Engineer Makes Career as Make-Up Artist in Ghana

It’s somewhat inspiring to see a woman rubbing shoulders with her male counterparts in the predominantly male engineering profession.

Even better is when that engineer, breaks the mold to take up make-up artistry not only as a hobby but an occupation.

That’s the story of Mrs. Evita Joseph Asare, a mechanical engineer who got into make-up three years ago during her wedding preparations.

“I did very nice make-up on myself and went to the fitting already made-up.

“The tailor asked me if I went to get made up. I said no, and she said to me, ‘You can actually be an artist you know.'”

Over the years, Evita has gotten better at make-up as well as (ital) engineering and shares her experience with Face2Face Africa on make-up in Ghana.

“[In 2008], I had the opportunity to be in Paris, and I happened to be among a group of girls who were always talking about make-up.

“Each morning, they would sit me down and do all sort of things to my face. I simply fell in love with make-up and shopped for pencils, eyeliners, and concealers. That was the first time I had heard of concealers.”

Indeed, Evita flaunted her newly acquired make-up skills upon her return to Ghana and was soon known by her friends as the “Concealer Lady.”

These events, coupled with remarks from other people, got Evita thinking about turning her newfound love into an occupation.

But from the beginning, she dreamt big, knowing that she wanted to go international right from the start.

“And that called for starting right, which [meant attaining the] right education and certification.

“If I wanted to go international, then I needed to get certified as a professional make-up artiste.”

So while she was on her maternity leave in 2010, Evita enrolled at the Hair Planet College of Cosmetology, where she took up courses in make-up.

In addition, she read a lot about world-renowned make-up brands and magazines,  including the “Bobby Brown Make-Up Manual.”

Four years later, and the “Concealer Lady” is now a Mac Professional and Make-Up Forever Professional Member.

“I want to be called one day to do international shoots, and I want to be recognized everywhere. All of which I believe depends on your certification.”

It wasn’t easy accomplishing all of this since she lives in Africa, but her determination to be a part of the world’s ace make-up brands and professional bodies kept her focused.

Views on Make-Up Artistry in Ghana

In her view, make-up artistry in Ghana — even though it is improving — still has some way to go.

“The industry is very green, but I feel people are also just rushing in to  it. In the United States, you cannot just have access to someone’s face.

“But there is no such licensing agency here in Ghana, so people seem to just be doing things without any structure or plan.”

According to her, the Ghanaian industry seems more concerned on the aesthetics of the process rather than the science behind it.

“I think people are not learning and that’s our main problem. Having lots of pictures on Facebook of make-up you’ve done doesn’t make you a makeup artiste.

“You must have a professional backing and a certification to prove what you have.

“Take the course, practice, seek and share knowledge. There is science in make-up and that’s what we should be yearning to discover.”

Evita believes that this will allow artists in Ghana to get better at their jobs as they would understand the rudiments of the profession.

“Understand the colour wheel, face shapes, skin tones, and all that’s there to be learnt.

“This will enable you to transform faces through make-up and not deform them instead.”

So what does engineering and make-up have in common?

“Engineering generally makes me a very analytical person. And for my make-up artistry, it causes me to visualize and analyze each project before I do it.

“I always go a step further by researching before I pick up my brush.

“Engineering requires you to have speed and accuracy, virtues which has made me better at make-up because they are required here too. make-up is science, just as engineering.”

Evita has been working at Total Petroleum Ghana as a Maintenance Supervisor following her studies of Mechanical Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2000.

With all this going for her, one has to wonder what the two-faced artist has up her sleeves.

“I have plans of taking my engineering professional exams, so I can be called Engineer Mrs. Joseph Asare.

“I will quit engineering after 10 years and focus solely on make-up. I want to set up a world-class make-up school in Ghana.”

She currently owns an online shop, the “EJ Beauty Store,” has two boys  and is professionally managed by her husband.