Amy Ceesay Model, CEO GLAM U Beauty

“My name is Aminata Ceesay, founder and CEO of GLAMU Beauty. I started my career in the beauty industry as a model and I have worked with some of the world’s top designers at New York Fashion Week which to this day feels like a dream. I have also worked for BET’s RIP THE RUNWAY which was the only modeling show on the BET network where I got to work with so many artistes like Kerry Hilson, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Kim, and many more top R&B and Hip Hop artistes. After over 10 years in the modeling industry, I found a passion to be a print model which requires me to be a bit more glamorous, but I felt that almost every makeup artist that I worked with did not put the right foundation colour on my skin. Most makeup artists tried to either make me lighter or way too red. I understood that this was not deliberate but just a lack of knowledge for darker skin clients. At this point, I started researching more about makeup and before i knew it, I had developed so much passion about makeup. I started researching and spending uncountable amount of hours learning online and practicing on myself and my cousins just to perfect my craft. I was able to bag my first job with Bobbi Brown Cosmetics where I was taught so many different techniques to perfect my craft, and surprisingly I was given a promotion to be a business manager after only three months. I was juggling working as a full time model and a full time business manager in their Dallas region. This was extremely hard but I was very committed and stayed the course. After five years I was able to turn that counter into half a million dollar business. Shortly after that I was recruited by one of the leading beauty brands in the world, Christian Dior. This was probably the happiest day of my life, I never knew my passion could turn to a full time job. I have since then been promoted with the company twice and have been with the company for four years. I am now the regional training coordinator for Houston Texas which is the fourth largest city in America. My job requires me to execute trainings in different areas of Texas and travel daily to educate more than 200 employees on behalf of global giant, and world renowned company in beauty, skincare and fragrance, Christian Dior. Glam U Beauty is desirous of organising the ‘first of its kind’ makeup seminar scheduled to take place on 6–10 January, 2019. The main purpose of this seminar is to assist women and the youths (which includes young men) to find a passion and career in beauty and the skin care industry. This can especially help tackle the problem of youth unemployment which has been exacerbated by returnees to The Gambia from hazardous attempts at irregular migration to Europe. GLAM U intends to provide women and youths the requisite life skills in beauty and skin care. We want to help empower the youths to become business owners (SME), self employed or find employment, and thereby help them sustain an income, whilst building their self confidence and self esteem. Glam U wants to give Gambian women and youths the opportunity to provide meaningful contribution to the socio economic development of their communities in particular, and their nation in general. We have decided to divide this seminar into two different classes; The Master Class and The Pro Class. The Master Class The master class is geared towards training women how to take care of their skin, apply their own makeup, and most importantly help them boost their confidence. Growing up I was never a confident person, I was bullied in school, I was not the pretty girl in class, which really messed up my self esteem. My aim is to make every woman feel more beautiful and happier. I want people to come to these classes to not only have fun but to learn the key steps to enhancing their beauty. We want women from the classes to be able to walk out of their houses and feel like they can conquer every job interview and be confident and powerful women. This class is going to be fun but educative.. The Pro Class As the name implies, this class is going to be a two-day certification class for working makeup artists and aspiring makeup artists. We are going to not only teach them makeup skills and techniques but also train them on how to be successful business owners, business expansion, financial management and a lot more. Being a makeup artist is a skill and one of the biggest challenges we have in Gambia is youth unemployment. In every developed country, skill building is very important and I believe that one sector that needs help in order to tackle the problem of youth unemployment and illegal migration is empowering the youths through skill building and helping them be self sufficient. My aim is not to only train these youths but also help them find jobs or even setup their own businesses. I am hopeful that after this class we will be able to change many lives hence we will need everyone’s support to be able to see our vision come together. I believe this is the beginning of many more classes and skills development projects I will be embarking on to help the youths in The Gambia.”]]>