As a makeup artist, I have access to some very interesting people. From Diablo Cody, the Oscar winning screenwriter of the movie Juno to Mary Matalin, mother and former right hand person to President George Bush 41. Both women are extraordinary in their own right.

Diablo and Mary both seem to listen to their own voice. They are mavericks in their respective fields. They both appear to forge paths of strength and determination while keeping  their sense of wit close at hand. For example, Diablo Cody an emerging screenwriter, who was being photographed for The Washington Post prior to her Oscar award appeared to me to be a mistake of an actress. I thought there is no way this woman can make it in Hollywood. After locking herself in the Ritz Carlton powder room by accident, she insisted that she wear her favorite cow print jacket in the photo. She must have felt like it was her goodluck charm. It wasn’t until later that I understood that she was a writer. A now famous blogger turned Hollywood writer. What I did know at the time, was that her beautiful blue eyes were heavily lined with black kohl. I added a blue Dior 5 palette and the most amazing transformation happened on her in that moment. The almost periwinkle blueshadow turned a soft peacock purple right on her eyelid. The magic of her being transformed even makeup. She has a special something that movie goers and the Oscar voters love.

Mary Matalin to me represents an amazing working woman, who is a great role model to women in America. She proved that you can take care of how you look and present yourself beautifully while being intelligent, thoughtful and funny! Her aura and spunk motivates those around her. When she was being photographed for Vanity Fair in an article devoted to All the Presidents Men, she turned up the female volume. You can see by the title what she was up against while working for President Bush and all the men in the West Wing. Her time was before Secretaries of State Rice and Clinton and Madame Speaker Pelosi where in office. Here was a woman, who was not afraid to show her feminine side and be girly. In fact, she told me jokingly that she took a step down went she went from being a hair stylist to working in the White House. She also complimented me on my makeup skills and seemed to think that New York artists, in general, were overrated. I recommend you read her book, Letters to my Daughters, which she thoughtfully remembered to send as an autographed copy to me.