The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!
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A Lucky Face Painting Student
Sent in by Barb McMillin
My name is Barb McMillin and I work for the Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn. One of the services that the museum offered when I first started was “face painting” at children’s birthday parties. It was something that I felt needed to be restructured. The quality of everything was not what it could be. So I began to research this industry. I called local costume shops, tried to contact fellow face painters in the area and got nowhere. I was looking for a place to learn and purchase product. I kept running into dead ends, and nobody would help.
Until one day the museum got a mailing from the Haunt Fest Convention being held at Rosemont. As I am reading the flyer I see that there is this woman who will be there and she had something to do with face painting! A real live person!! I was thrilled. So I called this lady and begged her to give me a class and she agreed. Little did I know who she was, Marcela!! Of all the Luck.
She took the time to answer all my questions and point me in the right direction. She recommended I attend the convention in Florida and I took her advice. Her passion for her work has not just helped me but all of our painters and the museum. I have never met a group of people so willing to share their knowledge and talent.
I was able to bring all of the information back to our staff and volunteers and turn our face painting into a marketing tool that has helped the museum financially and become a viable service to our community.
In Marcela’s books she has many inspiring quotes that I think that try to explain her philosophy. But the one I think expresses it best is her pay it forward example. She could have just blown me off. Instead she took that extra effort to help me get started. The museum would never be where we are now if she had not taken the time to share her knowledge and talent with a very naive rookie. Thanks Marcela you’re the best!
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Thanks for sending this in Barb. I completely understand how a great teacher like Marcela can make a huge impact on your life! I’ll be posting the rest of the stories throughout January until the 30th when I announce the winner. To find out more and enter the contest click on this link:
http://www.facepaintingtips.com/blog/competitions
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Wow! What an honor! Marcela is so good and she makes everything look very easy. I had a chance to see her give a class on how to make flowers. She is a very talented woman.