A nerve-wracking shoot day begins at Kingsgate Mall in Kabalagala, as I wait for our June cover star to arrive. Her name precedes her; a legion of fans that are in tens of thousands on Instagram alone, and a beauty business she has singlehandedly built with only her art. Nahya Shero Ssali of Nahya Glam walks in shortly after, and her small frame is disorienting. Photos often make people look taller than they actually are; she is just a smidge taller than me – and I’m very short. Her face lights up as she approaches me, “Hi there, I was told you were waiting for me! Nahya,” she introduces.
We spend the next half hour going through a bunch of pretty clothes at Posh by KC before crossing to her makeup studio, which is located just across the hall. It is a sprawling space, with lots of pink and purple velveteen couches to rest, and two fully lit makeup stations. In between the makeup stations is an accent wall, white, with butterflies creeping up from the bottom right to the left. A huge ring light sits to the side of the accent wall, waiting to be summoned. Shero sits behind a domineering table at the end of the room, with two elegant clear chairs on the opposite end. She’s having a meeting.
I cannot help but notice the silver accolades behind her – Two awards, one from the Abryanz Style and Fashion Awards and another from East African Fashion Awards. These sit on the decorative wall behind her, along with inspiration quotes and a few choice portraits that show the extent of her work. One doesn’t need to ask for her credentials as the wall does the speaking. The studio is buzzing with a few people, who I later learn, work with her. As she finalizes her meeting, a client walks in. The little worry I have dissipates shortly, thanks to an assistant who offers to attend to the client. Shero takes the opposite seat to do her makeup.
The beauty of her studio is telling of the strides she has made as a makeup artist. This implores me to ask when she learned that she could turn her art into a business. “Honestly speaking, it is a talent I discovered while I was at university,” she tells me.
“I’ve always wanted to look good, I draw pleasure from seeing people that look good, but it never occurred to me that I’d end up in the beauty business until my HSC, when I chose Art as a subject. I realised I could draw. That’s how I moved on from drawing in class, to drawing people’s eyebrows, and then when I joined university, I’d do makeup of my friends whenever we’d go out. I would also watch lots of YouTube tutorials and the rest has been history. Everyone that would be kind enough to allow me do their makeup recommended me to some other people. That’s how my journey started while at university. After graduation, because it was the only thing that made sense to me, I chose to make it professional instead of looking for employment,” she recounts.
After an hour, we get on set, where everyone apart from her adheres to a strict “No Mask Removal” rule. What’s funny is, if Shero bumped into me today without my mask on, I doubt if she’d recognise me. That’s how strict we were on the Face Mask. Upon arrival, she quickly reminds me that she’d need to leave by 4pm to go and attend to her child, a role she recently assumed.
As we chat a little more, I learn something interesting! Her first paid gig came from Eddy Kenzo, the famous BET-award-winning singer.
“It came from Eddy Kenzo, he had a video shoot, and at the time, him and I were acquaintances,” she recalls.
“At some point, I remember telling him, “I do makeup, and if you have a gig or anything, please, don’t hesitate.” That day, he had a video shoot – I don’t even remember the song, but I remember it was shot was in Bugolobi. He called me and said he had a shoot and needed a makeup artist for his girls. I said why not? I didn’t even have enough products then – I went downtown, you can imagine!”
Eddy Kenzo, being the big star he is, Shero’s flood gates of opportunities were immediately opened.
“That gig was the opportunity that led me to land more video shoot gigs. It’s then when I met Nina Roz, Lydia Jazmine, Iryn Namubiru, Pallaso, Chameleon and so many other celebrity clients I have now,” she recounts. One name on her list that immediately catches my ear is Victoria Kimani, the Lagos-based Kenyan singer.
“Victoria Kimani had a song with Ray Signature,” she tells me. “I don’t know why the song never saw the light of day. When she and her team flew in, somehow I landed the gig to do her makeup for the music video. Remember, I was still a novice, but she freely shared her knowledge with me. I was so humbled by her humility.”
It is this same humility she has carried with her through this journey; from being just a makeup artist to becoming a bonafide businesswoman. Nahya Glam is a giant beauty brand in the making: A line of eye lashes is already on the market, she does retail where she sells makeup and other beauty products, there’s also a soap brand she co-manages with her husband, and she also offers internships at the studio.
“This sounds like a handful,” I say. She nods in approval. “How do you manage to make all this work and still do your job well?” I ask. She shares some invaluable tips that work for her.
“First of all, you need to stay real to yourself. Concentrate on your creative niche because every makeup artist has their own. I’m not going to be doing the same thing some other makeup artist does. There is that uniqueness clients always look for, so you have to be unique.” She continues, “You also have to be really really professional – how you handle your clients matters more than anything else. You need to make your clients your friends, but also, refrain from being ‘overly friendly’, there’s that line you shouldn’t cross.”
When I ask her more about the beautiful studio, she is more than excited to share her thoughts about the space, “I’ve just renovated it like two weeks ago. Since I opened my studio, this is the third time I’ve renovated it. I keep on bringing something new so that clients receive a unique experience all the time. I want my client to get a complete luxury experience when they walk into my work space. So, like the photo booth, I wanted to give it that Atlanta feel.”
Talking about clients, every business person has their favourite. I ask her about her experience with clients. She fiddles with her hair as she gives it a bit of thought. Suddenly she exclaims, “I love weddings! I love to see people in love, I love to see people getting married, I enjoy working with brides. I love it when they say, “Nahya I’ll remember my wedding because of you,” I love weddings, basically.” These aren’t her only favourites, as she expounds, “I love clients that respect my craft. You know, you cannot work comfortably with someone that doesn’t respect your art. Many clients don’t respect makeup artists – I don’t know why.”
“I also love my celebrities, of course!” she laughs. Without them I wouldn’t be here today. I have so much respect for them.”
With hands that are evidently full, she gives credit to her team for supporting her to manage.
“I don’t really have a big team, but I have a strong team,” she tells me. “I have a personal assistant, a studio manager and also an assistant makeup artist. My personal assistant handles my gigs, receives this and that. Then the manager, the girl you met at the studio, receives money, banks it, pays rent and all. The assistant makeup artist, who is this one (points at the girl next to her) she’s always with me, as we run around backstage during weddings and other gigs. It’s just the four of us.”
But beneath the makeup, there is that one thing people often struggle with, or just ignore – the skin. Hers was glowing even before she put any foundation on back at the studio. She shares some deets on how she cares for her skin, especially now that she’s just given birth.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I don’t have a skincare routine. That’s probably why you see the hyper-pigmentation on my neck. Since I gave birth, it’s a bit darker than my face. But, I don’t press pimples. I desist from touching my face unnecessarily. I love to eat healthy, not too much oils. Our soap also helped a lot.”
She adds, “when I got pregnant everyone was like, “Oh my God you’re going to get breakouts!” you know how pregnancy hormones are. Then I was like, you know what? Before I get the breakouts, I should do something about it. Then I started using the soap, actually, we hadn’t yet put it on the market at the time. I was the first person to use it. I tried it on my face and my glow hasn’t fazed since. Everyone that saw me during my pregnancy would say, “Omg you look beautiful, you’re glowing, what are you using?” but it was just soap.”
About her daughter, she can’t deny that she has compelled her to look at life differently. “It was inevitable. A lot of things change when you become a mother,” her eyes light up as she talks about her daughter.
“Your life can never be the same. During my pregnancy I had a lot of clients calling to get their makeup done, but then I was sick so I was unable to be 100% available. After having my baby, it’s still the same thing. Sometimes she’s unwell, then there is a diaper rash… Before I got pregnant, I would leave work around 10 pm in the night, but now, I need to rush home early to attend to her.”
I’m reminded of my 4pm deadline that she gave earlier, as she continues, “You feel like no one can take care of her the way you would, so you’re still not 100% available. It affects my job in a way, but you know kids come as a blessing. Something good comes out of it in the long run but I’m not going to lie to you and say it hasn’t affected my work.”
Apparently, this change came with a big plus for her team, as she explains, “When I’m not there, they know what they are supposed to do. If I send a client to the studio they know what to do, they know how to sell products, they know how to handle a lot of things. That, in a way, is giving them an opportunity to be self reliant.”
We delve into competition which clogs the makeup business. It’s an open secret that there are some internal feuds and stiff competition among many makeup artists. Her thoughts on this are pretty cavalier.
“Honestly, I’m friends with many makeup artists,” she laughs. “Most of them are, well not necessarily all my close friends, but when I meet them we talk, there’s no problem. At the end of the day, everyone has their own clientele. Everyone has their own blessing. You cannot keep hating on someone, or try to take their blessing. Now, let’s take a look at Fayth Presh, she’s my friend. When I meet Peter Russell, we talk. When I meet Imani, we talk. When I meet Bridget, we talk. Mona, we talk. Besides, the mall I work at has how many makeup studios? Like 4 or 5? That’s why I insist, up your game all the time, you need to be thinking about what’s next? Competition is a lot, but we work through it. Sometimes you’re busy, so you give other makeup artists a chance, and other times they are busy, so they send you clients. It’s a win win relationship. That’s why when you asked me if it was okay for someone else to do my makeup I said it was fine. (The original idea for this shoot was for another makeup artist to do Shero’s makeup).
Well, being fine with someone else doing her makeup is one thing, it is obviously nerve wracking for one to do a makeup artist’s makeup. When I mention this she laughs, and remembers the few instances with her team, “Normally when I tell them to do my makeup at the studio, they get scared, they’re like “no, we can’t.”” (Laughs)
“Well, I tell them, you know what? Do this. Do that. Don’t do that on my face, do this, etc… It’s a bit hard but it can happen.”
***
Quick fire
If you could keep only 2 items from your kit, for the rest of your life, what would those be?
Eye liner and Gloss.
Do you prefer Red lip or Nude lip?
Nude lip any day!
Smokey Eye or Bold liner?
A Bold liner.
Natural look or super glam?
Natural!
Is there one makeup tip you would give someone to take their look to the next level?
There’s something I use that I don’t want to share but let me just share it (laughs). I’ve learnt to work with hair gel, the colorless one, for my eyebrows. When you apply that with a spoolie, push your eyebrows up and then draw your eyebrows, it will already have a shape and with concealing, everything will fall into place. The eyebrow will stay in place longer, it works like an eyebrow tamer. It keeps it in shape and intact all day long. That’s my top secret. That’s why you see a lot of clients die for my eyebrow game. I don’t even over fill them. Once I put gel and draw the line down, I don’t draw up, on the upper side I just conceal. Then I draw lines along the hair flow and that’s it.
***
And what’s next for her? “I want to introduce a cream, like maybe shea butter, or olive oil, something like that. I love to see people with healthy skin. I also plan to add lip gloss to our portfolio, but we shall go step by step.”
Credits:
Photos – Gerald Ochieng of Ochieng Photography
Production – Owino Market Studios
Makeup – Nahya Glam
Hair – Nayha’s own
Accessories & wardrobe – Posh by KC
Creative Direction – Lyn Atwiine
