How Monalisa Umutoni Went From a Broke Chic To The Most Coveted MUA in Kampala

She maybe the most in-demand makeup artist in Kampala right now, with a star studded clientele that includes everyone from Sheebah, Flavia Tumusiime, Sylvia Owori , Malaika Nnyanzi, Judith Heard and Her Royal Highness The Nabagereka of Buganda, but the start wasn’t rosy. Monalisa Umutoni of the Mona Faces brand says that makeup has always been a part of her right from childhood. She would play with her mum’s makeup kit, and one time at 10 years old, she cut herself with a razor blade as she sharpened her eyebrow pencil. Sadly, even if her mum appreciated the art, not all odds were in her favour.

“My dad never wanted to see me wearing makeup. There was this stigma around it that made me question if it was the right thing to do. I remember at school, wearing it was akin to a criminal offense. But, it’s something that always stayed constant in my life. I would do makeup and styling during fashion shows at school. I just kept doing it regardless,” says Umutoni as she talks to Satisfashion UG.

She and I are seated at a pastries shop just opposite her small but well lit makeup studio located in Kisementi. The walls in the studio are filled with framed portraits of her work, a constant reminder of where she’s come from. Other than that, the setup in the studio is as minimalist as her calm and collected demeanor. A chair where clients sit as they receive her service is placed in front of a gigantic vanity mirror. She’s probably working on a client every minute of the day. In fact, landing this interview with her took us weeks to confirm.

The 25-year-old makeup artist-cum business woman sips on a glass of juice as she recounts her journey from a clueless creative wandering about to a formidable makeup guru about to put her own makeup products on the market.

“When I got to university I continued doing makeup but for fun. I would work on my friends at birthday parties, special functions and more. It’s my friends that kept pushing me that you know what, you can do this. However for me, this wasn’t something I envisioned myself doing full time. There was no one to look up to. In fact, creatively I saw myself in fashion and design because I admired Sylvia Owori’s work ethic and success,” she recounts.

It was in 2014, when it finally hit her that her passion was starting to bear fruit. She began posting photos of her work on instagram, still for fun since it was the only interesting thing going on in her life. It’s through the social network that she was introduced to terms such as ‘contouring’ and ‘highlighting’.

“Before, all I knew was doing eyebrows and foundation. A friend of mine introduced me to contouring, highlighting and all the other jargon. I remember going back home that night and doing deep research. My jaw literally dropped! There was so much I didn’t know and there were all these famous makeup artists running real businesses out of doing makeup. I began binge watching their clips on YouTube till late in the night whilst taking notes, and applying the lessons on whoever approached me to do their makeup the next day,” she shares.

That’s when she realized that ‘it’ was actually huge out there. That year in October, she was approached by Hillary from Blush Media.

“He invited me for a shoot along with my friends. It still began as something fun; I styled them and also did their makeup. The photos were posted on Instagram. Around that time, it was rare to find people doing beauty shoots. I did my models’ accessories, styled their hair and more. It was fun. It really felt great , and it is during that time that I realized how much I enjoyed working on shoots and being creative with it.”

This opened a window of opportunities she never envisioned would ever come her way. Everyone began referring to her as a makeup artist. Since no one was branding themselves as one and here she was working on so many faces and documenting it on social media, her ‘insta-fame’ took off. In one week, her following on Instagram shot from 200 to over 1,200.

“Hillary kept on convincing me to think about myself as a brand. He offered to design my logo and business cards, but I was still hesitant because I was scared and really broke. I was clueless about everything. People were calling me for work and I didn’t know how to charge them. Some, I chose to work with them at no cost because of this. I also didn’t have all the equipment and products needed to execute a good job. In fact, my first bride bought her own products.”

Little by little, business started coming in. Before she knew, her email inbox was full with bookings. Every single coin she made was invested back in the business to buy new products and equipment. Since the demand was shooting up, she constantly continued binge watching YouTube tutorials every night in order better herself.

“Everyone I worked on would gladly post pictures on social media tagging me. They would recommend me to friends. That’s when celebrities started coming to me. Flavia Tumusiime was one of the first celebrities I worked on. I still wonder why she believed in me by the way, because she’s not even a makeup person. The makeup I do now would overwhelm her, but she’d still like it because I now know how to blend the colours and give her a subtle look. Honestly it wasn’t the best work I did, but I guess when you pray about it people sort of end up liking what you do. Then, Lillian Mbabazi came in, Judith Heard, Hellen Lukoma and the rest has been history.

In January 2015, we invited her to do Juliana Kanyomozi’s makeup for a shoot for this website (See the photos here) which turned her brand around.

“I was scared because Juliana is a huge brand, but then also confident that I had honed my skill enough to do it so well. For me, it was about getting better at this with every face that I worked on. When the pictures came out, everyone shared them on social media tagging me. The numbers shot up and the business was literally given legs,” she talks about the shoot.

For someone who has learned everything she knows through You Tube, gotten all the business she has through Instagram and gained the fame she has through Facebook, it’s not wrong to say that Umutoni is the business woman of the future. Her Instagram account has almost 60,000 followers while her You Tube channel is growing exponentially. But was it her plan to take this kind of direction for her business?

“I enjoy social media. Because I’m a very shy person, it gives me the courage to connect with people without having to meet them in person. Other than that, everything else came naturally. My friends are on social media, they would post about me. The celebrities I work with are avid social media users, so it all just came together and worked in my favour. That aside, it’s not easy pushing a brand online. There are all these cyber bullies going behind their computers to share nothing but negative vibe. If you don’t have tough skin, these things can affect you”

A number of factors such as location and branding have a huge impact on the brand positioning of a business. Despite having no prior business or marketing training, Umutoni has still managed to position her brand so well. There’s Mona and then, there other makeup artists.

“For location, I have always had an attachment to Kisementi. My first job during S6 vacation, I worked at Bold Kampala which was located in Kisementi. Then my first foray into business, a fashion boutique was also here in Kisementi. So, having my studio here was almost natural. Working at Bold also inspired me a lot. I too wanted a place that would intrigue my thinking every single day at work.”

“It took me a while to open the space because I’m a perfectionist and the space had to resonate with the direction I wanted to take as a business. From the choice of colours on the wall to the setup, I made those creative decisions myself just so it would represent who I am,” she adds.

Her biggest accomplishment is becoming her own person and getting her life together. Also setting her business off the ground considering she had no one to look up while starting. Last year she was tapped as an ambassador for FLY, a campaign championing teens to follow their dreams and own their life choices. She has partnered with Ciroc on a cocktail dubbed ‘Mona Magic’. She has done Kampala Fashion Week and a number of other high profile fashion events. She was also named among the 40 movers and Shakers of 2016.

With all that, she’s still an enigma of sorts, always shying away from interviews and rarely making public appearances. It hasn’t yet sunk in that this is working. This is partly because she’s the one that does makeup for many of the guests at events, so as people pose on the red carpet, she’s behind the scenes working.

“I was so shy and insecure about myself, but this business and brand becoming what it is now has been a huge boost of confidence to me. It has also offered me a rare opportunity to inspire other people. Working on a client and making them feel better about themselves is also a priceless feeling. I believe this is a gift from God to make other people feel good about themselves.”

“There are people out there who are passionate about what they want to do. They are gifted deep within, but just don’t know how to start. I was there too. I wasn’t aware I had this stuck within me. I didn’t know it would become a huge deal. So, I believe my purpose in life is to make other people believe in themselves and turn their dreams into reality, “she enthuses.

All this has not come without challenges. Being a young woman, doing business in Uganda is not easy. Often times, she meets clients who expect her to be ‘an older woman’. Because of this, some look down upon her work. Besides that, good makeup products are expensive to ship here, and her biggest fear is working with products that are not genuine.

Through it all, she loves her job and never lets a client leave her chair without a smile on her face. It is through this that she has made a lot of friends. One of them being Cindy, a business partner with whom she’s doing a makeup master class.

“I get advice from many of my clients. As I work on them, we chat about life, business and lots of things. So I told Cindy that I had a dream of doing a makeup master class. She just asked me to go ahead and do it. I told her I didn’t know how it’s done. Since she’s an events planner, this was a no brainer for her. Before I knew it, we were in a meeting discussing plans, and now it’s happening,” she shares.

The Mona Makeup Master Class is slated to hold this week starting Thursday 7th to Friday 8th September. To book a spot in her class, you have to part with Shs. 600,000 and with this you’ll get intensive training, makeup equipment and an opportunity to join her 6-week apprenticeship program at her studio. See more details here.

“I want to share my experience with that girl who is me two years ago. She’s passionate about makeup but just doesn’t know what to do. All she needs is someone to show her how to start. If I had that person two years ago, I guess I would be so far now. Unfortunately it wasn’t the case, but I still found a way. My purpose now is to inspire people to find a way too as I use the gift I have to make it easier for them.”

As she talks about her master class, her eyes light up with excitement.

“Students should expect an intensive, interactive learning session where I’ll share my tricks of the trade. I’ll also be as open as possible to answer all questions about everything I know. I’m excited because this is going to be a learning session for me as well,” she enthuses.
With all this under her belt, her dreams are still so big. After the master class, she hopes to spot great talent, expand her business and grow with them. This will mean moving into a bigger space where she can have space to conduct classes. She’s also planning to work on her own makeup products and put them on the market.

Her tips for aspiring makeup artists is to be patient, humble, passionate, learn to work with people and to always have a smile on.

“No matter who you are, where you come from or what support system you have, if you are passionate about something and are consistent, you’ll make it. I’m one of those people that started from the bottom bottom. Even people in the bottom didn’t expect me to make it. People will wish you to do well or better until you start doing better than them.”

“It is also important to think about yourself as a brand. People will want to associate themselves with you because in this trade, the makeup artist is the business, “she adds.

Umutoni isn’t even started yet though, she’s still building a brand one client at a time. As we finish chatting, a client is already in the studio waiting to receive her service. Her assistant reminds her that she hasn’t had time to have her lunch yet.

“After all, customer is king,” she whispers to me as she leaves her lunch on the table to go attend to her client. It is past 5pm. She’s probably going to get even busier later on in the evening. With this work ethic, she surely will never be broke again!

Her Makeup Master Class starts this Thursday at Golden Tulip Hotel.

Satisfashion UG is giving two makeup enthusiasts a chance to attend the class for free. See details of how to participate here.

Photo credit: Manzi Rolland/ Bold in Africa

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