Conversations with Adriana Mejía

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriana Mejía. 

Hi Adriana, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I moved to the USA a year and a half ago from Nicaragua a small and poor Island. When I was 17 in my fourth year of college studying business and administration, I decided I didn’t want to do that the rest of my life. I always wanted to be an architect but my parents never support me so I quit. I just didn’t really feel it would fit me my parents did not like that so they kicked me out of the house almost instantly. I left and worked teaching math to my old friends from college and one day in the small apartment where I was living one of my old friends told me to do her makeup. Of course, I didn’t know how to but I tried and she liked it, the next week another girl came to my apartment and before you know it, I was going house by house doing makeup and hair! I opened up my first beauty salon when I was only 18 years old, I finally saved enough to be able to open a small place it wasn’t fancy at all but people really came there for me and didn’t care how run down the place looked at all! After a year of saving money, I opened up my second beauty salon! This time it was much bigger I had two floors and I hired 2 more girls to help me. People from all over my country drove hours just to see me in person they couldn’t believe I was the owner at such a young age. I kept saving money and I opened my third beauty salon it was three floors big! With twelve girls working for me! I was living in a small room on the top third floor. I thought I had everything I wanted until I realized how lonely my life was becoming. I didn’t have a family to go to or someone to talk to when I needed someone. So, God sent me a man who would one day be my husband. A man named Kyle Cooley from a mutual friend on Facebook and after some time talking FaceTiming sending letters pictures etc.! 

He came to Nicaragua and we met for the first time in person. We were pretty much inseparable from that moment forward he continued to make trips back and forth to see me as much as he could after a few years we decided it was time to get married! I decide to leave everything and move to Nashville with him. It was a dream come true! But it wasn’t easy before I moved to the states, I was almost killed war broke out in my country and my life turned upside down. What we thought was going to be a very easy task turned into a solid year. A solid year of me having to fight for my life. My salon was broken into by military government soldiers. If you don’t know much about Nicaragua the president and the country’s officials are very corrupt. They imprison and sometimes kill anyone that disagrees with them and their authority. When they broke in, they had to come up the stairs so by the time they reached my bedroom and broke the door down I jumped out the window. It was a miracle from God I didn’t break both of my legs. So, with that being said I went through ALOT. And could say more but won’t for the sake of time. I still had my business but it was tough. But I learned something during these tough times. 

That my passion for business and makeup never ceased I fought and fought hard! I still maintained to make great profits in a country in the midst of total turmoil. Which just goes to show never ever ever give up!!! 

A year passed and things finally came together for me to move to the USA with my future husband. I had to sell my business in Nicaragua due to bad circumstances with management and not being able to travel back and forth. But now I’m happier than I’ve ever been! I’m doing what I love and I have someone to share it with. I travel all around America and I meet new people all the time. I love the smile of each bride when they take that first glance in the mirror! Or when her dad sees her on the first look! I will never get tired of how that makes me feel! I’m so glad for the life I have now and if you are reading this, don’t give up!!! I promise you there is always a solution there is always another way! And no, I’m not building tall skyscrapers and making pretty buildings for the world to see but instead, I’m making pretty smiling faces and that’s more than enough for me!!! 🙂 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think my obstacles & challenges was the fact that I didn’t get any help at the beginning and not having that support made all the process really hard, as well when you are giving a service you have good clients and bad clients but you don’t know which one, they are until you have them in your seat. And there were several times where some customers offered me money to go out with them and do drugs and more. And it was a real challenge to not accept it but I thank God, he gave me the strength to say no to all those offers. If I would have said yes, I wouldn’t be here right now. I would probably be dead or addicted to something that would have absolutely ruined my life. It’s really hard to become stable financially but the easy road never comes without consequences and regrets. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a makeup artist and hairstylist I specialize in bridal looks such as soft glam or Full Glam makeup look. I’m known for my ability to work with different skin tones and the diversity of hairstyles. I’m most proud of where I’m from and how I started. And I wouldn’t say that I have something that sets me apart from others because I believe we all work really hard to be who we are and to become who we want to be. But something that I will say about myself is I do what I do with love and not for money. 

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was really quiet and shy growing up. But when I reached the age of 17, I really started to break out of my shell. I started doing Makeup around the same age and meeting new people going new places and I really had no other option but to grow up and get to work! I absolutely fell in love with my work and people which completely helped transform my life and set me on a Makeup Artist career! 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/adrianarmejia?utm_medium=copy_link
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/98amejia/

Image Credits
Reta Wagdy
Jessica Elizabeth McCall
Angelia Stanley
Samantha Potter
Zaman Altimimi