We had the good fortune of connecting with Tiffany Franklin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiffany, did you self-fund your business or did you have investors fund your business? If you could go back, would you do it differently?
I am a business of 15 years, self funded. There has been many obstacles in my way of building a brand and content but I refuse to give up. Money had a major factor on growing the business. I started off with hardly anything but I ended with so much more. I had people invest products to produce my makeup kit and also financially. It’s been a huge blessing on building clientele and with that came the funding. I offered free services and discounted services which made me stand out from other artist in my community. I found my business from one simple move and that was practicing with eyelashes. One day I just had to follow the crowd and experiment and I was already creative. I was the creative kid who could color really well in the lines and I applied those principles to constructing a makeup business and I still color in the lines. If I could go back and change anything it would be nothing. Every arrow that the enemy tried to throw my way, God had a better plan and made me to be so much stronger. It gave me all the right tools to accomplish a well oiled company. From that I developed a mentorship program to develop young ladies into becoming entrepreneurs and skilled makeup artists.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Tema Cosmetics started off as Tiffani Eyez Makeup Artistry and as you can see that was a long name for a business. So I broke down each word and used the initial and came up with T- Tiffani, E- Eyez, M- Makeup, A- Artistry which equals TEMA and I added Cosmetics on the end because that’s what I’m always using. My clients played a major part in my up bringing of my company. I started in 2006 and I moved away from Houston in 2007 and business was slow in college. I continued to keep at it and made some money off it. The more I continued to post my work on social media it was working for my good in which I didn’t even know. I returned back to Houston in 2010 and that’s when things took off. I came back home to inquiring clients who couldn’t wait to get in my chair. Almost every weekend I was pretty booked making good money on the side. The appointments kept coming and I had a lot of support here in Houston. It was all based on the work I put in while in college. I learned so many lessons in doing makeup. One of the main lessons is to charge your worth. I am today worth every penny and more of what I produce. I don’t say that to brag but I started at the bottom from $5 a face to now $65 a face. I’ve developed a makeup brand, made my own cosmetics, started my own beauty supply online, currently running a mentorship program, and advising small business developments.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I was to show you a good time in the city it would definitely be inner city by the Galleria. We have beautiful parks and very nice restaurants. Houston has a lot of great food outlets and I think our city is in the top rankings. On the South side of Houston it’s fast but the North side is a little more relaxed. I love listening to live music such going to the Alley Kat or Ador Houston. We have great singers and musicians here. Whenever you are here check out our music scene with the live band.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to shout a few business owners if I could. I would definitely love to shout to Michelle Cofield of Changing Facez Studios. She has been a great pillar in the beauty Industry as a fellow makeup artist. Her work ethic and work is absolutely amazing, please check her out!

Website: www.temacosmetics.com
Instagram: Temacosmeticsllc
Linkedin: Tiffany Franklin
Twitter: Tiffanieyez
Facebook: Tema Cosmetics

Image Credits
J and R Photography and myself.