Words by Audrey Kho
Being young in any business setting always has its challenges. As the quote goes: “The first step is always the hardest.” Jumping into a workplace where adults reign and experience is treasured is one of the biggest fears any young person has when trying to make it in any business or profession.
21-year old makeup artist Ida Siasoco is not a stranger to this kind of hardship. When we sat down with her and asked if there is bias against young people in the workplace, she says there certainly is.
“Siguro, people would think I’m less experienced,” she says with a rueful smile. “Parang, ‘newbie ka lang‘, and there’s doubt on my credibility since I’m young, and people don’t trust young people,” she adds with a laugh.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjHkunbBQRB/?hl=en&taken-by=idasiasoco
Ida is a Fine Arts student in the University of the Philippines Diliman, and the makeup artist behind @idapaintsfaces on Instagram. She has only been in the makeup business since 2017, but her online portfolio is already overflowing with all kinds of makeup gigs. From graduation pictures to modeling gigs, Ida has done a lot–though she knows there is still so much more she can do.
“If you’re really passionate about something, just because you know how to do it already, don’t stop. Every day may bagong natututuhan (there’s something new to learn),” she advises other young people like herself who want to start in the make-up business. “Don’t just stay in one level.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi9uaSSDTRY/?hl=en&taken-by=idapaintsfaces
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlYKgNLD9PH/?hl=en&taken-by=idapaintsfaces
However, Ida hasn’t always been as crazy about makeup as she is now. Coming from an all-girls Catholic high school, she says that makeup wasn’t something she would initially have gone for. She was taught to be simple, so she was never really the kikay, girly-girl type that her mom was. It was only during college when she really started getting into makeup.
“One day, break time sa school, and then my friends from FA were bringing their makeup kits out, ganyan, and I was just busy doing my own thing sa corner. Then they were like, ‘Uy, kilayin natin si Ida (Let’s put brows on Ida),'” she recalls wistfully. This was the first time she ever had her eyebrows drawn on. “When I got home and looked at the mirror, I thought, ‘Uy, that looks nice!’ Tapos naisip ko (Then I thought), I wondered if I could do it on my own, since other people did it for me the first time.”
More on Ida’s journey on the next page!
