's just that barrier, the in between of not knowing or having to scroll through five million results and taking a course. It's that in between, you can just call someone.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Get all your questions answered. Because that's really the difference for me is because I can follow people on Instagram and there are definitely a lot of people who are into finance that I follow on Instagram, but they go through what these words are and then you can't ask questions. You have to book with them to do, and this is something that you can instantly get. I couldn't agree more, the access to doing that is super big.
Mariama Houston:
Totally agree. I guess I will pose one more question for you. Well, I'll just reverse it on to you. What's your favorite part about sharing what you know with others, your expertise with others?
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I feel when it comes to art or artistry of any kind, it's meant to inspire people. It's meant to reflect the times of what you're in. What's happening right now? I love the fact that people get joy when they talk about art, makeup, art, anything else like that? It brings me joy and the fact that I'm able to connect with somebody else and share that feeling, have that flow of energy where we're just talking, reviving about different colors, foundations, things that you love, things that you didn't like. Because I love to run down products and be like, I didn't like that. So it's just being able to have that conversation with people is something that I have always enjoyed because I am very opinionated and I love to talk to other people who may or may not have those opinions to get what their ideas are. I love that flow of energy, that connection with people. It's definitely something I want to continue to do.
Mariama Houston:
That's awesome. And I can tell that you really like it and really have a passion for makeup, but that kind of concludes my interview portion.
Mariama Houston:
I think makeup will be a very big avenue on the platform for sure. That's something that I know me personally, that's the first thing that I need to talk to someone about.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Even when I went to the doctor the other day, the girl was like because I was telling her about SKILLR and she was like, oh you do makeup. I need to come see you. I got to do this. I got an event coming up. I got this. I'm like, Okay girl, go see me.
Mariama Houston:
It's needed. We need.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
I got you. I'm here for you all.
Mariama Houston:
Well I'm also going to try to book a session with you. I don't know when I need to re-up on my makeup, but I'm definitely marketing.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Well, what I would do too is, if there are any products that you're like interested in or you want to find a match or anything else like that, I would just send me, the names or certain colors or anything. I can help you with that too, because there's a shade matching situation that I can go through. So just send to me different things that you're looking at, what you want to learn, anything else like that now I'll prepare beforehand. I'll have some stuff for you.
Mariama Houston:
That might be my first consultation call with you, then I'll just let you put the products that I'm looking for.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Sounds good.
Mariama Houston:
You have my email. You can let me know, reach out if you need anything at all. And then I'll obviously we're probably going to chop the interview up. We might post part here or part there, but I'll definitely tag you let people know who you are and I'll check out your Instagram when you send it.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
Perfect.
Mariama Houston:
All right. Thank you so much. [crosstalk 00:27:54] Have a good day.
Memory Lane-Coleman:
No problem. Thank you. Talk to you soon. Bye.
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