{"id":9148,"date":"2019-01-22T22:46:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T03:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/?p=9148"},"modified":"2022-06-22T11:25:56","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:25:56","slug":"spotlight-on-victoria-donelda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/spotlight-on-victoria-donelda\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on Victoria Donelda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"victoria<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meet Victoria Donelda<\/a>, beauty expert, nursing student, and frequent host of Dia&Co Facebook Lives. Victoria splits her time between taking classes, working part-time retail gigs, and connecting with her social-media following. Long story short, she likes to stay busy. Read on to learn what connects the dots between everything she does and why she believes that makeup is a powerful art form.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve grown up, my entire life, in Kansas. As a kid, my style icons were Princess Diana and the Spice Girls. For Princess Diana, my mom loved her and was so in awe of her, so I obviously was, too, because my favorite person in the world loved Princess Diana. Looking back now, it was definitely her classy style, but also that she wasn\u2019t afraid to just wear jeans and a sweatshirt. She could do it all. With the Spice Girls, it was probably because they were so bold and vibrant, and just so specific to each of their personalities. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal Style<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My sense of style gets better as I get older. I\u2019ve been following the Met Ball for as far back as I can remember. And I\u2019ve always looked at the correlation between art and fashion. So I feel like I\u2019ve always thought about clothes as an extra layer of your personality\u2014not just something that you need. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would say that my style is either pink and feminine or very edgy. It\u2019s hardly ever a mixture of both. It just depends on what challenge I want to take on for the day. I\u2019m a dress person\u2014I love dresses. Just because I think they\u2019re so much more comfortable than jeans. So, usually, if we\u2019re going to town or doing something, I\u2019m always in a dress. It\u2019s not to dress up, it\u2019s just because I\u2019m comfortable that way. In my day to day, or if I have to get up and run around and do a bunch of things, I always love a good band T-shirt or a graphic tee of some kind, a pair of black skinny jeans, high-waisted, and a belt.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve always thought about clothes as an extra layer of your personality\u2014not just something that you need.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"victoria<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Beauty Love Affair<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I was 19, the first Sephora opened where I lived. I completely lucked out and got a position there and thought that was pretty great, pretty special. I was very creative\u2014I was into art and theater. So I got a job based on that even though it wasn\u2019t really very substantial. One day, that turned into this amazing world of beauty and knowledge that I know now, which I love, and I\u2019ve been working in makeup ever since. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was in art school, there were always a few people in my graduating class who would try to keep me down and say, \u201cOh, makeup\u2019s not art. You\u2019re not really that good of an artist.\u201d <\/span>If you scroll through Instagram and just look at makeup, you\u2019re seeing really creative things. You\u2019re not just seeing a nice smokey eye, you\u2019re seeing people forcing those boundaries out a little bit. I just love that. I also love teaching people how to use makeup to empower their feelings about themselves. And I would say that\u2019s a lot of what I\u2019m really, really interested in right now, is just being able to help people express what they want to say through their makeup.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Makeup Matters<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very personal for each person. I know some days I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m sure I can create something with makeup.\u201d And other days I\u2019m like, \u201cI don\u2019t really want to wear that much makeup as I\u2019m doing day-to-day stuff.\u201d So it\u2019s very easy to pick and choose what I want to do each day. And I think there\u2019s a lot of people who feel that way, but there\u2019s a lot of people who use makeup to transform themselves\u2014they don\u2019t feel complete without it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also people who use it to rediscover themselves. It\u2019s been able to help people through their cancer treatments and journeys into remission. And I know a lot of people who say, \u201cI just don\u2019t feel pretty anymore.\u201d So makeup helps them work through some of the things that they\u2019re feeling and get that sense of themselves back.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s just pure joy helping people with their makeup. A lot of what I do is education-based, so I\u2019m bringing knowledge to the store where I do makeup, the rest of the staff, and for people who are shopping as well. I had my girls I\u2019d been doing makeup for four years\u2014last May, they graduated. I\u2019ve been with them throughout the entirety of high school. Even if it\u2019s only through social media and four or five times a year when I\u2019m hanging out with them and doing their makeup. I\u2019ve done people\u2019s prom makeup and then years have gone by and I\u2019ve done their wedding makeup, too. It\u2019s pretty cool to be able to keep up with people and see how their style has changed and progressed\u2014as your own style has changed and progressed.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People use [makeup] to rediscover themselves. It\u2019s been able to help people through their cancer treatments and journeys into remission.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"victoria<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back to School<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After I finished art school, I ended up going back for nursing. I first realized I wanted to make the transition when my nana had an extended stay at the hospital in the spring of 2017. We had no idea if it was going to be a recurring situation or not. Seeing the nurses take such good care of her, I was like, \u201cWow.\u201d It was about a year after I graduated from art school, and I felt like I didn\u2019t have a purpose. I\u2019d really struggled to find a purpose. I was like, \u201cI just don\u2019t understand what to do. There\u2019s no homework, there\u2019s no pat on the back when you do well.\u201d I was having a really hard time with that.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw this sense of purpose among the nursing staff, and I was like, I have to do this. I love art and I love the way that it makes people feel, and I love makeup, and I love doing all of that. But that pales in comparison to this sense of purpose\u2014this ultimate way to really help people feel good. And so that seed was planted, and a month and a half later, I had re-enrolled in school. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it\u2019s been really good. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone always asks what kind of nursing I want to do, and I\u2019m very adamant about trying my hand in a bunch of things before I make a decision. But, right off the top, I know that I\u2019d be so into dermatology or plastic surgery. I mean, your face is such a central part of your identity and who you are, so I think it would be incredible to touch people\u2019s lives in that way. The skin\u2019s my favorite organ, so I would love to help people with their skin. You can do so much through makeup and skincare, but medical treatments take it a step further.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

The Connection<\/b><\/h3>\n

Medicine and art, the two things I\u2019ve been most focused on in my life, are seemingly very different on the outside. But when you dig deeper, you can find the likenesses. Both medicine and art can heal\u2014art can heal the mind and soul, while medicine can heal the body.<\/p>\n

If you look back at the times before we had technology, before we had even a basic understanding really of anything, it was the curious people. And that\u2019s what I think you need to bond for medicine and art\u2014it\u2019s always the curious people who try to figure out how to learn more and do more. If you look at Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s work, and the work of so many others, they took it upon themselves to figure out how the human body works and to dissect and see what\u2019s inside of us. They did that out of scientific curiosity, but they also did it out of curiosity in general. They made teaching materials for other people to spread that curiosity.<\/p>\n

You have these people who were robbing graves, unfortunately, and dissecting bodies. Back then it was extremely morbid and weird, obviously, to have done what they were doing. But if you look at it, it\u2019s really just curiosity fueling your passion to know more and do more with your life. A lot of them weren\u2019t traditionally trained as artists, but their art laid down the groundwork for modern medicine. If that curiosity didn\u2019t exist, we might not know what cancer is today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

That’s what I think you need to bond for medicine and art\u2014it’s always the curious people who try to figure out how to learn more and do more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"victoria<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hosting Facebook Lives<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Being on Facebook Live<\/a> can be nerve-wracking sometimes. I used to get really nervous about it. There have been several times when I\u2019m doing a Live and I look up and there are four or five hundred people watching for whatever reason. And I\u2019m like, \u201cOh my gosh, why is that number so high right now?\u201d So you only have about one and a half seconds to freak out about it, and then you have to keep going. I just think to myself, you do this all the time. You\u2019re doing people\u2019s makeup all the time, in real time, in a busy store. People are walking by and watching, and a mom\u2019s always there taking pictures. So it\u2019s the same, only you\u2019re sitting a room by yourself and all the people watching are behind a mirror.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I almost always am doing something that I\u2019ve done at least once before, or have practiced the day before. So I think the Halloween makeup looks<\/a> are the most nerve-wracking because those are just so much more than the day-to-day things. Or the videos I do where I want everyone to pick your own makeup adventure. But those can be really nerve-wracking too. You never know how it\u2019s going to turn out. And I\u2019m one of those people that likes to know how things will turn out.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Future<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I like to just plan for things, but then also chase them as they come. Which is such an oxymoron. I just like being able to sustain a comfortable life, right? Whatever that means. That\u2019s somewhere I\u2019m happy and constantly able to do the things that I love. And I feel like there are so many things that I love that could go in many different directions. Then there are friends and family. I also would love to travel. So if there\u2019s any way I can incorporate travel into my life, I always choose that. I just love it so much. Learning about new places and exploring locally are some of my favorite things.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I spent all of my teenage years moving away from Kansas, but then I grew up. And now that I get to travel, I get to go to LA every once in a while. I\u2019ve gotten to go to New York and other bigger places. I love the energy, but it\u2019s never more apparent that I\u2019m from Kansas than when I\u2019m in those situations. I love a good 5-10 days in a different area, and then I\u2019m trying to go back to the prairie. It\u2019s time to head back home. But I would love to travel and be able to decide where I really feel a strong resonance with, where my horizon calls to. Live in New York City or somewhere surrounding, just to say that I did it. It would be so different from, I feel like, anywhere else you could ever live.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking for more profiles of the amazing women in our community?<\/strong> Keep the \u201cKnow\u201d<\/a> category bookmarked!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Victoria Donelda, beauty expert, nursing student, and frequent host of Dia&Co Facebook Lives. Victoria splits her time between taking classes, working part-time retail gigs, and connecting with her social-media following. Long story short, she likes to stay busy. 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