A young makeup artist is making a mark in the industry through her talent, dedication and passion. She is Nneoma Esther Johnson, chief executive officer of Flair by Nexta.
By Eberechi Obinagwam
A young makeup artist is making a mark in the industry through her talent, dedication and passion. She is Nneoma Esther Johnson, chief executive officer of Flair by Nexta.
This makeup artist who specialises in bridal and party makeup, has a degree in political science and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Abia State University.
Her journey in the makeup world started as a hobby, to make others and herself look good.
“I love looking good and I love makeup. So, I enrolled in a personal makeup class in 2015. After the training, I started doing makeup because it is all about looking good,” she said.
Passion turned to profit
After learning to make herself look beautiful, friends and neighbours would see and admire it. When they did, she would tell them she did it herself and could help them glamourise their faces for free. Each time she made them up, they acknowledged her skill with applauds. The beautiful testimonies inspired her. She then decided to pursue beauty and make-up as a career.
“I started with free services. I didn’t have the thought of making it a business. I had friends who were having weddings and other events. They would always call me to come and make them up for free. And they would look so fine on their big days when I did. So, along the line. I thought of starting it as a business since I could do make-up on people and they would look glamorous on their big day and I said to myself, if I could start this as a business it would grow.
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“I remembered a customer that gave me N5000 after I glammed her face. I was happy because I felt I was doing well for myself. It motivated me and I was like if I could do this as a business then it would pay.
“So, I started in 2017. It was a New Year resolution for me. I placed an order for some makeup products and they arrived and I started,” she said during an interview with TheNiche.
Birth of Flair by Nexta
Nneoma said when she started the makeup business, the name was Nesther Beauty Home. But it wasn’t catchy, hence, the change to Nellyzglam before finally settling for Flair by Nexta.
“I came up with the name ‘Flair by Nexta’ meaning, beauty by Nexta which represents beauty and not only makeup artistry. And I can say since 2017 till now, I have not regretted going into makeup artistry.”
As business progressed, Nneoma expanded her services to include event planning, throw-pillows and sales of perfumes because they all go with the makeup business, she said.
Challenges
Nneoma faced her share of challenges, which rather, pushed her to grow. The first was some friends not believing in her work. “Some of my friends never believed in me. They never believed I could strive more or do better,” she said.
Recalling a particular experience, she said: “I remember one of my friends that was going to a party and I asked her to come so I could do her makeup. She went to another makeup artist she felt was better than me. But one of the days she wanted to go to work and I visited, she asked me to help her with makeup so she could look different. I did the makeup for her and when she came from work, she told me that everyone in her office was admiring her. I didn’t want to spoil her day by reminding her of her past comment, so I left her with it.”
Nneoma learned from the experience. “You see, in starting up a business you should bear in mind that your friends will disappoint you but despite that, you should just believe in yourself and trust God because there is nothing impossible for God to do,” she said.
Again, visibility was a challenge for her. “I needed someone to announce me by saying ‘this person is good, patronise her”, she said.
When the visibility was not forthcoming, she would wear her makeup always so that when someone asked who did it, she would quickly respond that she did. From one person to the next, recommendations started coming. That was how she built her customer base.
Nneoma also lamented that the Nigerian economy is too low for business owners to thrive. “The economy is not helping us at all. Transportation is too high. How can you buy a litre of fuel for N1000 and you go out to deliver goods or render services? For example, we are in the makeup business, our customers book us for a month ahead. After you render your services, you will find out that the money the person paid was not enough for you to transport yourself from the person’s location to your location. These are uncertainties that we face in this country.
“Who will ever believe that a litre of fuel would be sold at N1000 in this Nigeria? Probably, a litre of fuel was like N500 when you made the booking and when it’s time to deliver the job you find out that you are making more expenses delivering the job and you can’t even tell your client that the money is not enough because the person paid ahead of time. So, you just have to leave it and deliver the job. Sometimes you gain and sometimes you lose. That is the situation we have found ourselves in this country.
“There is a hike in prices of everything. The dollar is not stable and you can’t ask someone who bought goods at a very high rate to bring it down because the rate came down. You can’t tell someone who bought at a low rate to sell the same when it goes up because he or she will need money to restock. The situation is overwhelming. It’s wrong, business owners are suffering, Nigerian youths, no one is left out and it seems people are just suffering daily without making ends meet. But I believe that one day everything will normalise and we will be fine again,” she added.
Nneoma’s take on Japa
Nneoma said though she has never been a fan of living abroad, the present situation may make her change her mind.
“I am one person who wants to establish here in Nigeria and visit any country I want because I love tourism. But since the country is like this, it will be hard to stick to that position. You can’t establish in this country with this kind of economy,” she said.
She also said that the Japa move is good because someone who has a skill as she does will make plenty money there than here where you put in energy and get nothing.
“The kind of energy I put in business in Nigeria if I put such energy in my business abroad, I promise you that I will make good money. So, you don’t expect people to hustle like an elephant and eat like an ant. It is very wrong. I believe those people travelling abroad are going for a greener pasture and some of them are going to come back with better results,” she said.
Nneoma has trained several youths in the makeup business, helped them secure their first jobs, and done seminars to engage them in self-development.