business women of the week
Businesswoman of the Week: Emma Smith of FX Makeup Academy opens up about juggling multiple businesses
Emma is the director of the FX Makeup Academy
Emma Smith, the founder and director of Dublin's FX Makeup Academy, is one of the busiest women in Ireland. Not only is she a key figure in the academy where she also teaches, she owns her own salon on top of it.
The makeup artist sat down with RSVP Live to tell us how she does it all.
What sparked your love of make-up?
I suppose, I started into the industry when I was 14 as a hairdresser and I was always doing people's make-up while I was working in the salon. I used to be kind of messing around and stuff like that, so I suppose that's kind of what got me into it, I was always really creative, I loved art in school and I just loved the beauty industry and make-up was one of the first things, after hair, that I got into. I developed a real love for it.
What is the biggest challenge you've had to face?
I suppose it's just having the time to do everything, that's the biggest thing when you run a business no matter what. I actively do teaching classes in the academy and I run a salon as well so I think time is my biggest enemy at the moment. It's working around it and learning how to delegate out a little more and split my time a little bit better, and learning to switch off. It's tough, I suppose business life is brilliant and it's great but one of the hardest things is learning how to switch off. I'm running businesses the last five years and I'm still finding it hard to switch off, but I know that I need to try and take time, especially family time and time to yourself for your mental health and stuff like that because you can get so caught up with work that it's hard then to take the time and focus on yourself.
Swipe across to see Emma's work
In pictures: Emma Smith of FX Makeup Academy
Why did you start up the academy?
I was teaching in the industry anyway, while I was working I was teaching for a different school privately and publicly, and I just decided I wanted to share my style of teaching with students in a more fun environment but also to the high standards I sought in the industry. It's really important in our industry especially, because it's so big , that you have that standard. That's what we're all about here, that really high standards and international accreditations so yeah that's one of the main reasons I started the academy. That and I suppose my style of teaching is a little bit different than how I would have been teaching in different schools.
Best piece of advice you'd give to someone who wanted to follow in your footsteps?
The best bit of advice I'd give to someone would be to make sure, no matter what it is that you're doing, that you're 100% knowledgeable and confident in your field, and that you constantly focus on yourself, not on others, focus on your business an driving your business forward, focus on your clients and customers. I find that's the best way forward and always having a standard to meet no matter what, and don't let that fall. I think that's how I kept building my business and expanding was because I always kept that standard there and me being so knee deep in the workings of it is how it is working the way that it is.
Businesswoman of the week
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Helen Dwyer on her love of fashion
Is there a particular business woman you admire the most?
There's so many of them. Nowadays in the beauty business, there are so many women out there doing it which is fantastic. There's so many makeup artists that I'd aspire to collaborate with. Irish business women are doing amazing at the moment which is brilliant. I love Marissa Carter and her story. Dermalogica would be one of my favourite skin brands. I was listening to Jane Wurwand's podcast, which is really inspiring because she started off with an academy and then built her brand worldwide. There's so many I couldn't even choose one! It's great that it's mostly women.
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