JSterling MUD N.Y. Instructor
JSterling’s resume reads like a who’s who of the entertainment industry. He’s worked with Liam Neeson, Mandy Moore, Natasha Henstridge, Vivian Green, and host of other celebrities. His makeup artistry has appeared in national and international publications like Rolling Stones Italia, Playboy, and Cosmo. You may have seen his handiwork in music videos and commercials on MTV, VH1, or HBO. If that wasn’t enough, JSterling’s stellar career also includes teaching aspiring make-up artists at MUD New York. Incredibly, his journey began on a small farm in Ohio.
www.jsterlingbeauty.com
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN THE INDUSTRY?
operated in New York for years before
many of today’s make-up artists. Dan was
moving back home to Ohio. In 1989 they
from Ohio and moved to New York. He was
were charging $300 a haircut. They invited
the Kevin Aucoin of his time, doing covers
I was born and raised on a farm in Ohio,
me to come on as an assistant, and I hated
for publications like Vogue and Town &
but I knew early on that wasn’t going to
every moment of it. It was not what I was
Country. I met him after he moved back to
be my lot in life. In the late eighties, I went
looking for. Back then, I didn’t even know
Ohio. He looked at two very embarrassing
to cosmetology school, moving from my
you could make a living doing make-up.
pictures in my photo book, which were
tiny little nowhere to Columbus. I was
There was no social media, the business
poorly done by local photographers, and
seventeen years old. Back then beauty
was somewhat underground, and nobody
said, “You’re very talented, but it’s not
school included everything. The full-
saw who did a celebrity’s make-up or
going to happen here.”
time program was over 1600 hours and
cared about it. Eventually, I went back to
included skincare and make-up.
the woman who owned my school, and
I knew I didn’t have enough make-up
she introduced me to somebody who
training, so I started to look for schools. In
would change my life.
the U.S. in the late eighties there just weren’t
While I was in school, a headhunter recruited me for one of the top salons in
schools that matched what I needed. I
Columbus. I know that doesn’t sound like
That somebody was Dan Campbell Place,
ended up liberating a British Vogue from
much, but the owners of the salon had
and his name, unfortunately, is unknown to
the local library (because it really wanted to
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