Today we’d like to introduce you to Callie Ahern.
Callie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My Bio: My name is Callie Ahern and in my free time, I use makeup as a vehicle to transform the spirit and the soul of seniors in living homes. I started The Glama Project after my own grandmother’s tough transition into a home in 2018. As a self-taught MUA, I wanted to do something for her on her 89th birthday (her first in her new home). That said, I threw her a “GLAMA party” complete with a glam makeover and photoshoot. It was such a hit and so many of her friends wanted to also partake, I decided to start a volunteer project that would allow me to do this at scale and treat as many seniors as possible to the same experience my grandma had. It’s my dream to give makeup brands, beauty influencers, photographers, and MUA’s a chance to impact the senior community as these women love makeup just as much as I do (I’m 33!). I also hope to inspire the younger generation by these women’s incredible stories as it’s my belief that they have so much to teach us! I currently reside in San Diego California with my husband and two adorable french bulldogs, Frankie + Winston.
When did the project start? February 2018.
How many volunteers have been working with you since you started? I currently have two makeup artists as well as myself and six photographers who have donated time and talents to this project. Per event, I like to have two makeup artists on hand and 1 photographer.
Do you have any major charity or council to support the project? No, but I am always open and looking to connect with those who can provide feedback and help me grow the project. Instagram has been a great platform that has allowed us to sync with like-minded projects, business or non-profits. We’ve had some great discussions with The Listening Ear Project, Elder Gram, Girls Gone 50, Love of Grey and more!
How many ladies did you cheer up with your makeover and photo-shooting? So far, we’re nearing the 80-mile mark! Currently, I have three homes I work closely with, one of which we’ve photographed all of the women there and are waiting for newer residents to move in. I typically hold one “GLAMA Shoot” per home each month and have 5-6 ladies signed up that will be glammed + photographed for the day. If I can continue to scale my network of volunteers, I’d like to be able to take on more homes and hold more events!
Any tips for mature ladies to keep sparkling when at home, long after your event? During the makeup process, we’re very open to giving tips and makeup advice to the ladies sitting in our chair. We find most often they are so full of questions as they know their skin and makeup applying abilities have changed over the years. We love educating women on understanding the right color pallets to use and showing easy ways to highlight favorite features. To help bring glam into the days after, last year, we gifted each Glama a lipstick that was similar to the one they wore during their session. This year, we are gifting a full makeup kit! Thanks to a recent partnership with Thrive Causemetics, who donated us an overwhelming amount of product, we can now give the basics – lipstick, mascara, bronzer, blush, eyeshadow and CC cream! We’re super excited to be able to do this and give these amazing women a goodie bag filled with items they can use and apply what they’ve learned.
How did you encourage big stores and brands to open their doors to you? My full-time job is in marketing and business development, so I know how to sell a good story. And The Glama Project is just that – it’s an amazing story of confidence building and giving back to who I believe within the beauty industry are sometimes forgotten. When reaching out to big brands, I am just really honest. I tell them the story behind why I started this project, what I aspire it to be, and how their products could help make someone’s day, month, or even year. It’s my hope that my email or reach out is refreshing in a way and is a different avenue for them to give back and make a difference yet still reach the girls who follow us that still love to learn about the product. Some of our makeup transformations are pretty incredible!
What are your future plans? Gosh. I have so many! A big dream would be to meet Ellen Degeneres. She is someone I really look up to for all she does in giving back and spreading happiness to others. For some reason, I think she’d really like this project! But realistically, turning the project into a non-profit or getting counsel on how I can really make this project scale is my next goal. I have something special here and I have other homes that want to partake and need the manpower and network to make it happen. Ideally, I’d love to offer this type of volunteer service to any home that comes knocking on my door. I also have a big goal this year to have a large beauty influencer or MUA come help for an event. I’d love to collab in this way and having someone like Desi Perkins or Tea Flego (who are also very close to their grandmothers) would be so fun!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Never be afraid to start something new – especially if it fills your passion cup.
Scaling is an obstacle for us as I have more homes that would like to take on this project. Finding enough MUA’s, photographers and volunteers can be a struggle and getting people to donate their time is a very hard ask!
That said, I am working on ways to spread our mission in hopes that as more people learn our story, they’ll want to reach out an get involved. Giving back to the senior community has so much to offer and each person who’s had a presence in our project walks always with quite an amazing story.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Glama Project story. Tell us more about the business.
That I know of – no one is really doing what we do! As an organization, a milestone for us was getting approved to be part of the Beauty With a Purpose Program from Thrive Causemetics. We’re now able to donate a makeup kit filled with all the essentials to each GLAMA we makeover, It was a huge goal of ours, and we’re so elated we accomplished such a big partnership within a year of creation!
For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
Women are able to DO ANYTHING they put their minds to. Talking to some of the ladies who’ve sat in our makeup chair, it’s incredible to hear about their past.
From World War nurses to teachers to architects and even to a model who was one of the first women to ever be to be photographed in a bikini – we’ve seen it all. It’s a great reminder that if these seniors accomplished what they did in there time, they paved the way for us to be successful today and each day after.
Pricing:
- we are a 100% volunteer-run program
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theglamaproject.com
- Email: theglamaproject@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theglamaproject/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGlamaProject/
- Other: https://theglamaproject.pixieset.com/g/
Image Credit:
Kim Miller Kelly, Alessi Photography, Holly B Raines Photography
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
