Lecture with Jenny Dayton

On Tuesday the 3rd March, Jenny Dayton came in to lecture us on being a professional MUA and how to break out into the industry. She began by discussing what she herself had done throughout her career from working with burberry around the world to working on soaps and a short spell in theatre. Her advice to us was to be very focused on what area we would like to work in after graduating, and to always have a can do attitude as this is more appealing to an employer than skill bases. She recommended speaking to companies, ringing them and enquiring and being persistent as this shows the sort of attitude they are looking for. The most important things for leaving uni that should be worked on are our websites, showreel and CV as our selling tools as well as transferable skills and also things such as driving, location and our kits.

After this we wrote down a five year plan, something Jenny later reviewed with us. I decided to compose my plan around a theatre based career, as this is what I had pitched for in front of Jenny, and would keep my consistency, even if I do think the job I pitched for probably wasn't appropriate to all the work I have been putting into my portfolio this year. I had written my plan around developing as a wig maker within theatre progressing from an assistant to a supervisor role by year 3 and then to a wig mistress within 5-8 years of practise and experience.

The feedback I received from Jenny was listed as below;
- Follow up the job at Chichester Festival Theatre, where I have recently applied
- Look at Welsh Theatre, National Theatre and Opera North. Ringing direct is best.
- Living here will be too small for theatre, potentially look at touring companies.
- Speak to Sara, who has a contact with English National Ballet.
- Having a part time job can be beneficial. Just don't waste qualifications working on counter too long.
- STARNOW and Stagejobspro are worth a subscription fee for finding jobs.
- Manchester has 4 theatres. Keeping trawling through the internet for numbers and contracts of designers is worth it.
- If i choose to do bridal work separate this from a professional website.


Jenny then ran a Q+A session where I asked a lot about her kit and set up for working on jobs - some of the products she highly recommended are listed below;

Set bags more useful than trolleys / Basic kit consists of everything basically. Should have nail polishes and remover in my kit. Good allround foundations come from chanel/stila/YSL for HD. Highlighters such as Dior Flash are good. MAC Prep and Prime in general is best for skincare. Pore Pore is a more gentle version of vaseline, only available online. MAC and Bobbi Brown liquid concealer palettes are worth the money/ Paula Dort real hair brushes are also very good. Building the kit slowly is something Jenny emphasised, little and often adding to the kit really builds up.

The session was so helpful in helping me to focus on what my steps will be in the future and also I am also able to transfer these elements into my PPRD schedule.