By Leta Greene

So, what is an image consultant?  If you ask my son what I do, he will tell you I do “stupid makeup”.  Well, I like to think, I am more than my son may appreciate at his observant age of seven.  Yes, I do makeup–though I don’t think it is stupid.  That is a matter of opinion and it never works to argue over differing views.  So, for those who may be open to mine: my job is about my opinion, on makeup, clothes, and attitude.  We all seen the image consultants on TV—well, I am different. For the next few weeks I will post on how I am different.  Besides the obvious one: I have no TV show.

Makeover TV shows often ambush the potential victim/ receiver of their expertise.

How am I different?  I have never jumped out on someone, with a camera in tow.  That time in high school doesn’t count, I mean professionally I have never gone up to someone, and said, “Whoa lady, you need help! Let’s go get to work, it is going to take a lot!” or any other demoralizing statement.

I will show you how beauty has more to do with what is inside than outside.  Ripping a person apart internally is just wrong.  This point is at the core of my business and personal perspective.

I was that girl; the one who had simply no idea.  There were enough people around me telling how unattractive I was.  It hurt.  It ripped inside.  I lived with me, in my head and I know what happened in there.  Acting like I didn’t care, pretending I didn’t hear it– but the worst part was I believed it.  And those judgements and views of others molded my perception of me.  When I do speeches I talk more on this, but for here, and the world wide web, these are things I share face to face.  Simply said, each of us are beautiful.  Each made by a creator, God.  And as the saying goes, ‘God makes no junk.’ It is we who pollute the beauty, by the perceptions we adopt.  The great thing about perceptions is they can be changed.

Besides my family, the thing I am most proud of, is learning to root out those destructive, negative and demoralizing statements, from my own soul.  As I got better at this, I was able to see beauty in others and in myself.  How could I ever work with a client and mock her behind her back or to her face?  It may make me unique in the world of image consultants that I do really see each of us as beautiful, before the experts descend.  It may make me different, but I would rather stand alone than with the criticizing crowd.  To criticize others is easy.

For the last nine years, my philosophy has worked effectively in my profession.  If I could make more money mocking, then that is the day that I would agree with my son, it would be “stupid makeup”.   My favorite client is the woman who says, “No, I am not worth it.” or “I don’t have time to take on me…”  I smile, because seeing the beauty which is already in her, is very simple.  We just have to start– not changing everything about how we look, makeup, hair, clothes, body language.  Start with changing your mind. Great thing about that is it’s free.  The other stuff is just on the outside.

We will work with both sides, starting with makeup.  Then, if you want, we go to clothes.  My goal? For your self perception to be clarified.  We see that mocking ourselves,  and others (while so easy to do) is really limiting our potential.  I have so much I could say about this,  I could write a book and someday I might on this topic, but really I just want you to know when you set an appointment with me either locally, face to face, or over the phone, and with the aid of technology, that you are with a friend– who wants you to see, I get it.  I get the hurt.  I get the negative self talk, how that feels safe, but what good is it?  I can tell you, it can change.  No makeup, clothing change or all your gathered friends telling you how great you look will change that, until you decide to make that first step out of your self destructive comfort zone.  It can all change.  Without being ambushed.  You have to decide, no one can force that.