By Hunter Mylek
Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your journey of how you got to where you are today?
A: My name is Emily Frew and I am a makeup artist and founder of The Pretty Committee. I began doing makeup many years ago because I loved Instilling confidence through beauty.
Q: What is The Pretty Committee?
A: The Pretty Committee is a team of hair and makeup artists that specialize in wedding day styling. Above all else, it’s a kind community of truly uplifting stylists that I’m so incredibly proud of.
Q: You are extremely talented and have a wide range of skills from glam to SFX, Where did your love of makeup begin?
A: I started working at Ulta and Mac as sort of a job, one of my very first jobs! At the time I thought beauty was a little silly and frivolous, honestly. However, when I was doing it on those first clients they would cry, hug me, confide in me, etc. it become a passion very quickly. That passion evolved into creative expression. I continue to learn, express, and uplift every day and I feel very lucky for that.
Q: Have you always seen yourself becoming an entrepreneur or working in this industry?
A: Oh goodness, no. It very naturally evolved that way. I needed help, I brought in my friends, their friends, and their friends and it just happened very organically. Now we do hundreds of weddings a year!
Q: You also have your own line of lip products, the design concept is amazing. How were you able to make this vision come to life, were there any challenges along the way?
A: I am notorious for starting projects I don’t always finish. I think life is like a buffet and I try so many things that I’m quickly full and cannot finish every delicious and wonderful thing. The lip color line was a pipe dream that probably would have never happened if Covid didn’t bring a screeching vault to so many things in my life. There was like a week where I was Incredibly depressed that I could not work, could not socialize, etc. When I made a list of things I’d always wanted to do that was one of the things that I realized I could finally pour myself into. That and developing my sfx skills.
Q: Since this is women’s entrepreneurship week, I heard that through The Pretty Committee you are starting an unused and unopened cosmetic drive to support women in need, can you tell us more about this?
A: Once a year, The Pretty Committee does an event where we go to a women’s shelter to teach the women how to do their own makeup, give them hair trims, have their photo taken, get a new wardrobe, etc. our hope is to instill confidence in women that need it the most. But if we just did their makeup for a day, the effect only lasts for a day. Instead, we want to be able to give them hair care, makeup and skincare that will last for months to come. Every year we work very hard on fundraising efforts and every year we fall short a little bit. This unused cosmetics drive is an effort to get donations that don’t come straight from someone’s wallet. In exchange for donations we will be doing makeovers at our studio.
Q: Lastly, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
A: Everyone has off days, every business has slow times and every idea has lulls. Don’t be discouraged by these things. Everything in nature has seasons and so will you and your endeavors. You cannot expect the moon to always be full or a flower to always be in bloom, you must give yourself the same grace.
Check out The Pretty Committee’s website and Emily’s Instagram page to learn more!
NEU 