Monalisa Umutoni, known to many as Mona Faces. Photo/COURTESY
Mona’s journey started at a tender age. She says she has always had a love for beauty, playing with her mum’s make-up when she was five years old trying to wear her powder and this stayed with her into high school. She joined make-up business while at campus after she teamed up with her high school friends to start a boutique.
“I never saw myself going for corporate employment and at that time in my second year at university, we started a boutique to support ourselves and that was my opportunity to meet many people whom I would sell clothes to and ask if I could also do something with their faces. I did not ever think it would turn into a whole business,” she says.
Mona adds that one day, she did make-up and styling for her friends before they took pictures, which they posted on Instagram and the photos went viral.
“It is at this point that people started booking me and that is when I realised that this was something I could actually charge for and make money out of to support myself and my family,” she says.
She adds that it was mainly her passion for beauty and making other women feel beautiful and good that pushed her to go into this business.
“I genuinely enjoy doing make-up. I enjoy doing make-up for women. I can do this for free. I do it all the time, even for my friends. I never imagined it going to this level.”
Her experience has seen her working with several brands and celebrities over the years, including Her Royal Highness the Nnabagereka of Buganda, Sylvia Owori, Sheebah Karungi, Lillian Mbabazi, Barbie Kyagulanyi, Ann Kansiime and Lintons Beauty World, among others.
Standing out
There are many make-up artists in Uganda but what makes Mona stand out is consistency. She says doing the same thing consistently and challenging herself to do new things has helped her stay on top of her game.
“I am always asking myself what people elsewhere are doing in the world. What is happening in the beauty industry globally is what pushes me to just keep exploring and creating.”
When it comes to innovations, she says they are not afraid to try out new things such as the masterclass that had not been done before, which many people have embraced.
Besides consistency and innovation, Mona adds that paying extra attention to detail and not just with how she does her make-up, but even with the spaces, with the studios, customer care, how they talk to clients, the experience that clients get in their shop and in the studios make them stand out.
Mentorship
One of the things that make Mona special is inspiring new generation make-up artists and she does this through projects such as mentorship, which she says is important to her because she reflects on her young self and how desperate she was to find a mentor in the beauty industry.
“I remember wanting so badly to find someone I could talk to and share my challenges with. Someone who could guide me and give me a little bit of roadmap of some sort, some hope of ‘okay if you start like this or if you move like this, this is where you are going to be in five years’. So for me, I feel like this is the gift that God has given me to share,” she says.
Mona adds that because she is very passionate about women and young girls, she can relate to all the struggles, self-doubt and insecurities and feels it is her duty to share and help the next generation.
She is enthusiastic that the next generation will have an easier journey or path than they did. “It is only going to get better, it is only going to get bigger. Beauty will never end. Beauty has always existed long before us and it is going to be here long after us. This is the least that I can do.”
Challenges
Despite the success, Mona has also had to endure some challenges along the way. She says she struggled to find a full set of make-up brushes to use and had to buy them from Nigeria.
Then the scarcity of make-up studios also was a big challenge until they started one in 2016. She had self-doubt and did not know what she was doing.
Achievements
Monalisa is the brand ambassador for the She Walks Campaign by Johnnie Walker and feels it was tailored for her because like their slogan of “Keep walking”, she has never stopped believing and reaching for the highest goal every other day, especially when things are tough or when she is stuck.
“It feels good to be included and recognised by such a huge and previously male-dominated brand and also an honour to be celebrating my 10-year milestone with them under She walks, a campaign that represents everything I am and have been about for the past 10 years.”
The celebrations
Over the years, she has not only built a beauty empire but also mentored upcoming artists and set new standards in the industry and to commemorate her decade-long success, she will host a She Walks Sip Over event on Women’s Day.
The exclusive gathering will bring together trailblazing women to connect, inspire, and celebrate resilience, with a special focus on Mona’s contributions to the beauty sector.
It is going to be a fun day of music, whiskey tasting/mentorship, good food, good vibes and networking.
Advice
Having been there and seen it all, Mona’s only advice to the women out there looking to turn their passion into business is to listen to their gut, follow their instincts and stick to the grind.
She would also want every woman to have hope and confidence within themselves to choose and be whoever and whatever they want to be in life because one of her greatest gifts her entrepreneurship journey has given her is the freedom to just be that.
