Moonlighting in the Beauty Industry

How does a girl from the financial tech industry land a freelance gig at Dior? I honestly don’t have a great answer for this. All I can tell you is that it was a series of seemingly unrelated decisions as I FOLLOWED what brought me joy.

In 2018, I was laid off from my dream job at Bloomberg and honestly felt lost and hopeless. As a child of Asian immigrant parents, I tied so much of my identity to my accomplishments. My ego was attached to the clout of working at a prestigious company and having a “stable” job that my family was proud of.

Despite feeling lost, I felt as if I truly found myself during that time period. I took the time to explore and rediscover myself during my funemployment. I leaned into my childlike curiosity and took the chance by applying for a part-time job at Bloomingdale’s to help launch their new beauty concept store at their NYC flagship location.

Bloomingdale’s NYC flagship location where I worked part-time

I practiced my makeup artistry skills and also became a product expert at all things luxury and clean beauty since we were able to test / sell any brand in the store. I was fortunate enough to meet the founders of clean beauty brands such as RMS, who shared stories about how they created their own companies.

My last day at Bloomingdale’s NYC flagship

I networked all throughout the store and made connections with the freelancers. Most beauty counters at luxury retailers are freelancers or employees of the actual beauty brand, rather than retailer itself. One of the freelancers I started to become close with also worked at Dior, who suggested that I apply. I wasn’t planning to continue moonlighting anymore yet alone land a side hustle with Dior; it truly did come to me effortlessly as if it was the law of attraction.

I remembered visiting my first Sephora as a preteen who had no business buying things from this store. There was always something that excited me about makeup and allowing yourself to be whoever you wanted to be. I was working at Sephora locations on behalf of Dior and even got to do a training at Dior’s headquarters.

Dior event at Sephora location where I’d freelance

I felt confused at times because I felt like I was living two lives. One side of me cared about financial education and economic empowerment, and the other side of me loved beauty and creativity. I was so caught up on not wanting to appear “off-brand” that I didn’t notice I was dimming myself for having multiple interests.

But time went on, I got more and more comfortable in my own skin. I feared being judged and not being seen as intelligent just because I liked beauty. I realized that it’s completely normal to be multifaceted. I was trying so hard to control how other’s perceived me that I didn’t allow myself to just be myself — a creative with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Some items I got at the Byrdie beauty hour at work

Although I’m no longer moonlighting, I’m grateful for the experience and the opportunity to explore my creativity. The company I currently work at owns a bunch of digital brands that write content on everything from finance, beauty, travel, and dining, so I truly get the best of both worlds.

As a child, I loved drawing on my doodle bear (brought me to makeup artistry), collecting my grandpa’s foreign coins (brought me to my finance & international travel), and journaling my adventures like the character of my favorite book, Amelia Hits the Road (brought me to writing & finding hidden gems).

It’s been really interesting looking back at my life and seeing how everything is tying together. And while I’m not quite sure exactly where I’m headed, all I know is that my heart’s in the right place. I trust that I’m being guided to where I’m meant to be.