Beauty Lovers, R29 & SCAD Hosted Your Dream Career Fair

What does beauty mean to you? Refinery29 posed that question to Savannah College of Art and Design students at our Beauty Confessional, one of the many activations at our Next in Beauty career salon.

Among the answers? “Being content with who you are and where you’re at.” “It means confidence. It means art.” It means “being yourself.”

The latter might be the simplest, but it was the main message of the two-day event, which featured leading experts from across the beauty industry. Panellist and global director of artistry and education at Tatcha (and Meghan Markle’s makeup artist) Daniel Martin spoke about finding his non-makeup makeup POV after a life-changing portfolio review. “The designer was going through my book and she's like, ‘I see that you do all these people and you've worked with all these photographers and your work is beautiful, but I don't see … what makes you you,’” he told students. “That was a lightbulb for me. She was like, ‘You need to find a unique point of view that makes you unique to your craft.’”

Meanwhile, keynote speaker, Euphoria’s head makeup-artist and Half Magic cofounder, Donni Davy, explained how answering Craigslist ads and never saying no to a gig helped to develop her signature sparkly look. “I’m a really big fan of saying yes to opportunities,” she told Refinery29 after her panel. “I did learn early on that getting out of your comfort zone is one of the best things you can do regularly. Don’t stress if you’re not in your career field that you thought you’d be in.”

The goal of the two-day career salon was to guide SCAD Business of Beauty and Fragrance students as they embark on their careers in the beauty industry through portfolio reviews and panel discussions, while also presenting to and networking with global companies looking to hire SCAD talent. There’s lots of opportunity: The global beauty industry generates over $430 billion (yes that’s a b) in revenue annually and the field is also one of the most innovative and exciting out there, which is why SCAD launched the aforementioned business of beauty degree program in 2018. 

And we kept these SCAD students busy: Over the course of two days, we held over 100 portfolio reviews with brands such as L'Oréal, Estée Lauder, Revlon, Coty, Rare Beauty, Goop, Winky Lux, Blonde + Co, and Case Agency.

"The Refinery 29 x SCAD Next in Beauty Event was a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity that allowed SCAD Beauty students to gain invaluable knowledge from top beauty industry leaders. The foundation of SCADBeauty is built on close partnerships with the beauty industry, so this event in partnership with Refinery29 really bought to life the ethos of the program in an incredibly engaging and unique format," says Dominica Baird, Chair, SCAD Business of Beauty & Fragrance.

As part of Next In Beauty, SCADask, SCAD's applied research unit, conducted a pre-event survey capturing the factors that drive purchasing habits, beauty trends and what is top of mind for the Gen Z and Gen Alpha beauty and fragrance consumers. These insights were referenced throughout the various “Next in Beauty” events and explored the wide spectrum of people and cultures that influence the beauty space.

We also wanted to make networking, well, fun, which is why we hosted events such as the aforementioned Beauty Confessional and our live Hair Me Out, during which we brought our YouTube series to life in front of a student audience with the help of celebrity hairstylist Felicia Leatherwood. Not only did Leatherwood pull together a red carpet look in 40 minutes, she also left students with some sound advice to always keep striving. “I love competing with myself,” she said.