Hair and makeup

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
March 25, 2013

A few years back, I was flown out to Los Angeles to audition for a new entertainment news show that was being developed. There was a handful of journalists, as well as “personalities,” vying for the position. Honestly, I didn’t want to go. I was newly married and looking forward to heading overseas on vacation with my husband. But, it seemed like it could be a good opportunity, so off I went.

Before taping our audition segments, we were all sent into hair and makeup. I’d done local news segments in Chicago, so I was used to this.The makeup artists I had worked with back home were pretty awesome, and they really seemed to take pride in making a bunch of print reporters look camera ready.

I was expecting this level of professionalism. So, I arrived as instructed, without any makeup on and my hair freshly washed. There was only one other ethnic person at the audition—and she had arrived in full makeup and blown out hair. I asked her why she had done that. She smiled and said, “You’ll see.”

The makeup team spent about 30-45 minutes fussing over each of the blonde, Caucasian women. They spent about six minutes on me. Honestly? I looked worse after their handiwork than when I had arrived.

I couldn’t figure out if they were just lazy. There’s always the possibility that they only knew how to make up white faces. I got the feeling that they were irritated that I didn’t have the features they were accustomed to adorning. In reality, they were probably just incompetent. A good makeup artist can work with anyone.

For those of you who’re curious, I didn’t get the job. The show was never picked up. And my husband and I had a fabulous time in Europe.

The end.

© 2013 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved