Testing My Ability

According to the Terry Gross Fresh Air NPR Interview “Rapper, Producer, Composer: The RZA”, chief composer of the Wu Tang Clan, The RZA, dedicated his life to music. In order to be successful, The RZA explains that it wasn’t a simple process. He talked a lot about his experiences from his childhood and using that to benefit his music. When he first started out, he admitted to collecting all his parents and friends’ records. He would listen and play around with the different sounds that were around him. As he grew up, he developed his own sound and listened to what interested him personally. From there, he was able to accomplish amazing things and become the artist he had always dreamed of. Although The RZA and I have virtually no similarities in our story, the moral is the same: taking something that interests you, getting accustomed to it, putting time and effort into it, and lastly, making it your own.

When it finally came time to creating my own looks, I was not as confident with my abilities as The RZA had seemed. My junior and senior year I was asked multiple times by my friends to do their hair and makeup for dances, proms, graduation, concerts, weddings, ect. Although I am confident in my makeup and hair abilities, I never wanted to disappoint my "customers". So, like The RZA does, I would take everything that I learned and form it into my own creation.

Junior Prom

Graduation

Junior Winter Ball

Working on my friends proved to be a stress-free experience. I found it easy to work on people who you already had a relationship with and would not be offended by criticism. However, word spread around my school that I was doing people's makeup for any kind of event. I suddenly had requests from girls I had never even met before! This was a huge step in my journey because I had to step out of my comfort zone and seriously build up confidence about my capabilities.

Our school's junior prom of 2014 was a beyond hectic day in my life. Not only did I complete an up-do all by my own, but I also did three girl's makeup. I was very proud of my accomplishments and was happy to have the girl's complete trust in my ability. After all my practicing and studying, I was finally able to complete an original finished product.