 Well, and I am back. I am Hilda Adibi, and you are watching Entrepreneurship Tuesday, only on Y in the morning. And with me in studio, I have a lady who's going to let you know how to do it yourself. When it comes to skincare, when it comes to makeup, do it yourself, stop wasting money in this street, it's up on the edge. But anyway, it's about time I introduce you to Dee Kamau, the brand. And she's here with us in studio to share her story. And yes, I would allow her to say good morning to you. If you do want to participate in the conversation, you have to remember our Twitter handle is at Y254channel. The hashtag is Y in the morning. On Facebook, we're at Y254. On Instagram, we're at Y254 underscore channel. So do slide into our DM. And just in case you miss the valuable insight here, do find us on YouTube at Y254channel. Dorothea Kamau, say good morning to the Y in the morning family. Good morning. Karibu Sana studio. I thank you, Sana. So I would like to understand, why did you get into skincare? Actually, it was a funny story. I was first into makeup. And then I realized I didn't enjoy makeup because I was doing it as a necessity more and less of something that I should enjoy. So I thought the problem was actually my skin because I was trying to cover up my skin issues with makeup. Me too. So then I did a reverse and decided to first start taking care of my skin. Then I can enjoy makeup. So that's how I got into skincare. OK, so what are some of these challenges that you said that you saw with your skin that you had to cover up? Actually, you're right. Many chicks right now apply makeup to cover up, not really, because they're enjoying it so much. So I'd understand. What are some of these blemishes or skincare problems or concerns that enabled you to change things up a bit? At the time, I didn't know, but I had adult acne. And lots of ladies have adult acne, but they think they have sensitive skin. They're having an issue. They have a breakout or they're going through something. But adult acne is very real. And it happens at your prime between 23 and 32. And that's where the problem is because you don't treat it as not a disease per se, but a skin condition. A skin problem, yeah. So you just think it's something I ate, something product I used, but it's from inside out. So it just goes on and on and on because you're not treating the root of the problem. So that's what happened with me. I just started getting breakouts and they're not going away. And especially because it's hormonal for women, it comes every month. It aggravates itself every month. Wait, so these things visually tell ourselves, you think it's about that time of the month, kumbe, it is actually adult acne? Yeah, because for some people, you know, when you're going through your monthly issues. Yes, you assume that your reactions are related to that. Yes, you get that. But other people, it just keeps going. It doesn't go away. So I advise most of my clients to just go and see a dermatologist, get to the root, and then now start working externally. So that's why I got into skincare. Once I understood that and I was dealing with it for many years, I thought I could have saved myself four years of pain and suffering and... And a lot of makeup. Oh yeah, someone would ring my bell and I'd have to go and, you know, throw in foundation because I didn't want anyone to see my spots and blemishes. And I thought, no, there has to be a better way, but it was not going away. So that's how it was. It must have been very refreshing. So I'd like to talk about some of the misconceptions like you have said when it comes to skincare. People say that, oh, my skin, as long as I'm not using any harsh products, if I'm drinking a lot of water, I'm good. So for you, what's a skincare routine? What should it look like? Even if you don't have any condition, but on a daily basis, when you wake up in the morning, what should you do? Your skin is the largest organ you have. Oh yes. So it has needs, major needs. First, the biggest one is hydration. And then moisture. So it needs that. But for you, before you moisturize your skin, you need to be able to clean it. So it's a whole, the most basic thing you can do for your skin is clean and then moisturize it. And then now from the inside is hydrate with water, of course, and fruits. So a basic makeup routine for me, I mean, sorry, skincare routine would be to cleanse. And once a week, deep cleanse, and then moisturize. And that's it. You don't even have to go into the toning if you don't have any conditions. Just keep it simple and that way you can be consistent. Keep it simple, cleanse, detox. I'm seeing your Instagram page has been pulled up, beauty by D. And I've seen one particular image where you look like you're crying. And I would like to know what was happening. Please just scroll down. I saw it somewhere in the corner if you could just take it up a bit. Yes. Yes. Chini Kidogo. Chini Kidogo. Yes. Chini, Chini, Chini, Chini. Chini, somewhere at the bottom there. Chini, Chini, Chini, Tenna. Chini. Keep going, keep going, keep going. All the way down, yes. Keep going. I can see, I can see somebody broke down here and we'd like to understand that it has caught my attention. Please, please, again, keep going, keep going. We're almost there. Keep going, keep going. Keep going, keep going. We've done a whole tour. Yes, we have toured your page indeed. Keep going. Keep going. It's all there at the bottom. Yes, it's at the bottom. Yes, I've seen it there. There. Yes, I can see a video of you looking very miserable. What was going on? Actually, if you watched the video, I was taking off my makeup and then I got to a point where I removed my eye makeup and it was a disaster. So I just did a face. And I think... I would say it was actually a cry. It was just a... I was just trying to spice up the video. And also, I think what on social media it's called a clickbait. Oh, yeah, clickbait. Yeah, so it got people to click. This was my most popular video so far. It also just got my attention. So it had the corner of my eye. I was like, what's going on here? Yeah, so this is just a night skincare routine, very lazy, but just making sure you take your makeup off. Even if you don't wear makeup, just have a night skincare routine because that's the point where your skin is renewing itself. And if it has nothing to work with, then it might thrive better if you give it something to nourish the skin as you sleep. Oh, I like the fact that you mentioned that it's not enough to just do your beauty routine or your skincare routine in the morning. It also has to be done at night. So take us through the night process. What should you do? What is the procedure? The first thing I'd say, even if you do not wear makeup, make sure you remove all the pollution. You know, there's dust, there's smoke, all these things. There's a lot of buildup. You're touching your face. Your hands are dirty. So you have to remove that. You can use something as simple as coconut oil or olive oil. And oil makes sure that it pulls out the dirt. And of course, if you have skincare products that you're using, so you cleanse, you remove that, and then you moisturize again. You cleanse and then you moisturize again. Goodness. You know, most people would wonder, like, where do I get the time? How long does this take? It should... Like I said, if you keep it simple, then you're able to be consistent. But if you start buying everything, I want a cleanser, I want this, listen to this, then you end up feeling lazy to do it. When you think about the routine that you have to go through. Yes. And like, 20 minutes I don't have, I'm just going to sleep like that. Just wash your face and add a moisturizer and go to bed. You don't have to just keep it simple. You don't have to keep doing all these things. I find that when you keep it simple, it's easy to just go back and do it over and over again. Okay, so tell us about branding. Why did you decide you wanted to turn this into a kind of business? Why? So, at first it was something I enjoyed doing, and then I realized a lot of my time was going into that. And because I like to keep myself busy, I thought if I'm keeping myself busy with this one, then it has to be making me money or some sort of return. I see. Because you get tired also. You're just doing it because you love it. At some point you have to, when you get to a certain age, you have to start thinking how something that you enjoy can make you money, you know, turn your passion into a paycheck. Turn your passion into a paycheck. I like the fact that you've highlighted that time is money. If you're consuming a lot of time doing something, it better start making you some money anytime soon, or you're just wasting your time. And then we have branding. When it comes to branding, I can see your page is very well put out, and I can see your naturalista over here. What was happening this photo shoot? I can see a whole mess. What was happening here? Early last year, I decided to just chop it off. Chop it all off. Hey. Actually, a lot of people don't know this, but I did it because I was having a skincare issue. Oh. My hair, I was just losing hair. It's called alopecia. Most men have it. Alopecia, what's that? You have patches on your scalp where hair is not growing. Yeah, it can't grow, yeah. Yes. So I was having that. At first, I thought it was a fungal infection. Then I realized it was alopecia, and then I thought, let me start from zero. Let me just cut my hair all off, and then start from there working. It kind of doesn't have a cure. It has a lot of, it's involved with a lot of cell manipulation because your immune system is attacking itself. So then it thinks, you know, this is how it needs to sort it out. So, but I just thought, let me cut my hair, start from zero. It wasn't like a face or I was about to do something dramatic. You weren't trying to pull up redness hairs? No, it wasn't that type of thing. Okay. So that's what it was, I enjoyed this, I enjoyed this, and I still have short hair, even though right now I like to mix it up. You like to mix it up a bit. But I liked this. Yes, you look very beautiful. There's no doubt. It's good to know that you can take, I felt by cutting my hair, I can take, you know, alopecia has nothing on me. I can cut my hair and still feel good. So that's actually what it was. So you were basically telling the disease to hell with you. I'm still going to rock this. Yes. Okay, okay, I like that. When it comes to personal branding and your social media pages and all that, what would you have for an entrepreneur out there who maybe does the same thing but doesn't know how to brand themselves online and get some clientele, take us through your marketing strategy. The first thing is, especially with social media, we are, as humans, we love to share. When I started, I was sharing everything there, cute photos of my nephew, and then, you know, myself doing makeup and then me washing my face at night. So it was a mixture and I realized that it's better to separate that. So keep your business, your business and your personal life, your personal life. So the first strategy is to separate the two. People can still see your personality, but when it's business, when it's a brand, keep it that way. So that's the first rule I thought when I started marketing and making this a business is to separate the two. Okay, what about your clientele when it comes to clientele? How do you maintain customer, what do you call it? Loyalty, yes. How do you, why should I come back? Well, how do you, what's your procedure when it comes to interacting with your clients? I have a very simple rule. I do my best every time. I give it my all every time. And I have a small team. I always tell them, regardless of how we're feeling right now, let's go and do our best, do our part, we go. And for what I do, a lot of the job is done very early in the morning, like bridal. So we wake up at four and we're like, guess what, at eight we'll be done, then we can live our lives. So let's just go and do our best and then be done with it. And that, because of giving it my all, I find that a lot of my clients are getting referrals. So if I impress this client, they're going to reform me to the next. And that is very powerful marketing. When someone you trust tells you no, just go with her, trust me, that's the end. So I find, just do your best every time and you never know who's watching, you never know where it will take you. Okay, okay, interesting. I'm glad that you said that, do your best. And also the issue of the branding, you put your personal life here and your business life on this other side. Okay, when it comes to this particular industry, are there any concerns that you have? The first thing is, people don't take this art as a business, as a serious business. It is serious business. It's growing, but it's taking a lot of time for people to look at beauty. And in terms of this section of beauty, makeup and skincare, as a serious business. So even yourself, me as a brand, as an entrepreneur, I just used to think it's a side thing, it's extra cash I have. You also never took it that seriously. Yeah, until you get to a point where I'm not growing, I keep pushing myself every day, I keep doing my best, I am not financially, when I want to buy a product, when I want to get somewhere, I'm still digging deep. So people don't have business structures in place. First and foremost, I would advise to have a business structure in place, have a financial plan, have a budget where you plan on doing this thing. Wait, business structure, have a financial budget, what's a business structure? Like, what does your structure look like? If I was to ask, because people are like, these things you could just tell us, okay, what is it? What is that structure? What is this? Yes. So you have to pay yourself. First, the business part of it is, not all the money you make is for you to spend. It's actually to grow the business. So just have a small portion where you pay yourself. So you feel like, okay, all this hard work I'm putting, I can get myself this and this, but pump the money back into the business. Also a structure in terms of even how you're going to spend the money that you're making. Yes, yes. Ah, interesting. But they know that you mentioned a financial plan. A lot of people, young people tend to have this excuse of no capital, no capital, no capital. When you came, when you were starting yours, was capital a factor? It was, although I didn't think about it. I just used money I had somewhere to make my starter kit. And then yeah, so I didn't think like, oh, I need capital to start this business because it didn't start, you know, with a plan. There was no structure. I just found myself doing this, getting busy. Then I'm like, wait, this is a business now. So, but at that point I had to now start saving to be able to invest more in the business. So I guess more saving than that contributed, that acted as a capital to expand the business. Ah, saving. I can see there is a clip over here running about your, running to do with your routine. Can you tell me, can you explain what's happening? Oh, I can see, whoa, that phone has a nice case. Goodness. Anyway, yes, yes, so. So I like to do one minute videos on Instagram. These are very popular because people just think, you know, it's just one minute. Let me just watch. And in the process, I throw in tips, what I'm doing and what helps. And then I have links on the same on YouTube, where you know, if you have time, you have four, five minutes, you can go and watch in detail. So I like that this makes me, you know, also push my beauty education side of the business. So because a lot of my clients nowadays are really into taking care of their skin and then doing their makeup properly. So this is just little bits and pieces where I throw in to encourage them to practice more. Okay, so for how long have you been doing this, by the way? How long has it taken you to get yourself to this point? I would say six years as a business. Six years of beauty and skincare. Okay, uh-huh. So six years, although I started before as a hobby in 2009. So when people are doing the 10 year challenge, I went back, dug my files and I was like, wait, it's been 10 years. Already? Yes. You made me, I was surprised. You know, we were talking about 2008 just, and I was like, oh my God, that's a decade ago. It is. We are growing old anyway, it's okay. There's no problem. Let's talk about the highlight of your career, of this. Have you ever had a moment when you were like boss? No, I'm sure I'm doing the right thing. Or it was just your best day on the job. Let me put it like that. Was it someone you had done? Was it someone you had done some makeup on? What was the best? Was it a phone call you got? Was it a compliment or a comment one of your clients gave you? What can you say has been the highlight? Not that it's been a decade. Right. It's when a few years back, I won makeup artist of the year. Wow. I thought that was a great accomplishment and recognition by the industry. So yeah, apart from all these small bits and pieces, that was a nice, wonderful public recognition that I felt, okay, apart from my little private moments with my clients, which you know, you really feel fulfilled, that was a good one out there. Okay, now that you've mentioned client and your best moment, congratulations. Thank you. By the way, on the award, as much as belated, belated congratulations. Thank you. Okay, thank you. And let's talk about your worst day or your clients. Have you ever had a client that was just difficult? How do you deal with that difficult client? I'll say the one that's just popped in my mind. It's probably my worst. I had a client who was gifted my services by their friend. So she really didn't want, it was makeup for her wedding. And I think she had someone else in mind. So we did her wedding day makeup. Mostly I like to do the bridal last. So we just take our time. So that you can take your time, yeah. So all her maids were there cheering her. And every time she looked in the mirror, she just didn't like it. I felt so terrible that on her big day, she's going to walk around not confident, didn't like her makeup. Not feeling beautiful. Yes, but afterwards, they came back to me and said, they liked it, but throughout the day, I had a really bad day. They said they liked it and it's because they were going through something. And they actually had a personal tea for the person that gifted them. So that they're just trying to be difficult. But that was a really terrible day before I got the feedback. I can't think of any other for the sake of time. No, it's okay. But it's good for people at home to see here that there are challenges. Oh, there are very many challenges. There's nothing like it's just shiny and clean the whole time. There's going to be bad days and there's also going to be good days when you're acknowledged. Okay, I think it's about time we conclude this segment. But if people wanted to get your services, where can they find you? Now that you've seen her Instagram page, where can they find you? I am a freelance, so I have a studio in Upper Hill. If you send me an email or my contact information is on my social media, we can always plan an appointment. It's by appointment. And I go to my clients, so I do a lot of house calls. And on social media, I have a Facebook page and an Instagram page as we have gone. I've just seen it. And it's beauty by D. Beauty by D on Facebook and beauty by D with 3 underscore beauty underscore by underscore D on Instagram. So let's talk, let's engage, we continue the conversation. I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys. And you have very lovely teeth, by the way. Forgot to mention. But seriously, I love this smile. I think I smile a lot. You have lovely teeth. Anyway, as a parting shot, what keeps you going? I have big dreams. I have this big picture of how I want to and where I want to end up. And even on very difficult days, I just have to be like, you know, just remember where you're going because there are so many challenges and difficult days. But that big picture is my motivation. It's my driving force. Thank you. Thank you very much. So think of the big picture where life is difficult somewhere. Think of the dreams and where you'd like to go. Thank you so much, Dorothy. Come off. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Have a beautiful day. And yes, I think it's about to end. I also wish you a beautiful day. I'm also about to tap out. I'm Hilda Wadili. Please do not go anywhere. Join me in touch. We'll be coming up next.