El Paso is the perfect melting pot when it comes to beauty.

colors when it comes to your nails. You could not wear, fake eyelashes, and there were only certain hairstyles that we could have,” she says.

The U.S. Army announced progressive policy changes in 2021 that align with its mission for diversity and inclusion that includes expanding hairstyles, makeup, and jewelry options to better suit the modern soldier.

“We’ve been going through all the regulations to figure out how we can improve the standards and policies that we have to make sure that they are fair and equitable for all soldiers, and so that we can obviously get the best talent in the Army,” said Sergeant Major Brian Sanders of the Uniform Policy Branch when the policy changes were announced.

Now, women soldiers may wear nail polish and lipstick that present a professional appearance and are not considered extreme.

The changes were decided on by a panel of 12 Army commands, soldiers of various ranks, dermatologists, a psychologist, a drill sergeant, a recruiter, and other Army representatives that examined the evolution of grooming standards and considered ways to be more welcoming to women who serve.

“Our attrition rates for females are higher than males,” explained Sanders, “and as we started looking into these things, we realized that they need to feel like a female and soldier at the same time.”

Graham Tankuh attests to the cognitive dissonance she felt as both a woman and a soldier with little autonomy to express herself.

“Being so limited during the time, I felt that hunger for wanting to do more with makeup and it really played a huge role,” she says. “It wasn’t so much that we were deprived of beauty -- it just made me want to do it more and made me want to be around it more.”

Now as a small business owner, Graham Tankuh is able to feed her passion for beauty one client at a time.

“What I love most about what I do is when someone is in my chair and the client becomes like family,” she says. “You find out a lot about people: you find out about their triumphs and their troubles.”

One of the most rewarding aspects of The Face Architect is building the client’s confidence in themselves during the glam session.

“It’s not that the client has makeup put on and looks completely different,” explains Graham Tankuh. “You can actually feel a lift in confidence.”

For example, Graham Tankuh says she has a few clients who will book beauty sessions with her for no reason at all other than to have a conversation and to feel beautiful, which also helps her to refine her craft.

“El Paso has allowed me to spread my wings. El Paso allows me not just to build clientele, but it also allows me to hone myself as an artist,” she says.

Working in El Paso has allowed her to meet the many different faces of beauty that can be found throughout the community and appreciate beauty on an individual basis.

“When it comes to make up, anybody can get these hands -- anybody. There isn’t a face that I won’t put these hands on,” Graham Tankuh laughs. “There are so many versions of beauty, which is not limited to ethnicity,” she says. “El Paso is the perfect melting pot when it comes to beauty.”