Before beauty, there was softball.

I was a D1 college athlete, playing throughout my younger years and into my twenties. The work ethic and commitment I developed as an athlete have carried into nearly every aspect of my life, but I don't think I fully understood how much I missed the team dynamic until I found it again through Beauty Asylum.

My college journey wrapped up in Charleston, SC, and during my junior year, I moved to Greenville with my husband. It was there that I started exploring my creative side while working with Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.

Being in the field as a hair and makeup artist, I was able to dabble in every area of the industry—from weddings and corporate events to production and Fashion Week—and I quickly knew where I wanted to be. As a young mom, the hours each one demanded influenced the direction I wanted to go.

The defining moment that shaped my transition from solo artist to agency owner came in 2014.

For close to a year, I provided hair and makeup services for a Fortune 500 company. In my twenties, I was so happy to have consistent weekday work doing something I was passionate about—9 to 5, lunch, office setting, then rinse and repeat. Truly, it was great.

Over time, the executives started to ask more of me, and that changed the way I worked in the industry. The company prioritized speed and needed multiple artists working at separate locations simultaneously, and they looked to me to orchestrate everything.

Naturally, I took the lead and began tapping into my resources within the beauty industry. I wanted to surround myself with artists I trusted—people I knew would represent the same level of care and professionalism I expected from myself.

After a couple of months of coordinating artist schedules to meet the company's needs, a light bulb went off.

At the time, bridal teams or agencies didn't really exist—or at least not that I knew of. As my reputation grew, so did my online reviews, and the demand quickly followed. Being a “yes” person, turning away opportunities never felt like the right answer.

Once the idea started to come together, I felt at home like I never left the softball field.

And Beauty Asylum grew from there.

Beauty Asylum is one of my proudest accomplishments. What began as a way to meet demand became a team of incredibly talented artists and a business that has now been trusted with thousands of weddings.

A lot of that longevity comes down to consistency.

Many of the ladies who represent BA have been with us for more than five years, and there’s a level of trust that comes along with working together for an extended period of time. The quality goes without question, but if someone may have to step outside their comfort zone, it’s important to check in first and get ahead of anything that may deviate from our day-to-day operations.

We've built Beauty Asylum around elevating the industry standard of customer service while also protecting the boundaries that allow our team to consistently deliver the level of service our clients have come to expect.

That same philosophy carries into the relationships we've built throughout the wedding industry.

Like minds tend to gravitate towards one another, and the best partnerships start with a similar work ethic. Long-term relationships come down to communication and trust. When another vendor recommends our team, they attach their reputation to that recommendation, and that's an honor.

We're efficient, we're organized, and we have a process in place. There's comfort in knowing a business you refer will provide the same level of care that you would expect for your own client.

What often gets overlooked is that what we do is so much more than hair and makeup.

The emotional impact of those few hours together can stay with someone long after the appointment is over. For me, luxury is the experience wrapped around every moment. If someone leaves feeling more confident, more empowered, and more excited than when they walked in, then we've succeeded.

That experience also starts long before the wedding day.

Setting expectations from the very beginning has become non-negotiable for us. Thoughtful preparation, clear communication, and making sure our clients understand what to expect allow our artists to focus on what they do best when the wedding day arrives.

As an artist, my personal style has remained fairly consistent throughout my career. My makeup style is soft glam and natural, and my hairstyling is timeless and classic. I don't gravitate toward anything extreme or heavy glam—it simply isn't my style.

While I rarely take on weddings these days, I still love the artistry. In the next season of my career, I can see myself opening my books for a handful of destination weddings each year when the location, aesthetic, and overall vibe align.

Over the years, Beauty Asylum has had the honor of servicing thousands of weddings and earning recognition from bridal publications including BRIDES, Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot, WeddingWire, Style Me Pretty, MunaLuchi Bride, and Southern Bride.

Early on, the features trickled in because our artistry did the heavy lifting. Our work on real brides was desirable, and once that started attracting attention, people became interested in more than the visual—they wanted to hear what we had to say.

That evolution changed the way I thought about marketing and content.

There’s a lot of misinformation in the beauty industry, and sharing knowledge that educates our clients ultimately makes our job easier. In a world of AI, Photoshop, studio lighting, and editing apps, we're constantly navigating the expectation of what bridal beauty should realistically look like. Reliable information, resources, and behind-the-scenes insight have become just as important as the imagery itself.

Our career has also extended beyond weddings. Our corporate portfolio includes work with major media networks such as CNN, NBC, and CBS, and one of the more surreal moments of my career was working with presidential nominees during both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

Beauty has also taken me around the world.

I've had the privilege of working with brides in destinations including Paris, France; Limerick, Ireland; and Tuscany, Italy. Being able to merge my love for beauty and travel has been one of the unexpected gifts of this career.

These days, my role within Beauty Asylum looks a little different.

During the week, I primarily handle the administrative and business side of BA, and it's very rare that I personally take on a wedding. After more than 17 years, my experience in this industry has expanded well beyond hair and makeup into team building, customer experience, operations, content marketing, SEO, e-commerce, and brand building.

And somewhere along the way, I realized how much I enjoy that side of it too.

Beauty Asylum has provided opportunities in ways I never expected and has ultimately given me the confidence and experience to step into a new chapter that now includes building businesses outside of beauty.

Through all of it, family remains my number one priority.

My daughter is 19 and my son is 14, and if I can soak up every milestone of their lives, I absolutely will be there. Being fully present for my family in the moments that matter most is something I value above anything else.