Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandi Ketter
Hi Mandi, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I guess I’ll start here!
I could honestly fill countless books. If I had a dollar for every time someone said, “you need to write a book” I would not need to sale makeup on the internet. Haha
Most of my past is so far from who I have become no one would believe where I’ve been.
Over 23 years ago I went to cosmetology school, at the time I was a 22 year old single mom of a toddler and I wanted to get out of school and get to work as quickly as possible!! (I got pregnant that year with baby number 2 still very much single) but that’s another book.
I had already been in college a couple years and working full-time with a toddler was brutal. I absolutely felt like I was missing out on raising my own baby.
So I got my cosmetology license!! I went on to get married, have three more babies (not in that order)
and absolutely loved having a career that I could have flexibility and also be present for all of my kids as the years went by.
3 1/2 years ago I was laying in bed one night and I saw a makeup video on Instagram with someone I knew sharing a product that was going to solve SO MANY of my problems. So honestly, I thought “well if this will help me, surely there’s other ladies that need to learn how to simplify their makeup and get more organized.” (I know it’s kind of Hooy wooie but sometimes I feel like God just pops an idea into our head and then it’s our responsibility to run with it.) I RAN!!!
Staying in the top 2% of the company from my very 1st month.
I knew the product, (a one compact makeup system that was completely customizable,) was going to be life-changing! And it is! The product went viral!
There’s nothing worse than going into Sephora or target and not knowing what to buy or if it’s going to look right with your eye color or complexion! At the time, there was NOTHING LIKE IT!!
Honestly, I had also been a makeup artist my entire career doing countless weddings, and events, but I was really TERRIBLE at just an easy every day natural makeup look (which so many women in their 40s are on the hunt for!)
it’s like we learn how to do makeup at whatever age and then never relearn or update it unless someone tells us that maybe we should. I’m that someone 🤣🤣
So I ordered the artist kit without owning a computer or knowing anything about being a content creator and started sharing a product on my personal Facebook account. I had zero followers and maybe around 500 friends.
I think because of my long career in a beauty salon, I had some relationship equity to help launch my new career. Honestly, at 1st I was terrible, so uncomfortable, but I kept showing up. Oh my goodness it was cringey
The more I showed up live on my social media and the more I practiced making reels the better I got. And overtime, my audience continued to grow and is still growing each day.
I’ve cut back to only 1/2 a day a week in the salon, glory be!! My body was tired!! The rest of my time I spend working full-time as a content creator. Now I work as an affiliate for several different companies. Sharing the things that I love and the things that I think my community will love.
It’s similar to the beauty shop in the sense that I’m helping women find confidence. It’s also started me on my own wellness journey. I’m unapologetically in my wellness area!! 🤣🤣
Finally incorporating regular exercise a couple years ago. (Being completely done with mom guilt!! )
Learning about nutrition. truly caring for MYSELF!
Stopped getting Botox (let’s just call it a long break, you never know) and after coloring my hair for 30 years, I’ve embraced my natural gray!! I feel free!!
I was a mom at 18, there was NO time for self care for SOOO MANY years!
So at about age 40 (during the stillness of COVID) I realized I needed to do better!! Set an example for my own kids! I want them to see how I live, and to be proud!
I do think working on social media magnified it. Almost like a giant self reflection daily.
My childhood was full of abuse and pain. So personal growth is something I’ve been working on for 20 years. Learning healing, forgiving, living free from the heaviness of my past. But man, there are so many layers to healing.
I share it all!
I hope that people can know bits of where I’ve come from, see the mistakes I’ve made, and know ANYONE can have a beautiful life! We can break free of where we’ve been and become whoever we want!
My mom died at 54 of a morphine overdose. She was an addict my whole life. My children’s childhood has looked nothing like mine! They are 27, 22, 19 and 15 now)
I clawed my way out. And have worked my tail off to be better. My husband and I have relentlessly worked to keep our marriage and survived things most marriages wont.
None of it easy! But all of it worth it!
Leaning boundaries and finding people who are light! People and friends who make us better!
I’m living in countless answered prayers!
The 17 year old girl, who was pregnant and almost gave her baby up for adoption, she couldn’t have dreamt this up!
Over 27 years later and it’s still the lense I see through. She’ll always be part of me. That scared young girl.
My mom has been gone over 10 years.
So in a way, the life I’m living, it’s a love letter to her. So her life wasn’t wasted.
XOXO
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In the Bible Jesus uses the analogy of grapes and grape vines to signify so much. Growth, redemption,connection The goodness of life.
Grapes can’t grow unless the soil is rocky! The fruit has to grow in rocky soil.
All I know is rocky soil!
But it’s all about perspective
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
It brings me so much joy to help women find a new confidence in their makeup. In my industry, there are a lot of content creators who do what I do, but it is one of their assistance doing the customer service, doing the color matches. Talking to the customer.
But with me, it’s just me. I’m having the conversations I’m responding to the comments. I absolutely love building those relationships!
And I love it! I know if we as women are confident, we show up to our whole life better!! Braver!!
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Yes, it absolutely taught me how to be still. Before that I’d spent 15 years serving in countless ministries and was so busy I couldn’t even see straight. When the world slowed down. And we all had to get quiet and very still, it left me no choice but to deal with things I had been running from for years!
I had work to do!
If it wasn’t for Covid, honestly, I probably wouldn’t have even paid attention enough to have the idea to start an entire new career. I would’ve been too busy to see it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Mandiketter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_mandi_ketter/profilecard/?igsh=aTh0aGg1OXA4cGR0
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/gAc6ejbnugvkKKfD/?mibextid=kFxxJD
